Superpowers make great fiction, but evolution doesn’t work that way. We explore why mutations can’t give us instant abilities—and what real science could create instead.
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Credits:
The Myth of Mutation Why Superpowers Don’t Evolve (and What Might)
Written, Produced & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur
Editors: Lukas Konecny
Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images
Music by Epidemic Sound: http://nebula.tv/epidemic
Chapters
0:00 Intro
1:10 What Evolution Really Does
4:46 Evolution 101
10:19 Intelligently Designed Mutants
12:46 The Atomic Age and the Birth of the Mutant Hero
15:09 The Evolutionary Roadblocks to Superpowers
17:56 Genetic Drift and the Vanishing Edge
19:00 Real-World Routes to Post-Human Powers
21:11 The Fermi Paradox Connection