Monday, May 05, 2008

If there's anything better than retro images of tri-finned rocketships it can only be the unexpected discovery of paleo-transhumanism.

Take a look:

Streamlined Humans (1934)

This article from the July 29, 1934 Ogden Standard-Examiner (Ogden, UT) imagines the streamlined human of the future. In the piece, Count Sakhnoffsky proposes the alteration of humans to fit the new, fast-paced society of the future.


While I admit to a special affinity for the alien/UFO meme, this image is not without some Fortean relevance. After all, what are the ubiquitous "Grays" of UFO lore if not streamlined humans, spared the clumsy encumbrances that distinguish people from their extraterrestrial counterparts?

The Grays, real or imagined, represent an audacious feat of minimalism -- to the point that some researchers (convinced of their objective reality) have posited they they're literally fetal, the attempt of a truly alien intelligence to interact with us by using a recognizable -- if grotesque -- human template.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cool.

I wouldn't mind a streamlined nip 'n' tuck here and there.

As for the greys being neonatal humanoid somethings, I can see the reasoning there because present humanity has been called neonatal apes at times.

But I knew some genetic throwbacks when I was in the service long ago.

Anonymous said...

"genetic throwbacks" Ha ha ha, nice.

Aliens look to us like we look to other mammals. Big eyes, flat snout, small mouth. What if you took the basic data from a bear's experience of being dragged out of hibernation, examined & tagged etc, then played it back inside a human's head?