My family and I saw Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3, last weekend. While the scenes with animal experimentation were disturbing, overall it was better than I expected. I liked the storyline, and I always enjoy seeing Mantis and Drax interact. However, the main villain's project in evolution is not scientifically accurate for several reasons. I'll try to state them in a non-spoiler way:
1. Natural selection may work on individuals of a species, but that doesn't mean individuals evolve. Individuals have traits that make them more or less suited to their environment, which in turn affects their ability to pass those traits down to the next generation. Natural selection needs a context in which to work.
2. Mutations can appear in individuals that affect their ability to survive, but most of these either have no effect or a harmful one. Radiation or chemicals can increase the mutation rate, but an affected individual doesn't keep popping out random changes in body type. It's very unlikely that you could take an adult individual and make it change its body plan or develop new traits by mutating it. If you really wanted to create a new species, you'd have to change the genetic material in a fertilized egg and let it develop and mature.
3. Evolution doesn't happen with an end goal in mind. Humans are a twig on a bush, not the top of a tree. There are millions of other species that are extremely well-adapted to their niches, have traits that we would envy (better senses than ours, flight, ability to breathe underwater, etc.), and have been around much longer than us.
4. Genetics may set the potential for an individual, but the environment plays an important role in an individual's development. If you want to develop intelligent individuals, you need to meet their biological needs and also give them a stimulating environment.
I'm not just picking on this movie; I have long felt that the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Genesis," which features the crew "de-evolving," was bad biological science. It's possible that the writers portrayed evolution acting on adult individuals for visual effects and emotional involvement in the story. However, the writers might not have been familiar with the principles of evolution to begin with. Given that evolution is being dropped from some science textbooks in India, that trend may only get worse.
How well do you think evolution is portrayed in science fiction? Can you think of examples where it's done accurately? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
