Limitless/en
Limitless is an Action-Adventure movie starring Bradley Cooper as Eddie Morra, a down and out author struggling to finish a manuscript. The film is based on the novel The Dark Fields.[1]
In 2015, a TV series of the same name was created starring Jake McDorman as Brian Finch, who discovers the power of a mysterious drug called NZT-48 which opens the full possibility of his brain and gives him perfect recall of everything he has ever read, heard, or seen. It follows on from the events in the film.
Transhumanist content - Film
Eddie Morra, a struggling author suffering from writer's block, is stressed by an approaching deadline. His girlfriend, frustrated with his lack of progress and financial dependence, breaks up with him. Later, Eddie happens to run into a sample of a new "smart drug", NZT-48. After taking the pill, Eddie finds himself able to learn and analyse at a superhuman rate and recall memories from his distant past. Under the influence of NZT-48, he cleans his messy apartment and writes ninety pages of his book. Later, testing his analytical skills on the stock market, Eddie quickly makes large returns on small investments. Realizing he requires more capital, he borrows one hundred thousand dollars from a Russian loan shark and successfully makes a return of two million dollars. At this point the character basically begins to win reputation and lots of money.
All his progress begins to break into pieces when Eddie starts experiencing hallucinations and the sense of time skipping forward, noticing that several hours have suddenly passed of which he has no memory. He later discovers that after stopping dosing this drug, people begin to die.
Later in the film, by using his enhanced intelligence, Eddie discovers means to improve NZT-48 to avoid its side-effects.
Transhumanist content - TV series
Much like the movie, the TV series main focus with regards to special abilities is the Nootropic drug NZT (or NZT-48). The drug allows Brian extreme cognative enhancement capabilities such a perfect recall, and turbo-charged analysis.
The TV series also showcases other emerging technologies throughout the series:
- In the pilot, Senator Mora explains how NZT has changed his world view in many ways including no longer necessarily believing humans need to age any more.
- In "Badge! Gun!" the team must track down a cutting edge virus tailor-made to target the decedents of Genghis Khan[2]
- "Page 44" features an Aubrey de Grey-influenced character, an eccentric bearded British biochemist working on mouse longevity who becomes entrapped in corporate espionage[3]
To classify:
- digital immortality via the use of brain uploads that can be interacted with via a kind of Avatar in the form of a robotic head.[citation needed]
Technical credibility
There are already drugs (stimulants) on the market or black market that enhance mental capacity without losing control of the rational mind. But as in the plot of the move, nothing comes without any disadvantage. Obviously these stimulants are not like in the movie and have multiple wanted or unwanted side-effects, but are capable enough to add efficiency. See Cognitive enhancement.
If there will be some big brain-enhancing drug, in the next years, neuroscience has to have advanced a lot to make this possible.
Moral evaluation
The character is a normal person, with objectives he can't accomplish because of his hard circumstances like a lot of people on this planet. The drug in this case helps him, not only to accomplish his objectives, but to gain an enormous mental capacity, making him an idol to the people around him and making him accomplish almost impossible things. But again there is no "magic drug". The body has resistance and all drugs come with drawbacks. If in any near future, a magic pill like that, appears without any side-effect or any abstinence symptom, all people would become happy and gifted. It would potentially be an utopia that would never stop advancing.
The TV series depicts the protagonist's reactionary and individualistic approach to the use of the drug, as well as delving into concerns about the powerful people controlling its supply.