Sixth Finger Film Analysis

The future for mankind is fraught with uncertainty both sociologically and physiologically given respectfully an enormous population growth and the potential for genetic engineering in the light of the mapping of the entire human genome.

1) What assumptions does the short film “The Sixth Finger” make about the direction that human evolution will take in the next ten thousand to one million years?

The film gives the assumption that human genome will evolve into smart, more intelligent beings. They will also learn to read minds, giving them a certain advantage in much more effective communication and understanding.

One of the most important changes that humans undertake in evolution is their ability to process huge amounts of information efficiently and rapidly, this allows the humans to become smarter than ever before, growing their minds and building knowledge. This ability is emphasized greatly in the film, which suggested that it is an important assumption in the direction of mankind. Examples of this ability being displayed is when William ( the human being tested on) was playing the piano at a extremely high level even though previously he had no musical knowledge. William also always required more and more books to feed his constant thirst for knowledge. It was because of this thirst for knowledge and ability to process new information that human beings could evolve so rapidly and constantly.

The film takes assumptions of the stages that humans will evolve to; these stages are visibly distinctive by physical changes such as a “sixth finger” (hence the title) an extended forehead and the appearance of human beings wilting away (sullen eyes, wrinkled skin) as evolution takes place. The mental stages of evolution are briefly-

1. Beginning- simple, practical way of life

2. Ability to read minds, won’t settle for just intelligence- seemingly unquenchable thirst for knowledge and information, e.g. “What good is intelligence without knowledge? I’m hungry to know things. Learn Everything.”

3. Ability to kill by stopping the heart mentally, intolerance of dumber human beings.

4. Intolerance grows into pure hatred for the town, and the desire to destroy the local village.

5. Acceptance,