More than Human, Theodore Sturgeeon

 Tr. Spa-Eng. from a review by Sergio Gaut vel Hartman for Shvoong
 When one speaks of "evolutionary leap" it is intended about mutants in the majority of cases. But More than Human, the novel (in fact the union of three short novels from one that was first published independently), is based on the premise that humanity, as we know it, might not be the culmination of anything but an intermediate point, a link that would join the primitive man with a new species. Sturgeon postulates that the humans who are able to assemble to form the "Homo-Gestalt" are among us, only that we do not identify them because when they are observed individually they are not distinguished from other human beings. The novel is divided into three parts called "The fabulous idiot", "The Baby has Three Years" (the original nucleus of the story) and "Moral". In each one of them the author describes the successive stages in the development of the homo-gestalt. In this plane, we notice that the author's concern focuses on exploring the way in which the new being could "be born to life" and how he could be related to prior humanity, "Homo Sapiens".

Silver Surfer de mala leche


 When analyzing the possible next step of human evolution, Sturgeon does not pose a simplistic and naive view of the thing. The development of the homo-gestalt is riddled with difficulties, contradictions and failures. The story begins with the introduction of the characters, and as always happens with Sturgeon, the reader notices that the author jumps from one episode to another and it is not at all clear how he will do to connect a weak minded sleeping outdoors, a violent orphan who escapes from a hospice, a girl rejected by her family, a baby with Down's syndrome and two little black girls who do not speak. The novel focuses on the mutual discovery, articulation and life in common of these 'special' individuals who learn how to use their abilities to perform the various functions their assembly requires. It is necessary to be able to visualize the idea: a person is the brain, another the will, another the motor capacity. The parts of the being are telepathically connected and could find themselves at a great distance from one another. The arms, for example, could be extended in an unlikely way, as this function is done by the little black twins, who are capable of teleporting themselves without losing contact with the brain, while they possess an intelligence below the average. But all the time it remains clear that the important thing is the group. The baby with Down's syndrome's mind functions as a computer and can communicate with Janie, the girl. And the idiot can keep the group together. But that union of helpless people is not homo-gestalt yet.

 As the plot progresses they discover (and we discover) that to use their latent power they need a vector, a guideline, perhaps even some morality. But morality is a set of social codes and the homo-gestalt has no peers, does not have with whom to form a partnership, it is alone. It poses a dilemma that Sturgeon proposes masterfully. The Homo-Gestalt must provide itself an ethics which governs its operation and,given it is a step forward in evolution, which is above the Homo-Sapiens, it is obliged to impose that superior Ethics to human society. Is it  valid, is it legitimate? There is not a forceful response, but at the end there is a surprise. The collective being adopts an ethics and, when it does, it finds that it is not alone, that there are other homo-gestalts who have lived hidden among the members of the preceding world. The homo-gestalts are also a species.