In science fiction, uplift is the intervention in the evolution of species of low-intelligence or even nonsentient species in order to increase their intelligence.[1] This is usually accomplished by cultural, technological, or evolutionary interventions such as genetic engineering. The earliest appearance of the concept is in H. G. Wells's 1896 novel The Island of Doctor Moreau. The term was popularized by David Brin in his Uplift series in the 1980s.[2]
The concept of uplift can be traced to H. G. Wells's 1896 novel The Island of Doctor Moreau, in which the titular scientist transforms animals into horrifying parodies of humans through surgery and psychological torment. The resulting animal-people obsessively recite the Law, a series of prohibitions against a reversion to animal behaviors, with the haunting refrain of "Are we not men?". Wells's novel reflects Victorian concerns about vivisection and of the power of unrestrained scientific experimentation to do terrible harm.
Other early literary examples can be found in the following works:
David Brin has stated that his Uplift Universe was written at least in part in response to the common assumption in earlier science fiction such as Smith's work and Planet of the Apes that uplifted animals would, or even should, be treated as possessions rather than people.[3] As a result, a significant part of the conflict in the series revolves around the differing policies of Galactics and humans toward their client races. Galactic races traditionally hold their uplifted "clients" in a hundred-millennium-long indenture, during which the "patrons" have extensive rights and claims over clients' lives and labor power. In contrast, humans have given their uplifted dolphins and chimpanzees near-equal civil rights, with a few legal and economic disabilities related to their unfinished state. A key scene in Startide Rising is a discussion between a self-aware computer (the Niss) and a leading human (Gillian) about how the events during their venture (and hence the novel's plot) relate to the morality of the Galactics' system of uplift.
Some commentators, such as, have argued that some pieces of literature have used uplift as an allegory for the white man's burden and colonialism. Booker singles out Robert Silverberg's Downward to the Earth as a novel that mirrors Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness in a science-fiction setting. Other authors, by contrast, have used uplift as a narrative foil to colonialism, presenting uplift not only as benevolent but as a virtuous reversal of colonial attitudes.
| Year | Series | Creator | Media type | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1896 | The Island of Doctor Moreau | H. G. Wells | Novel | ||
| 1963 | Planet of the Apes | Pierre Boulle | Novel | The 1963 science fiction novel by French author Pierre Boulle was adapted into the 1968 film Planet of the Apes, launching the Planet of the Apes media franchise.[4] The series also explores the opposite of uplift, the reduction of the human species to a regressed, atavistic, savage-like animal state. | |
| 1980–1998 | Uplift Universe | David Brin | Novel series | Starting with Sundiver in 1980, Brin's six novels (and several short stories) making up the Uplift War and Uplift Storm pair of trilogies describe a universe dominated by a society built around a process of uplift, where full sentience is deemed virtually impossible without the intervention of another species through uplift. | |
| 2007 | Race for the Galaxy | Thomas Lehmann | Board game | Uplift is a major theme. Some cards have "UPLIFT" highlighted in the title and can help score points and achieve goals. Designer Tom Lehmann attributes the inspiration for uplift to David Brin's Uplift series.[5] | |
| 2007–2017 | Mass Effect | BioWare | Video game series | Before the events of the first game, the Salarians, a hyper-intelligent but physically weak alien race, uplifted the Krogan, a combative and rapidly-reproducing race, in order to defeat the Rachni, a hive-minded species, in an interstellar conflict. When the Rachni were defeated, the Krogan experienced a massive population boom found themselves in conflict with other species in the galaxy. In response, the Salarians launched a biological weapon called the Genophage against them which only made 1 in 1,000 pregnancies viable with the rest being stillbirths. The ethical ramifications of the uplift and bioweapon are used as plotlines throughout the series. |
de:M. Keith Booker
. Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction in Literature . Rowman & Littlefield . . 2015 . 978-0-8108-7884-6.