Parasyte: Alien Attitudes towards Humans

TL;DR: At least on Earth, there will never be a more dominant lifeform than humans. But we may end up destroying ourselves if we aren't careful with our wishes. (Why did I write this...)

Parasyte, at first glance, is a bloody story about man-eating aliens invading Earth. The anime series makes this quite clear within the first opening seconds, showing a disgustingly twisted-looking creature chomp the face off of a petrified woman with one swift bite. Again at first glance, Parasyte seems to be just another option for satiating one’s appetite for horror, but it soon becomes apparent that a more profound undertone lies beneath the gory battle between aliens and humans. At the time I finished watching Parasyte, I had also just wrapped up with reading the popular non-fiction Sapiens, and Homo Deus before that. As a pair, both books take the readers though a brief history of humankind, insight towards our future and where humans stand in the hierarchy of nature. I cannot recommend Sapiens and Homo Deus as must-reads enough to my friends out there if anyone is serious about talking sense in politics. One of the most compelling questions posed in the books what makes mankind “special”? How did we become the most destructive species on Earth? What makes us capable of communicating to each other across the globe? What makes us fundamentally different as a biological entity compared to other animals? In fact, this is the very undertone that seems to be the unexpected silver lining of the anime Parasyte.

It is fun enough to talk about the hierarchy of nature and how humans rule at the top as the apex predator. However, it becomes exponentially more interesting when we involve a new apex predator from outer space into the mix. In Parasyte, the humans fall prey to these aliens. Normally, the aliens take complete control of the human host and gobble up other victims for food, much like the behaviours of a typical parasite or a virus. This is the case until one alien is forced into a symbiotic relationship with a human (the main character), rather than a parasitic one. The first stark contrast is noted in this moment. The main character, Shinichi, who is a human, immediately freaks out and goes so far to even voluntarily chop his arm off. The alien, named Migi, is much more rational and rather quickly accepts this symbiotic destiny so that it can survive as a lifeform. To the aliens, the emotional and irrational reactions of humans is unfathomable, almost nonsensical according to the laws of nature. In many instances, Migi asks Shinichi why he sacrificed himself for friend or why he showed sympathy towards a dead puppy. According to Migi, these are incalculable actions that jeopardize one’s fitness, but Shinichi retorts by calling Migi a selfish, apathetic organism.

This is a worthwhile comparison to make. Excluding differences in physical capabilities, one reason why the aliens seem to have an upper hand is because they lack sentiments, or as Homo Deus appropriately calls it, consciousness. Humans, however, treat themselves as a more superior being because only we possess this notion of consciousness, a key concept in the book. We are conscious about who we love. We are conscious about our personal ambitions. We are conscious about the flow of time. However, as much as this consciousness seems to boost our morale and purpose in life, Parasyte posits that it is the very same thing that makes humans fragile. We are conscious about our emotional pain and suffering. We are conscious about who we have failed to protect. On the other hand, the aliens (seemingly) do not possess consciousness. While they do possess an impressive level of intelligence that allows them to master the Japanese language overnight, they simply live to survive, kill, and reproduce. The aliens are limited to only instinctual tendencies. They have no inkling towards the higher-order concept of consciousness and its offshoot values such as self-sacrifice, altruism, sympathy, and intimacy. On the other hand, humans are portrayed as (and maybe truthfully so) having an extraordinary ability to care about things that will kill them and get emotionally attached to even the smallest thing. We are a physically and mentally fragile species of this Earth. A lion can rip us into pieces. The aliens are unaware of sentiments, which keeps them undistracted and rational-minded. Yet one of the hallmark themes of Parasyte is that humans still stands atop the hierarchy of nature. How is it that humans, so weak and fragile, end up winning the war against the vicious and highly intelligent aliens of another world?

Theoretically, every living organism on this Earth come from a single common ancestor. No matter how much we distinguish ourselves from the animals, the truth is that we are remarkably similar at the biological level. Our physiology are coded by the same DNA components. Our movements are guided by the five senses (sight and smell being the most prevalent). And our brains are composed of many single units called neurons. But of course, this is where the controversy begins. Where does consciousness lie in this game of compare and contrast? If consciousness is of neural origins, are human brains fundamentally different, bestowing us a marked advantage over other animals? No. Let’s think about it in a purely biological sense. Our brains are interconnected through neurons and chemicals that are no more or no less sophisticated than the average housefly’s. At the cellular level, humans are fairly indistinguishable from most animals on this Earth and what the book Homo Deus interestingly suggests is that either our sense of consciousness is really nothing more than a complex pattern of neural firings or we are not sufficiently acknowledging the consciousness of other animals. Consequently, the definition of consciousness is indeed elusive. One's interest in this debate is best satiated through the book itself, but even if we pretend that consciousness is universally equal across this Earth, the fact is that no other species has been able to exert so much influence and destruction on the entire planet than humans. It seems that our consciousness, the ability to imagine, pursue, and conquer has made us the real monsters of the world.

What does consciousness have to do with Parasyte? As mentioned, it is ultimately what differentiates the humans and aliens in the show and this is explicitly displayed through the actions of its many characters. For one, the aliens make it quite clear that they desire nothing but to devour humans. This is clearly not an example of consciousness, but rather an instinct to satisfy one’s hunger. Another example is when Shinichi, as he slowly merges with Migi and become more “alien-like”, starts losing the emotional qualities and warmth that are explicitly unique to humans while his girlfriend accuses him of coming off as an apathetic monster. The most interesting case in Parasyte, however, is one particular alien named Tamura. She is the more observant and curious kind of her species, gradually becoming more interested in the idea of rearing her own human child and coexisting with humans on the same planet. In the show, Tamura is regarded as more “humanly intelligent”, evident by her intense desire for something beyond just devouring humans. Although Tamura is an anomaly in the alien race, all these events point to the fact that humans are nevertheless eons farther away from all living creatures on Earth in terms of intellectual developments.

There are three key advantages to consciousness that allowed humans to be triumphant over outer space aliens in Parasyte.

1) We can coordinate. The aliens in the show are killing machines on an individual basis, but they were small in number. The human race, on the other hand, is a single, global hive mind. We comfortably luxuriate in a tight network of communication backed by strength in numbers. We are conscious of the imaginary global network that spans way beyond our immediate surroundings and thus, use this to our advantage. Although humans may lose a one-on-one battle against an alien, we can strategize to systematically wipe out an entire species in one fell swoop. And this is exactly what the humans did in Parasyte when they were alerted by the aliens’ threat in the second half of the show.

2) We can adapt. All living organisms on Earth can adapt through natural selection, but no other has been as remarkably responsive to the environment as humans. Primarily, this is achieved through our ability to invent tools and strategies, rather than sluggishly enhancing our biology. In the anime, this is demonstrated by the humans’ intellectual capacity to conduct analytical research on the aliens and specifically pinpoint their enemy’s weaknesses. At this point in the story, it was clear that the tide immediately turned to the favour of the human race. The aliens, however, were not able to level the playing field with their own intellect. And from there on, they were doomed to become extinct.

3) We can invent. Agriculture. Technology. Religion. These achievements are almost exclusive to the human race. Not even the most closely-related chimpanzee can emulate our feats and their progression in the evolutionary timeline thus far has proven it so. Perhaps given the time or if the anime series was extended, the aliens could have done something similar but the truth is, they too lacked the adequate level of consciousness to turn ideas into objects. Although the aliens did create “an invincible lifeform” named Gotou who served as the final villain of the show, what eventually killed it in the end was cyanide toxins on a rusted pipe: a human invention.

Humans have revelled in unparalleled superiority for centuries. It should be clear that not only is our physical presence dominating, but it is our human ideologies that are equally dictatorial. In other words, we impose our values and definitions of nature onto other animal species. For example, cows have long been treated by us as nothing more than agricultural tool. In many farms, these animals are often mistreated and deprived of freedom to explore the wildlands. To us, a cow is a resource. On the contrary, a puppy is a cute little friend. In Parasyte, the aliens are murderous, sinister, and a threat to humankind. All these archetypes are in truth, nothing but the interpretations of our consciousness. Yet it doesn’t mean that they are correct in any way. There is a scene near the end of the show where Shinichi walks towards the slowly regenerating carcass of a powerful alien, after going to great lengths to defeat it. “I must kill it before it fully heals,” thinks Shinichi, “I cannot let it wreak havoc in the city again.” But he does not throw down the finishing blow. Instead, he feels pity for the alien. It is here that Shinichi remembers Tamura (the more intelligent alien) admonishing him “Do not push us around. We are just trying to survive.” At this point, Shinichi comes to a realization and goes on an internal monologue whilst shedding a tear, the most resounding statement he makes being “I’m sorry. You are not at fault”. Our will to define things our way has subjugated not only the animals of the Earth, but also aliens of outer space. Even the most domesticated animals do not necessarily live freely. Farms are often enclosed, densely populated spaces that massively curtail animals’ freedoms. While they may be sheltered from predation and poverty, it is also conversely true that their bodies are strenuously sapped for resources and are more susceptible to many diseases. Animals, in truth, are just trying to survive. But it is the humans’ exertion that has made lives of animals exponentially more miserable (depending on how you see it) since the advent of domestication. The animals have no say in their livelihood. Likewise for the aliens, they have no say in their livelihood either. The aliens are just trying to survive by eating humans, but it is our place at the top of the chain that determines who gets to live as a resource and who must die as a threat.

So I suppose if aliens really do invade or live amongst us in a distant future, then yes, it’s quite possible that they may initially view us as fragile beings and not much of a threat. Eventually though, they will find themselves at their rightful places underneath the humans on the hierarchy of nature. Individually, we may be fragile but as a species, we are the destroyers of our domain. We can coordinate. We can adapt. And most importantly, we can invent. This is the eventual conclusion that both Parasyte and Homo Deus comes to, that in the end, it is us who will be imposing our values onto other living organisms and it is ultimately a power that we have the full authority to wield. Homo Deus is a book about our inevitable road to becoming a man-god. Parasyte is a show about our ultimate place at the top of the food chain. And as the old saying goes, with great power comes with great responsibility. For me, the responsibility entails asking ourselves the right questions. Many people seek to achieve happiness. Or at least for all the amazing progresses made thus far, we are still dissatisfied with ourselves. To do that, we want to invent newer tools to facilitate our living. We want to enhance our abilities to produce better output. And we want to flirt with immortality to escape death. Nevertheless, our insatiable quest for happiness could come at a massive cost. Without the necessary checks and balances, the future of Earth could be riddled with heightened levels of destruction and inequalities. The ultimate message that Homo Deus presents the reader is that at some point, we have to realize what exactly we want. We have to seek power with a more balanced mindset to avoid destroying the very land that is keeping us alive.

If you have made it this far, I thank you profusely for reading through all my convoluted thoughts and reflections on the human race. This post became so much more complicated than I intended it to be, but sometimes I feel that it is in my DNA to fall deeper and deeper into a weighty topic like the whole damn future of humanity. This intellectual venture is scary no doubt. Realizing the power that humans have been wielding since the hunter-gatherer era is a huge reality check on where we currently stand as a species today. It is even scarier to wonder what the future will look like and there are currently two enterprises that is leading the charge: artificial intelligence technology and enhanced medicine, which are never-before-seen rampant inventions that will surely change us at all fronts. I now realize that humans may have been very unprepared in wielding this much power. We have been very reckless, only having regard towards our own interests and nothing towards nature as a whole. We have caused extinctions, global warming, and pollution all due to our unchecked power. Watching Parasyte especially after reading Homo Deus helped me see my place in a more macroscopic world. It is certainly a great exercise to draw comparisons between different literature and ultimately use them for my own self-reflection. But still, eventually all this has to be translated into actions. There would no greater privilege than to take an active role in spearheading another imminent revolution of our human history, albeit in the correct direction. Someday, it is my hope when by the time I gain enough influence in this world, everything on this blog will supply my capacity to become an ethically actionable human being.

*All images on this post are legally owned by Madhouse.