Human Instrumentality Project
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In the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion, the Human Instrumentality Project (人類補完計画 Jinrui Hokan Keikaku?, mankind complementation/completion plan) is the goal of the secret society SEELE. It is sometimes translated as the Human Enhancement Project or the Human Complementation Project.
It is an attempt to artificially force the evolution of humanity, merging people's individual conscious minds into one single entity by dissolving the barriers (so-called AT Fields) between them, an event named the Third Impact. This would place mankind back in the Garden of Eden by getting rid of Original Sin (the sin of mankind for eating the Fruit of Knowledge) and would supposedly end human suffering, or at least the suffering that people inflict upon each other.
The Instrumentality Project has similarities with the finale of Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End.
[edit] Description
In order to achieve Instrumentality, SEELE created the organization GEHIRN, which was later dissolved and replaced with NERV. They placed Gendo Ikari at the head of NERV, on orders to follow their planned scenario. Gendo, however, had secret plans of his own: his ultimate goal was to use the Instrumentality Project to be reunited only with his dead wife, Yui Ikari, whose soul was believed to be inside Evangelion Unit 01. Ikari's method for invoking Instrumentality involved using the embryonic Adam to merge with Rei Ayanami.
The exact means by which either goal was supposed to be achieved remains unclear in both the series and the films, but it supposedly involves Rei Ayanami, Evangelion Unit 01, Adam, and Lilith, depending on which goal is to be met. The other scenario that might have taken place, involving the prevalence of the Angels, would mean that the Angels would have "inherited" the Earth if they were not eliminated prior to Third Impact.
The resulting Third Impact occurring in The End of Evangelion, however, ultimately followed neither scenario. In the film, Rei defies Gendo's control and merges with Lilith herself, transforming into an ever-growing, glowing, white figure; this composite Rei/Lilith entity takes on several forms to cause every person on Earth to willingly let down their AT Fields, before finally placing the process of Instrumentality into Shinji Ikari's hands. Possibly due to Shinji's decision inside of Unit 01, all of humanity is "reduced" to a giant sea of LCL, which covers most of the earth. The Egg of Lilith rises from the GeoFront into Lilith's hands, and the souls of all human beings, represented as a red, marble-sized dots, make their way back into the egg. At the last moment, however, Shinji rejects Instrumentality and decides to live his life as a separate individual, at the risk of being hurt by others again, thereby undoing all Lilith had sought to create. Lilith's physical form dies and decomposes, and the egg explodes.
One possible interpretation of these events is that Instrumentality, rather than a step forward for humanity, was actually a step backward — Shinji rejects it in the end because he realizes that increasing human potential is only possible by having individuals interact with each other to solve their problems and advance, and that finding a solution to the problems of people hurting each other was the only true way forward.
Because of the highly abstract and introspective nature of the final two episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion, it is hard to tell whether Instrumentality actually occurs within the scope of the series. Some fans believe that the final scene of episode 26, where all of the characters are shown telling Shinji "Congratulations" is a sign that Shinji accepts the Instrumentality Project and therefore is at odds with The End of Evangelion. Others believe that the characters are congratulating Shinji for finding his own identity: he was introduced to Instrumentality by the presentation of a rudimentary, free world, which he rejected and decided to come to terms with himself. Shinji's thought process appears in a highly different form during The End of Evangelion, with the "Congratulations" scene being left out completely. Anno makes no comment and leaves fans to decide for themselves what Instrumentality really is.
[edit] Note
- Although there are several ways to translate the term into English, Evangelion director Hideaki Anno has insisted on using the translation "Instrumentality," possibly to pay homage to the science fiction writer Cordwainer Smith, who used the term in his Instrumentality of Mankind series of short stories. It should be noted, however, that there is little (if any) traits held in common between Smith and Anno's concept of "instrumentality." Rather, Anno credited Smith for creating the idea of successfully merging Christian symbology with both science fiction and Asian culture.[citation needed] Also, Smith (under his real name of Paul Linebarger; "Smith" is a pseudonym) literally wrote the United States' first textbook on psychological warfare following his efforts against Japan during World War II, which Anno drew on, along with several other facets of psychoanalytic theory introduced in Evangelion.[citation needed]
- In Death and Rebirth the movie preceeding The End of Evangelion each of the Eva pilots begin playing a string instrument at different points in the film until they all play together. When each pilot begins, their name and instrument are identified, but when they all play together the song is identified and the instruments "compliment and fill each other" and "become one entity" just as people do in the Human Instrumentality Project. This could be another reason the term "instrumentality" is used.
- The main influences for the concept of Instrumentality in Evangelion came from Arthur C. Clarke's novel Childhood's End, where aliens influenced the evolution of humanity into a single entity; as well as Yoshiyuki Tomino's Ideon, which featured the mysterious 'Ide' energy which was comprised of the consciousnesses of hundreds of millions of humans, which forced a conflict between humanity and an alien race to cleanse the universe of the impure.
- The Final Fantasy VII series borrowed the concept as the intended goal of Hojo to create the ultimate being. His first attempt being Sephiroth, who attempted to absorb the Lifestream and the countless souls within it to become a "living god". This homeage was expanded on in Dirge of Cerberus through the OMEGA Weapon, as its purpose is to be as the vessel of every soul in the world.[citation needed]
- Serial Experiments: Lain makes strong use of the idea, as the plot turns around the idea of "uniting all human spirits without devices" to create God. The anime also quotes Cordwainer Smith.
[edit] See also
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| Creators: | Hideaki Anno • Yoshiyuki Sadamoto • Gainax |
| TV Series: | Neon Genesis Evangelion |
| Films: | Death and Rebirth • The End of Evangelion • Revival of Evangelion • Rebuild of Evangelion • Untitled Evangelion live action movie |
| Characters: | Asuka • Gendo • Kaworu • Misato • Rei • Ritsuko • Kaji • Shinji • Toji • Yui |
| Glossary: | Eva Units • Angels • Human Instrumentality Project • Timeline |
| Video Games: | Ayanami Raising Project • Girlfriend of Steel • Girlfriend of Steel 2 • Evangelion 64 • Shinji Ikari Raising Project • Shinji and Good Friends • Neon Genesis Evangelion 2 |
| Misc: | List of media and episodes • "A Cruel Angel's Thesis" • "Komm, süsser Tod" • Angelic Days manga • Red Cross Book • ReDeath • Topics |
