Burger’s shooting style leads us directly onto the second notable thing about how he handles the idea of brain enhancement, which is that at all times – no matter how fast he may be processing numbers, or how eloquently he may be speaking, Eddie remains absolutely and totally human.
The emphasis on the device of improved memory recall is especially clever – again, like Besson, building on a concept of which we are already aware; neuroscientists have speculated for years that we actually do retain every last detail of everything we ever experience in life, with our brains simply filtering out what we might want/need and basically chucking the rest in the mental trash.
Eddie’s enhanced experiences are still just that – he has nothing more to rely on than his own experiences as a normal human being – all that has happened is that he has taken a chemical that allows the synapses to fire so quickly that his brain can hunt around in the trashcan so fast that it doesn’t even have to touch that questionably soggy piece of newspaper.
Lucy relies a lot on Lucy’s becoming ‘less human’ whereas Limitless relies on Eddie becoming something that humans can only dream of being, but still within areas that we recognize.
However, it was actually for this reason that Limitless almost didn’t make the cut for this list; Eddie relies on an artificial drug, without which he is not only just an average human being, but actually a less than average one, given the severe physical side effects and withdrawal symptoms. His enhancement is not caused by a change in DNA, and his abilities are not permanent – two pretty basic requirements of transhumanist aims, and once he has become dependant on the drug it basically becomes a therapy.
But, two things secured its place: in terms of the storyline, Eddie actually does in the end manage to transcend his need for the drug, his synapses having eventually retained some of the ability to fire at NZT levels without the actual drug being present. And secondly, we get from Limitless something that we just didn’t get from Lucy – and that’s an explanation. At all times, we have a how enhancements to the human brain were possible, and the lasting impression that that possibility leaves is undeniable. Limitless is far more simple than Lucy…but then in the world of filmmaking, less really is sometimes more.
One last thing about drugs like NZT-48: They actually exist. Known as nootropics, they are basically stimulants that were originally intended to improve cognition in people suffering from the mental degeneration of diseases such as Alzheimer’s, but as mind and memory enhancers they quickly made their way into other areas of human life, such as academia.
Unlike its sporting cousin, ‘academic doping’ is not illegal, and certain drugs are available on prescription to those at highly competitive academic institutions. In my day it was coffee and the magic of the all-nighter – and not many of these new drugs have even been trialled for safety. But if there is one thing humans can be relied upon to do when told “not to press the big red button,” it’s to press the big red button. Or, as Limitless apparently pointed out so accurately, to take the small clear pill.