Ralph 142C41+ was the prime exemplar of Hugo
Gernsback's more general views on what the man of the future would be
like, which were pretty much in line with the popular science of the
day as laid out by the anthropologist H. L. Shapiro in his article
"Man—500,000 Years From Now" (Natural History,
November-December 1933) in which Shapiro said that the man of tomorrow
would have a larger brain, rounder and smoother features, a simpler
digestive tract (if eating hadn't been made totally obsolete), fewer
and smaller teeth, greater height, and only eight toes.
For
Gernsback, the toe count was irrelevant, since the the only thing that
really mattered to him was the brain and in his description of a man
of two million years hence he foresaw brains getting bigger and
bigger until you end up with the chap on the right with a melon the
size of a medicine ball. For comparison, Gernsback used that
most advanced specimen of the present day human race, Calvin Coolidge.
For
Gernsback, the toe count was irrelevant, since the the only thing that
really mattered to him was the brain and in his description of a man
of two million years hence he foresaw brains getting bigger and
bigger until you end up with the chap on the right with a melon the
size of a medicine ball. For comparison, Gernsback used that
most advanced specimen of the present day human race, Calvin Coolidge.