The Incredible Shrinking Man

This Crowded Earth by Robert Bloch is a 1958 novel set in a future where overpopulation (Bloch hardly mentions resource depletion or pollution) has inspired science to create a small human race with the use of hormone therapy. In 2012! the story starts in the late 1990’s when suicide, crime and accidents have increased steeply because of [...]

If we want to convince mankind that we should downsize the human body it will not be sufficient to present the endocrinological and genetic possibilities to shrink, or point out the amount of damage we are causing because of human size, or any of the other strong arguments against increasing body size. The notion of [...]

Statistical research on the 124 actors who played the Munchkins in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz shows that little people live longer. Through Wikipedia we were able to calculate projected life expectancy and actual date of death of 77 actors, both male and female and of various ages. Of the other actors information was incomplete [...]

During TEDx Brainport Arne Hendriks gave a short talk on some of the reasons the human species should shrink, some of its possible consequences, and how it could be done.
See it HERE.

Mankind seems so indoctrinated to think bigger that sometimes the mere suggestion that we should become smaller is thoughtlessly rejected as mad science. Ever since the 20th century our relationship with science, vacillating between science as the salvation of society or its doom, has been personified by the fictional (Hollywood) character of the mad scientist. Following the [...]

The Dutch are among the tallest people in the world yet the smallest girl that ever lived was from the Netherlands. Johanna Paulina Musters’ extremely small stature, she was only 58 centimeters, her talent for acrobatics, singing and dancing, and the ability to speak several languages, quickly made her rise to international fame as a sideshow [...]

The consequences of shrinking the human body for the world’s food situation is a main topic of research for The Incredible Shrinking Man. One chicken could feed up to 100 people if we are 50 centimeters. That’s why it would be unwise to shrink agricultural products and livestock along with us. Still, there is something [...]

Jim Hejl keeps a website called Jim’s Big Things with photos of himself near (you guessed it) BIG things. He typically finds these things near freeways, in shopping malls, in restaurants and amusement parks. It started harmlessly with a single blurry photo of Jim next to a world record pancake but by now Hejl systematically plans his [...]

Jyoti Amge is the world’s smallest girl. She weighs about 5 kilograms and at 58 cm’s her height  is really close to The Incredible Shrinking Man’s projected future size of 50 centimeter. She has been the subject of numerous documentaries and enjoys her star status. By some she’s worshipped as a goddess. LIVE India broadcasted [...]

A shrink ray is any device which uses energy to reduce the physical size of matter. Although the laws of quantum physics don’t allow the miniaturizing of atoms and shrink rays do not exist (perhaps with the exception of electromagnetic forming) they feature quite prominently in popular fantasy and science fiction. For The Incredible Shrinking Man any shrink based desire [...]