Developing a theme drawn from speculative writing of the nineteenth century--that technology, like biological species, undergoes a process of evolution--this paper explores the thesis that if technology divides from its human creators and perfects itself until it gains the capacity for self replication, it cannot return to its creator. Using rhetorical narration to chart how technological agency is becoming autonomous from the human agent, the paper analyzes three films: "Rocky IV,""Blade Runner," and "The Terminator." After showing how the mythic evolution of technology's perfection of itself is represented in the films, the paper considers what this myth implies for the state of the whole human being, as well as for the possibilities of reclaiming technology as an integral part of humanity. (FL)