About
Has Science Gone Too Far? refers to a series of mock advertisements for the website officialquiz.com, depicting images that have been poorly altered or that go against stereotypes, and that challenge the viewer to determine whether the image is “real” or “fake.”
Origin
Officialquiz.com is a website launched sometime in 2008 that provides “IQ tests” to paid subscribers. The website also runs a widespread advertising campaign that features ridiculous challenges or images, such as the infamous Helicopter Shark, and often states that a high percentage of the population “fails” the test. It is unclear from which of the ads the phrase “Has Science Gone Too Far?” originates, although many of the advertisements use the template of “Is This Image Real or Fake?” As of February 2013, officialquiz.com is no longer open to subscriptions.
The earliest example of the mock advertisements, depicting a seagull photoshopped to have human arms,was posted to FunnyJunk on January 31, 2010, although the image has only 1251 views as of February 10, 2013. The image was later posted to /r/funny on May 14, 2011,The post had accumulated 5,018 upvotes and 693 points by February 10, 2013.
Spread
Searches for “Has Science Gone Too Far?” yield over one thousand results on FunnyJunk, where the phrase has been taken to refer to any humorous, scientifically implausible or poorly photoshopped image, in a similar vein to What Has Science Done?
Examples
Search Interest
Google Trends shows that search interest began to show in January, 2012, two years after the original post, and that volume has steadily increased since then.