How Frankenstein Changed Science Forever

If you’ve never read Frankenstein, well, you should, it’s a great book. And it was an even better book when it came out.

Lots of people point to this book for it’s great storyline, creepy atmosphere, but completely miss the deep philosophical question posed in it.

What is science’s responsibility?

Before Mary Shelly wrote Frankenstein, no one had ever asked that before. Science at that time was seen as completely neutral; an absolute good. Only poets, writers, and other deep thinkers realized that science was only as ‘good’ as the humans running the experiments. And that immoral people create immoral science.

It was an uncomfortable truth, especially during an age that considered itself one of the ‘enlightened’ ages.

Frankenstein’s Monster was…well a monster. He killed without remorse and for his own pleasure. But he was also in a lot of emotional pain. Pain brought on by the abandonment of his creator, and him being judged harshly for being only an imitation of a perfect specimen. He suffered from hatred and cruelty long before he devolved into being a monster.

And that scenario the book laid out brought up uncomfortable questions like:

What is our personal responsibility in creating monsters?

and most importantly…

SHOULD science do something just because it CAN?

It’s a hard question, and one we’re still struggling to answer today.

But it’s also a question that never would have been asked without Frankenstein introducing us to the first truly ‘mad scientist’ and revealing that science is only as good as the scientist themselves.

That’s how Frankenstein changed the world. How will your book change the world?