Question 3: Frankenstein continues to occupy the popular imagination as a monstrous scientist. Analyze some of the ways in which Frankenstein continues to haunt discussions of recent technologies.
In order to analyze the ways that how Frankenstein continues to haunt the recent technologies, first, I used the Electronic Resources which provide by the University of Hong Kong Library. Those databases that I chose are ProQuest, Academic Search Premier, and the Search Engine, such as Yahoo (Hong Kong, Google (Hong Kong) and the E-Newspaper which found in Yahoo Hong Kong News. There were over twenty items after I searched from the database and over one thousands items from the Search Engine. After I read those items and I found the most suitable one to answer the question. “The Probable Future World Forecasted in Mary Shelly’s ‘Frankenstein’ and H.G. Wells’ ‘The Time Machine’, the search term which use in the Google is Frankenstein and technology. “Frankensteins and Cyborgs: Visions of the Global Future in an Age of Technology”, the search term is Frankenstein, humanity and technology in Academic Search Premier. Using the word Frankenstein, technology and humanity in Yahoo, and the article of “Frankenstein Complex: Man's Obsession with & Fear of Technological Advancement” is one of the most suitable one. I used the term “robot” for “Again Japan looks to robots” in Yahoo Hong Kong News. For the database “ProQuest”, I used the search term of “technology, humanity, Frankenstein and cloning” for the article “Cows and Cloned Babies Tax Us” and “Is Rush Into Cloning Another False Scientific Dawn?”
The Probable Future World Forecasted in Mary Shelly’s ‘Frankenstein’ and H.G. Wells’ ‘The Time Machine’ was one of the sources which provide the background information from the story of Frankenstein and how the story creates the name of “monster”. Although people recognize the story of Frankenstein, some of them do not recognize this story. In the article, the author mentions that Mary Shelley gave “a warning of the danger in technological development of modern science of us.” The modern science cannot support those technologies that in the story, however, the scientists develop those technologies in the recent time. And it provides “negative consequences” for the recent scientists.
Frankensteins and Cyborgs: Visions of the Global Future in an Age of Technology mentions how the Frankenstein gives the ideas to the scientists in the development of the machines and gives different examples how the technologies development. It also talks about “what kind of technology” and “what kind of humanity” in the recent and the future time. The examples of the technologies development give the support for an essay. There are the negative aspects for the usage of the recent technology. This is talking about the problems of the technology in the essay.
In Frankenstein Complex: Man's Obsession with & Fear of Technological Advancement, Frankenstein is affecting the ideas of the film producer and the improvement of the technology. “Robotics are by no means new to mankind” because of the film “I Robot”. The monster was created by Frankenstein and it is the same as the scientists create or improve the technology of the robot. In addition, the robot, which use in the house working, we think that they are not dangerous, however, it may not true, just like the story of “I Robot”. The human may have the same situation that we watch in the “I Robot”. The truth is we do not have the ability to control vanguard technology as the technology is powerful. It is one of the negative aspects that the technology is developed too fast.
There is one more example for the robot. Japan is one of the countries which develop different kinds of robots and Aging Japan looks to robots talks about what the robot reduce the government expenditure and the robot is useful in Japan. Toyota, the world's largest car company, would like to produce more robots as the government will subsidize the development of those machines. It is the positive way that people who like to develop the robot technology and they use the robot in daily life. In Japan, there is aging population so one of the robots will look after the elderly. "Robots can be useful, but they cannot come close to overcoming the problem of population decline," the robots will solve numbers of problems while they cannot solve the aging population. It is comparison of the negative way for the robots.
The problem of technologies development is the cloning of the animals and human. Cows and cloned babies tax us is about the cows carry human gene that may destroy after the high court ruling in New Zealand. The cloning sleep, Dolly, was shocked in 1997. The cloned animals affect our morality and rise up the problem of cloning children. The parents like to “order” their children which have better appearance and intelligence. It is the conflict between those who support the cloning animals and oppose the cloning animals. The development of the technology occur the problems that the parent reply on the technology for choosing their children. Maybe everyone is a copy cat from the cloning gene. There is no more unique person in the world. And everyone is the same. It is very frightened as everyone is looking at the same.
In Is rush into cloning another false scientific dawn? there are two different of cloning, “reproductive (making a new animal or human) and thera-peutic (making new cells which can be used for medical purposes including, hopefully, replacing defective cells in humans).” People think that reproductive cloning animals is a new term and it is not. In the 17th century, it was “sheep-blood transfusions” and the scientists consider different methods on cloning animals. We discover that the cloning animals is not the prefect one, the cloning animals still get diseases. The scientists think it was improvement about the cloning animals and reduce the diseases in the world. Is it really solving the problem? It may carry out the other diseases and spread it out. So, people afraid the new disease comes out and it is unsupportable.
All of the source give statements how Frankenstein affect the technologies development and technology how to affecting our daily life. In the recent period, the scientists would like to improve the system of the robots. Robots could helps the human and do everything. Although the robots do different kinds of works in our society, they cannot solve the aging population in the developed countries. The cloning of the animals carry human gene is affecting our morality. Moreover, the true is we cannot control the technology as it is powerful. So, it is fear concerning the technology and humanity.
Reference List:
K, C. (2007). Frankenstein complex: man’s obsession with & fear of technological advancement. Retrieved March 18, 2008, from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/381828/frankenstein_complex_mans_obsession.html.
Graham, E. L. (2003). Frankensteins and cyborgs: visions of the global future in an age of technology. Studies in Christian Ethics, 16(1). Retrieved March 20, 2008, from Academic Search Premier.
Leader. (2002, January 5). Is rush into cloning another false scientific dawn?. The Scotsman, pp. 13. Retrieved March 20, 2008 from ProQuest.
Liu, K. L. (2003). The probable future world forecasted in Mary Shelly’s ‘Frankenstein’ and H.G. Wells’ ‘The Time Machine’. Retrieved from March 18, 2008, from http://64.233.179.104/scholar?hl=zh-TW&lr=&q=cache:DVn74DKsF3gJ:www.knu.edu.tw/knu1/web/teach/cge/%25E6%2595%2599%25E8%2582%25B2%25E9%2583%25A8%25E7%25AC%25AC%25E4%25BA%258C%25E6%25A2%25AF%25E6%25AC%25A1%25E8%25A8%2588%25E5%258A%2583/5/paper/03/Frankenstein%2520and%2520The%2520Time%2520Machine.pdf+Frankenstein+and+technology
Waikato (2001, May 7). Cows and cloned babies tax us. Waikato Times, pp. 6. Retrieved March 20, 2008 from ProQuest.
The Standard (2008, January 10). Aging Japan looks to robots. The Standard. Retrieved March 21, 2008 from http://hk.news.yahoo.com/080109/318/2mqj8.html.
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2 comments:
I think your references are quite suitable for answering the question. At first you find an article that briefly explain the concept of “Frankenstein”, It is thoughtful for those who have no knowledge about it. The fear of Frankenstein technology, such as cloning and Cyborgs can be seen. There are good examples of the potential problems and side effects of the advancement of technology. I think you can provide more examples in a positive way that support such technology is good for our society, so that the essay can be more comprehensive and provide a strong argument.
Your webliography consist different perspectives to explore this question. It is very comprehensive as you have mentioned different issues such as robot, aging population and cloning. It is good that you provide a source that explaining the concept of Frankenstein. It seems that you have a more negative point of view towards the Frankenstein and I agree with you. It is true that technology will be more powerful as it is still developing. Although we are in the era of technology, we are fear of technology at the same time.
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