ipl-logo

Shelley's Argument Against Scientific Technology

562 Words3 Pages

We could use the novel, Frankenstein, as an argument against scientific technology that creates life forms or argue that it is not technology itself but the use to which it is put that presents an ethical problem. What is Shelley’s position? What is your position? Are we currently using or abusing nature for our benefit? Can we develop a “symbiotic” relationship with nature?
Mankind has always tried to understand and interpret the world. Seeking explanations of natural phenomena and the creation of human being, trying to benefit and improve their life style. We can see this in novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley or in movies like “ I, Robot” by Isaac Asimov. Scientifics discover or invent things trough technology for beneficial use, but what happen if things that scientists invented aren't beneficial? Most likely they have repercussions that eventually can affect. The technological advances of the last century lead to new projects, through genetic engineering and synthetic biology.
Interest in artificial life appears in the classical Greco-Latinos. We can see this idea taking as a basic point of reference in the work of Shelley with Frankenstein, which analyses taking into account the …show more content…

He created artificial life trying to explain how it originated. The cloned animals are another attempt to create artificial life, the experiments began in 1997 with Dolly the sheep. But the most common is the genetic manipulation trying to create new species or improve existing ones. Organisms genetically modified are called transgenic. Genetic manipulation has many benefits, improving crop is one of them. It supposes important progress in the fight against diseases such as diabetes, some cancers and others hereditary diseases. Although they have many advantages, they also pose ethical problems, often motivated by the interests and bad practices of multinational

Show More
Related
1189 Words | 5 Pages

They both talk about how it would affect the environment, whether it was positive or negative. When creating technology, the safety of humans, animals, and the environment should be a priority. Additionally, staying within ethical limits is crucial to ensuring the pros outweigh the cons. Shelly’s novel Frankenstein brings to life a story where Victor Frankenstein creates an advanced being using electricity and chemicals to reanimate the deceased once more. Harmlessly, the creature tells Victor, "Remember, thou hast made me more powerful than thyself; my height is superior to thine;my joints more supple."(89)

Read More
674 Words | 3 Pages

Scientists have been making advances in technology and science since the beginning of time. This may make life easier for us but no one ever thinks about the consequences, what bad can come out of all of this good? Who is to blame for the negative impact the advances can have on the world? Is it the Scientist or is it the people using it?

Read More
572 Words | 3 Pages

Effects of Technology Technological advancements has helped guide this world into many different directions. Technology has helped simplify life, it has changed how we communicate and it has solved many of the worlds problems. Many publications about the cloning of monkeys and “The Veldt” written by Ray Bradbury both prove that technology can have many detriments and benefits to our world. Technology in the well-known science fiction “The Veldt” was intended to be beneficial. In the Happylife Home the technology enabled the Hadleys to have time to themselves.

Read More
976 Words | 4 Pages

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is the story of a young man named Victor Frankenstein who does the unthinkable, creates life from dead flesh. Victor is a young, educated and wealthy member of society who grows up in a loving home with high standards of ethics and morality. He creates a creature out of impulse with little thought of its future well-being and abandons it carelessly. The creature is left to discover life without teaching or direction. Only when the creature impacts Victor’s life, by taking away his loved ones, is Victor forced to deal with the consequences of his own actions.

Read More
193 Words | 1 Pages

As society advances, so does technology, which has become instrumental to human kind as they attempt to discover why and how the universe works. Many technological advancements improve the quality of life, such as blood transfusions and facial recognition software, but some technology produced by mankind has been deemed too dangerous to use, such as the nuclear bomb, though it has been argued that the bomb was necessary for the victory that took place after its use. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the titular character Victor Frankenstein discovers just how dangerous the pursuit of knowledge can be when he, in his endeavors to create and discover the secret of life, inadvertently creates a monster who torments him. “Learn from me, if not by

Read More
1137 Words | 5 Pages

People are abusing nature for our benefit. The people of Earth can be symbiotic with nature, if technology is used in the right way. Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelly, is about the life of Victor Frankenstein and the creation of the monster. In Mary Shelly’s point of view, she exaggerates how technology is abused throughout the book. The exaggeration can be seen in the book, especially the scene where Victor creates the monster.

Read More
1775 Words | 8 Pages

Exactly who was Mary Shelley, the woman? Mary Shelley was the daughter of two of the most influential authors of their times. She longed to live up to the reputation of her parents. She then eloped with and later married a man destined to become one of the greatest poets in the English romantic tradition. Although she did publish many works of fiction and nonfiction during her life that were generally well received, she was best known for the work she did as Percy's literary executor.

Read More
473 Words | 2 Pages

One of the central themes of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is that the “acquirement of knowledge” is something that is not only detrimental to human society, but also destructive to our very humanity. It is a theme that is hard to understand considering that the pursuit of knowledge is both noble and essential to our progressing as a human race, but it is one worth investigating as there is some element of truth in the statement. The idea that knowledge can be destructive is an old one. From the Garden of Eden to the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, humans have demonstrated our ability to use the knowledge we have gained for self-serving reasons.

Read More
679 Words | 3 Pages

Through the passing of time, Mary Shelley grew into the writer she would have never imagined to become. London born in 1797, Mary Shelley celebrated her birthday on August 30, and was only able to celebrate it with her father William Godwin because her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, passed away eleven days after birth due to birth complications. The role model she continued to have was her father, who happened to be a philosopher and political writer and her half-sister Fanny Imlay. Soon after, Shelley’s father remarried a woman named Mary Jane Clairmont which brought along her step-sisters then a brother was created by both. For many reasons Shelley did not get along with her step-mother causing her to find no reasons for Shelley to receive

Read More
1657 Words | 7 Pages

Mary Shelley, author of the book of Frankenstein, she writes “Yet, when I considered the improvement which every day takes place in science and mechanics, I was encouraged to hope my present attempts would at least lay the foundations of future success”(Shelley 73). The goal for Frankenstein to work hard in science is to gain “future success” and glory instead of doing this for the purpose of benefiting the society. In addition, Alan Rauch, professor of English at the University of North Carolina, he states that “Haraway's advocacy for ‘situated knowledges,’ which ‘are about communities, not about isolated individuals’(590)” (Rauch 236). Frankenstein’s creation of the creature does not give any value to the society, but more destructions to the society.

Read More
1191 Words | 5 Pages

Numerous research has concluded that several emotional bonds exist between humanity and nature that can impact everything from attitude to anxiety. Novels of the romanticism period, a significant literary era that encompassed most European works written in the early 1800’s, are most known for describing the impacts that nature has on people and implying that unexpected consequences can arise out of this relationship; Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a prime example of such a novel. The prime conflict of this 1818 science-fiction story occurs between the titular character, Victor Frankenstein, and a monster he creates through his own scientific innovations. Because of Victor’s abandonment of the monster, it becomes intent on destroying the scientist’s

Read More
1801 Words | 8 Pages

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is closely related to the current issue of genetic engineering. Shelley’s main character, Victor Frankenstein, is a scientific engineer who brings different parts of people’s bodies together to make a new creation. This new creation at first seemed good to Victor however, he was eventually overcome by it. Genetic engineering is not only gene manipulation; it is a desire to take parts of an organism and create a new living thing. Shelley was 17 years old when she wrote Frankenstein almost 200 years ago and although young, her perceptions of what is good or evil, what is beautiful or monstrous, are topics today that are discussed in relation to genetic engineering, gene manipulation and mutation.

Read More
2180 Words | 9 Pages

Representation of Scientists in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Towards the end of the 19th century, the portrayal of science in literature became more frequent than before; science has been progressing and it began to spark the interest of the readers of fiction. Supernatural elements in stories have been ascribed to scientists and experiments rather than God and miracles. However, since science still covered much of the unknown and inexplicable, the characters of scientists have occasionally been given almost godlike powers, thus prompting the readers to consider the question of morality. The scientist characters in both Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde have initially been successful with their scientific experiments and achieved groundbreaking discoveries, but have ultimately been punished for having gone too far with their experiments on humanity.

Read More
672 Words | 3 Pages

In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the idea of the natural world is recurring and helps relate many characters with nature. Victor Frankenstein, the protagonist in the novel, has a very close and unique relationship with the natural world. In Victor’s life, the idea of the sublime or the natural world comes up in emotional and significant moments. Nature changes Victor’s mood, forms his character, and shows his growth through poetic devices. In Frankenstein, nature directly affects what Victor sees and feels.

Read More
883 Words | 4 Pages

The knowledge possessed by human beings is the one that is destroying them. The incorporation of science and technology has recently led to inventions that and creation of robots and genetically modified animals. Some of the animals created to turn out to be hazardous, and they attack and even kill their creators and other innocent creatures. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein story had covered all these evils and their possible

Read More

More about Shelley's Argument Against Scientific Technology

Related Topics

Open Document