The Frankenstein

 

People made machines, but they couldn't dominate the machines. Instead, they were bitten by the machines. 

  

Until recently, after reading the full version, I didn't know that this novel, known as the mother of science fiction, contains infinite connotations beyond scientific and technological issues.

Frankenstein ambitiously created a very ugly giant, hoping to win admiration as a life maker. But the created monster did not obey Frankenstein's wishes. Instead, he killed Frankenstein's relatives one after another, causing Frankenstein, who was bathed in happiness, to be severely injured physically and mentally, and finally died of anger. This seems to reveal a major theme in the development of Western society to modern civilization: human beings conquer nature without scruple and desire to change the laws of nature, but opposing nature is destined to be punished. The world we currently live in is surrounded by machines. The machine seems inanimate, but it is not completely under our control. The machine we invented is like Frankenstein's giant, with its own, unconstrained will. Cars have brought convenience to transportation, but they have also brought about car accidents and deaths; mobile phones have broken the barriers of space, but we have since been overwhelmed by harassing text messages, advertisements, and spam. Air pollution, genetically modified foods, test-tube babies, and cloned sheep are constantly torturing us. Technology has brought about an explosion of productivity, but it has also brought about massive unemployment, making people's labor repetitive and mechanical. When we are madly asking for technology, technology is constantly retaliating against us like Frankenstein's weirdos.

   The greatest machine resistance in human history is the two world wars. Thanks to high-tech weapons, global wars have become possible. A ten-year war swallowed 50 million lives, which is simply unthinkable in the era of cold weapons. The more advanced the technology, the greater the danger we face. With the development of technology, we find ourselves living in an increasingly uncontrollable world. This uncontrollable extreme is that the homeland of mankind—the earth—is destroyed by mankind himself, just as Frankenstein was destroyed by the giant he created. At this point, I have to admire the great foresight of the author Mary Shelley (this should be the reason why great novels are great-beyond the limitations of the horizons of the times). After all, the age of the industrial revolution is just the beginning of science and technology. Rampant to the point of destroying mankind.

Another question in the book is what is the ultimate fate of mankind? In other words, what can make us truly happy? Fromm mentioned in "The Art of Love" that the difference between humans and animals lies in the consciousness of transcending instincts. We are aware of the existence of ourselves and others, we are aware that we are going to die. To some extent, human beings are separated from nature and therefore face uncertainty that animals do not. So humans feel lonely and fearful. Unless we realize the union with others, we cannot eliminate our fear and loneliness, and we will eventually go to madness and destruction. Fromm puts forward a short and powerful summary in the book: Without love, we can't live for a day.

   The encounter after the giant was created confirms this point. After being created, the giant slowly realized his existence. But he doesn't know who he is, and he doesn't have any sense of belonging. Therefore it desperately desires human love. But because the giants are huge and ugly, they scare humans away no matter where they go, and they are even beaten repeatedly. Although the giants are kind-hearted, they have rescued drowning girls.

In order to communicate with humans, to gain the care and dependence between people. The giant hides outside the window of a family, learning human language and knowledge day after day. In this process, he learned about the process of human history, the establishment of the Roman Empire, the discovery of America, and various basic skills. But can all this make giants happy? Can't! All this is to make the giant's self-awareness and loneliness continue to strengthen, and the desire for love becomes stronger. Because it took the initiative to communicate with that family and was beaten up, the psychology of the original kind giant went to extremes. It crazily wanted to retaliate against Frankenstein, who created it and eventually killed Frankenstein’s relatives one after another...

   Frankenstein's experience is the same as that of giants. The ambitious acquisition of knowledge eventually destroyed his peaceful and happy life, and he was surrounded by fear all day long. The story of Mary Shelley seems to be the same as Rousseau, anti-intellectual,
and anti-rational. This view makes us panic. After all, without the ever-developing intelligence and brain, we cannot enjoy such a splendid civilization and abundant material conditions today. But anti-rationalism, after all, raises deafening questions about our spiritual fate. In fact, the ancient Greeks had already tortured this question. The story of Prometheus stealing sky fire in Greek mythology can be interpreted as Prometheus bringing wisdom to ignorant humans, or it can be understood as Prometheus violating the laws of nature and being punished by the gods.

   Human beings have developed rationality and self-consciousness in the struggle for survival. But with the development of civilization, it is increasing inequality that machines continue to take over the role of people, eroding our culture and spiritual home. Mary Shelley was writing the novel at the beginning of the 19th century, which was the peak of the industrial revolution. Before that, there has never been a period in human history where development has been so rapid and the way of life has undergone such tremendous changes. Machines replaced the labor force on a large scale. Man becomes a slave to the machine, a screw on the big machine of society. Individuality, initiative, and creativity have been stifled like never before. The rule of the machine has also caused the social division of labor and large-scale migration to cities. The original stable rural communities were destroyed and replaced by atomic individuals who were strangers to each other in the city. In this process, social productivity has snowballed, and knowledge has increased like a nuclear explosion. But the emotional bond that humans rely on for survival has also been destroyed as never before. Our age worships wealth and personal achievements crazily, and the accumulation of material wealth is unprecedented in history. But all that rewards us is the deeper and deeper estrangement between people, the increasingly powerful values, and the exponential increase in alcoholism, depression, drug abuse, and suicide. This seems to be a ruthless mockery of the value of reason and material wealth.