Through the intensive search of relevant articles/journals on the internet, I found some articles might be useful in answering the question of analyzing some of the ways in which Frankenstein haunts discussion of recent technologies. I find that the major concern of current technologies relating to the fear of Frankenstein is about the new reproductive technologies, such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), cloning and etc. The following are my findings.
1. In the article “Curse of Frankenstein” written by Jon Turney, he stated that we are less “able to escape the shadow of a fictional monster” (Turney, par. 1), Frankenstein when our technology become more advance. He uses the monstrous figure of Frankenstein to relate to the current biotechnology and explained why we still fear of the story, which is because the power over the body it the power we most desired and most feared, and “is now ours for the asking” (Turney, par. 12). He also stated that the myth of Frankenstein cannot help in deciding to deal with the current life science and technology. “What we need are ways of choosing which science to promote, which to curb” (Turney, par. 14). This article is helpful in answering the guiding question, for it has discussed how much we wanted to control the body and the fear of the monstrosity we may have created by manipulating such technology over the course of the history of biotechnology. It also gives me a general idea of how Frankenstein is linked to the new reproductive technologies.
2. In the editorial “Letters to Dr. Frankenstein? Ethics and the new reproductive technologies” by Henk Ten Have, it introduces some of the new reproductive technologies, such as IVF, GIFT and ZIFT. Also, it uses a large proportion of the writing to discuss the ethical issues of manipulating such technologies, mainly IVF. The author discusses deeply about whether the use of IVF to help the infertility to have children is valid or not, because each technology needs scientific assessment before it is allowed to proliferate. However, IVF is not justified by its scientific assessment. This article is largely focus on the moral issues about the new reproductive technologies with little mention about the fear of the figure of Frankenstein. However, I think it is still useful in answering the guiding question for it provides a detailed debate on whether using IVF is valid or not, and the new reproductive technologies are actually very similar to the tale of Frankenstein and the debate of IVF is linked closely to the fear of Frankenstein. Also, it provides an in-depth look on how we think about IVF.
3. In the essay “The curse of Frankenstein: Visions of technology and society in the debate over new reproductive technologies” by Brian P. Bloomfield and Theo Vurdubakis, it also talks about the debate of the new reproductive technologies, such as cloning and designer baby. The essay gives us a general history of the new reproductive technologies, from cloning case of ‘Dolly’, ‘Polly’ and the first human clone ‘Eve’ to the designer baby ‘Adam’. This essay lead us from case to case of the controversies about the use of the new reproductive technologies. The authors will discuss the issues of each case and also quoting other scholars’ thinking for more discussion on an issue. This essay is also useful in answering the guiding question, because it gave me the views that the aforementioned articles lack of, such as the case of cloning and designer baby. It tells us how we fear the possible consequences of manipulating the new reproductive technologies and the continuous debate about such issues in a broader view.
4. It the article of “The creation lottery: final lessons from natural reproduction: Why those who accept natural reproduction should accept cloning and other Frankenstein reproductive technologies” by Julian Savulescu and John Harris, it gives us an interesting view that it takes a position on pro-Frankenstein reproductive technologies, which is opposite to the previous articles. The argument of this article is that the artificial reproduction method is able to reduce the loss rate of embryos and reduce the possibilities of having a genetically abnormal child, while the natural reproduction method is not able to do that. Also, they stated that it would be our obligation to have a healthier child and reduce the death rate of embryos if those new reproduction technologies, such as cloning, IVF, etc. are able achieve these goals. I think this article is quite useful in answering the guiding question, because it provides a counterargument for the debate on the controversial new reproduction technologies. The views of this article and broaden the view of my answer to the question.
5. In the article of “Re-engineering the human: New reproductive technologies and the specter of Frankenstein” by Brian P. Bloomfield and Theo Vurdubakis, it follows a similar plot of the aforementioned article that is written by the same authors. It also uses cases of new reproductive technologies to illustrate their view upon the use of these technologies. The article quoted a lot from the news coverage and scholars, which could give us how the media and the experts respond to such events. Also, the quotation helped the authors on explaining their views on the new reproductive technologies. In my point of view, this article is just fairly helpful on answering the guiding question. It is not because the arguments and information in it is not rich enough, but it quite similar to the previous article by the same writers, which means that it, is not able to provide me more views and arguments on this issue as compared to the others.
In conclusion, the concern about the new reproductive technologies seems to be overwhelming. According to my search result, a large proportion of the results are about this issue. So, I decided to focus on the debate of the new reproductive technologies rather than the other topics. In my opinion, the fear of the new reproductive technologies is quite similar to the fear of Frankenstein. It is because, in the process of cloning and making designer baby is actually put us in the position of modern Prometheus which match with the subtitle of the Frankenstein novel. As we still not able to understand fully about manipulating the power over the body, the debate about the new reproductive technologies will continue and the shadow of Frankenstein will not disappeared any time soon.
1. Bloomfield, Brian, Theo Vurdubakis, “Re-Engineering the Human: New Reproductive Technologies and the Specter of Frankenstein”
2. Bloomfield, Brian, Theo Vurdubakis, “The Curse Of Frankenstein: Visions of Technology and Society in the Debate over New Reproductive Technologies”
3. Have, Henk Ten, “Letters to Dr. Frankenstein? Ethics and the New Reproductive Technologies”
4. Savulescu, Julian, John Harris, “The Creation Lottery: Final Lessons from Natural Reproduction: Why Those Who Accept Natural Reproduction Should Accept Cloning and Other Frankenstein Reproductive Technologies”
5. Turney, Jon, “Curse of Frankenstein”
In my point of view, Allan seems worked hard in his work. He summarised five articles in a detail way and, further, linked up with the articles. Each article can be a supplement of another. Before discussion, he chose what will be discussed in the body and made up a conclusion with the information observed in the article.
ReplyDeleteI suggested that Allan can give more opinion on the Frankenstein and discuss it in depth.
Allan's summary had provided detail ideas about why people afraid about the negative side of bio-technologies, especially the reproduction technologies. As bio-science are developing rapidly these years, those technology are highly possible tobe appear in the future. These ideas help us to re-think about the issue and be prepare about it.
ReplyDeleteIn my point of view, I think Allan did quite well in his webliography. He clearly showed his understandings to these five articles and summarized them in a detail way.Also, he linked these articles logically, each article is a supplement of another as James mentioned.
ReplyDeleteI suggest Allan can give some opinion on the side effect of other technology other than only focusing on the side effect of bio-science in the conclusion,such as the side effect of overly using the computer, leading the occurrence of hikky.This is also linked to the fear of technology in relation to the tale of Frankenstein.