Frankenstein : Annotated for Scientists, Engineers, and Creators of All Kinds
Guston, David H.
Frankenstein : Annotated for Scientists, Engineers, and Creators of All Kinds - Cambridge The MIT Press 2017 - 1 electronic resource (320 p.)
Open Access
The original 1818 text of Mary Shelley's classic novel, with annotations and essays highlighting its scientific, ethical, and cautionary aspects. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein has endured in the popular imagination for two hundred years. Begun as a ghost story by an intellectually and socially precocious eighteen-year-old author during a cold and rainy summer on the shores of Lake Geneva, the dramatic tale of Victor Frankenstein and his stitched-together creature can be read as the ultimate parable of scientific hubris. Victor, “the modern Prometheus,” tried to do what he perhaps should have left to Nature: create life. Although the novel is most often discussed in literary-historical terms—as a seminal example of romanticism or as a groundbreaking early work of science fiction—Mary Shelley was keenly aware of contemporary scientific developments and incorporated them into her story. In our era of synthetic biology, artificial intelligence, robotics, and climate engineering, this edition of Frankenstein will resonate forcefully for readers with a background or interest in science and engineering, and anyone intrigued by the fundamental questions of creativity and responsibility. This edition of Frankenstein pairs the original 1818 version of the manuscript—meticulously line-edited and amended by Charles E. Robinson, one of the world's preeminent authorities on the text—with annotations and essays by leading scholars exploring the social and ethical aspects of scientific creativity raised by this remarkable story. The result is a unique and accessible edition of one of the most thought-provoking and influential novels ever written. Essays by Elizabeth Bear, Cory Doctorow, Heather E. Douglas, Josephine Johnston, Kate MacCord, Jane Maienschein, Anne K. Mellor, Alfred Nordmann
Creative Commons
English
mitpress/10815.001.0001 9780262340267 9780262533287
10.7551/mitpress/10815.001.0001 doi
Classic fiction (pre c 1945)
Classic science fiction
science fiction gothic horror European British literature fiction cautionary tale STEM science bioethics classic bicentennial Josephine Johnston Cory Doctorow Jane Maienschein Kate MacCord Alfred Nordmann Elizabeth Bear Anne K. Mellor Heather E. Douglas Frankenstein Creature Monster Mary Shelley Makers women in science science and anti-science values in science responsible innovation Industrial Revolution Mary Wollstonecraft William Godwin Percy Bysshe Shelley Galvanism Mount Tambora Myths Two Cultures epistolary novel Victor Frankenstein Geneva Prometheus Arctic Lord Byron John Polidori ghost stories Revisions Electricity Lightning Vitalism Chemistry Extinction Magnetism Moral responsibility Legal responsibility Social responsibility Consequences Obligations Ethics Maker Culture DIY Technology Adjacent Possible Facebook Surveillance Aristotle Fetal development Epigenesis Embryo Person Technoscience Alchemy uncanny valley animation complexity Morality Monstrosity Christianity Otherness Gender Nature Domestic Affections Women Sexuality Technical Sweetness Los Alamos Trinity Test Scientific Responsibility Nuclear Weapons adjacent possible synthetic biology robotics
Frankenstein : Annotated for Scientists, Engineers, and Creators of All Kinds - Cambridge The MIT Press 2017 - 1 electronic resource (320 p.)
Open Access
The original 1818 text of Mary Shelley's classic novel, with annotations and essays highlighting its scientific, ethical, and cautionary aspects. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein has endured in the popular imagination for two hundred years. Begun as a ghost story by an intellectually and socially precocious eighteen-year-old author during a cold and rainy summer on the shores of Lake Geneva, the dramatic tale of Victor Frankenstein and his stitched-together creature can be read as the ultimate parable of scientific hubris. Victor, “the modern Prometheus,” tried to do what he perhaps should have left to Nature: create life. Although the novel is most often discussed in literary-historical terms—as a seminal example of romanticism or as a groundbreaking early work of science fiction—Mary Shelley was keenly aware of contemporary scientific developments and incorporated them into her story. In our era of synthetic biology, artificial intelligence, robotics, and climate engineering, this edition of Frankenstein will resonate forcefully for readers with a background or interest in science and engineering, and anyone intrigued by the fundamental questions of creativity and responsibility. This edition of Frankenstein pairs the original 1818 version of the manuscript—meticulously line-edited and amended by Charles E. Robinson, one of the world's preeminent authorities on the text—with annotations and essays by leading scholars exploring the social and ethical aspects of scientific creativity raised by this remarkable story. The result is a unique and accessible edition of one of the most thought-provoking and influential novels ever written. Essays by Elizabeth Bear, Cory Doctorow, Heather E. Douglas, Josephine Johnston, Kate MacCord, Jane Maienschein, Anne K. Mellor, Alfred Nordmann
Creative Commons
English
mitpress/10815.001.0001 9780262340267 9780262533287
10.7551/mitpress/10815.001.0001 doi
Classic fiction (pre c 1945)
Classic science fiction
science fiction gothic horror European British literature fiction cautionary tale STEM science bioethics classic bicentennial Josephine Johnston Cory Doctorow Jane Maienschein Kate MacCord Alfred Nordmann Elizabeth Bear Anne K. Mellor Heather E. Douglas Frankenstein Creature Monster Mary Shelley Makers women in science science and anti-science values in science responsible innovation Industrial Revolution Mary Wollstonecraft William Godwin Percy Bysshe Shelley Galvanism Mount Tambora Myths Two Cultures epistolary novel Victor Frankenstein Geneva Prometheus Arctic Lord Byron John Polidori ghost stories Revisions Electricity Lightning Vitalism Chemistry Extinction Magnetism Moral responsibility Legal responsibility Social responsibility Consequences Obligations Ethics Maker Culture DIY Technology Adjacent Possible Facebook Surveillance Aristotle Fetal development Epigenesis Embryo Person Technoscience Alchemy uncanny valley animation complexity Morality Monstrosity Christianity Otherness Gender Nature Domestic Affections Women Sexuality Technical Sweetness Los Alamos Trinity Test Scientific Responsibility Nuclear Weapons adjacent possible synthetic biology robotics