The world of today is one of high performance. Everyone strives to be bigger, faster, stronger, and more efficient. However, this is not limited to humans. In man’s power hungry frenzy, unbelievable technological and scientific advances are made all the time. This can become dangerous as technology and biology are being integrated. Man now has the ability to read and partially understand the genetic code that every living organism has which creates many opportunities for scientists. At what point should man say “Should we?” instead of “Could we?”? At what point does man need to stop trying to play God and allow God’s creation to continue naturally? Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein demonstrates the dilemmas that parallel the topic of bioethics since
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The mythical story of Prometheus involves the creation of man from mud and clay. Prometheus then stole fire from the other gods and gave it to humans, much out of disrespect to Zeus. Zeus argued that humans are more suited for not knowing some things, as it makes them have respect for the gods, however Prometheus did not listen (Stripling 18). The fire from Prometheus gave humans a meaning for life and somewhat freed them from being dependent on the gods. Prometheus thought the fire would make their lives better. This fire arguably gave humans knowledge, allowing them to achieve things they could not have otherwise dreamed of (Stripling 19). This issue is easily translatable to modern science, in the sense that everyday man does something that was formerly thought unachievable. The dilemma arises in Frankenstein with the creation of life from the previously dead. Victor Frankenstein’s obsession with trying to find a way to bring the dead back to life (ultimately wanting to bring his dead mother back to life) led to the creation of something horrendous, and much like modern scientists he did not realize the negative effect of his creation until it was too late. Readers come to understand this when Victor
The mythical story of Prometheus involves the creation of man from mud and clay. Prometheus then stole fire from the other gods and gave it to humans, much out of disrespect to Zeus. Zeus argued that humans are more suited for not knowing some things, as it makes them have respect for the gods, however Prometheus did not listen (Stripling 18). The fire from Prometheus gave humans a meaning for life and somewhat freed them from being dependent on the gods. Prometheus thought the fire would make their lives better. This fire arguably gave humans knowledge, allowing them to achieve things they could not have otherwise dreamed of (Stripling 19). This issue is easily translatable to modern science, in the sense that everyday man does something that was formerly thought unachievable. The dilemma arises in Frankenstein with the creation of life from the previously dead. Victor Frankenstein’s obsession with trying to find a way to bring the dead back to life (ultimately wanting to bring his dead mother back to life) led to the creation of something horrendous, and much like modern scientists he did not realize the negative effect of his creation until it was too late. Readers come to understand this when Victor