When Mary Wollstonecraft wrote her classic, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, in 1818, she raised questions about the advisability of humans trying to create life artificially. Two hundred years later, technological advancements in science have put us on the cusp of Shelley's fictional Gothic horror story becoming a nonfictional unknown. Yet Shelley's questions are no less valid today, probably even more pertinent. A Modern Prometheus, Again? is a science-fiction story set in the present that echoes Shelley's questions. What does the efforts by humans to intercede at the foundational elements of life portend? What consequences may there be at seeking to apply human knowledge to mysterious circumstances? Mary Shelley quoted from John Milton's Paradise Lost on her title page. It seems appropriate to restate it here: Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay To mold me man? Did I solicit thee From darkness to promote me?
When Mary Wollstonecraft wrote her classic, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, in 1818, she raised questions about the advisability of humans trying to create life artificially. Two hundred years later, technological advancements in science have put us on the cusp of Shelley's fictional Gothic horror story becoming a nonfictional unknown. Yet Shelley's questions are no less valid today, probably even more pertinent. A Modern Prometheus, Again? is a science-fiction story set in the present that echoes Shelley's questions. What does the efforts by humans to intercede at the foundational elements of life portend? What consequences may there be at seeking to apply human knowledge to mysterious circumstances? Mary Shelley quoted from John Milton's Paradise Lost on her title page. It seems appropriate to restate it here: Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay To mold me man? Did I solicit thee From darkness to promote me?
