Emotional Understanding: Brains vs. AI

In both Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Isaac Asimov’s “Robot Dreams,” an unnatural being is created by scientists to simulate human intelligence and behavior. However, because the monster in Frankenstein possesses a human brain and Elvex in “Robot Dreams” possesses an artificial computer system, there is a fundamental difference that provides an insight into what it means to be a human: emotional understanding of oneself and one’s surroundings. Throughout the novel, the monster is very much aware of himself as a creature to be spurned by other humans, which then drives his villainous actions against them. At the end of the novel, he claims to Walton “your abhorrence cannot equal that with which I regard myself,” clearly demonstrating that he is self-aware of not only the morality of his own actions, but also himself and how others perceive him  (Shelley, Chapter 24). In contrast, Elvex shows no such emotional understanding of his situation. He proclaims to the doctor that he was the man in his dreams pronouncing, “Let my people go!” without a regard for how the doctor might perceive this statement (Asimov 5). One can only imagine that had Elvex been able to emotionally understand how the doctor would perceive this statement, he would not have said it. However, due to the fundamental incapacities of his computer system to act as a brain, he says it anyway – and realizes his downfall as he is fatally shot by the doctor.