{"id":115,"date":"2015-09-01T21:43:41","date_gmt":"2015-09-02T02:43:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/robot\/?p=115"},"modified":"2015-09-01T21:43:41","modified_gmt":"2015-09-02T02:43:41","slug":"the-consequences-of-the-creator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/robot\/2015\/09\/the-consequences-of-the-creator\/","title":{"rendered":"The Consequences of the Creator"},"content":{"rendered":"

One thing that I saw as a potential link between Asimov’s Robot Dreams<\/em> and Shelley’s Frankenstein <\/em>was the startling reluctance, or even fear, to confront the weighty mantle of responsibility that comes with creation. With Robot Dreams<\/em>, the scientists were both surprised and threatened by Elvex’s burgeoning self-awareness. They were lost in their thinking that beings they had created for the sole purpose of labor and protection, would not eventually think to live for themselves. Their error was in being obsessed with the idea that they could give life and thought, without concern over dealing with the complexities and depth that life and thinking bring along.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0Frankenstein, <\/em>Victor faces a similar temptation to prove his own potency for creation. He too is not prepared for the aftermath of creation, but unlike the scientists in Robot Dreams, <\/em>who destroy Elvex almost immediately upon confirming his self-awareness, Victor never reaches this point. This is what allows his creation to kill innocent individuals as to lash out against Victor. It’s important to remember that the reason Frankenstein lashes out in such brutal ways is because of Victor’s abandonment. This abandonment of Victor, coupled with the fear and retaliation of Dr. Calvin and Dr. Rash towards Elvex, represent the irony of creation that occurs in each story.<\/p>\n

Both Victor and the scientists desire to create, and thus exercise control over life, while remaining wholly out of control and unwilling to adjust in regards to the ways in which that created life manifests itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One thing that I saw as a potential link between Asimov’s Robot Dreams and Shelley’s Frankenstein was the startling reluctance, or even fear, to confront the weighty mantle of responsibility that comes with creation. With Robot Dreams, the scientists were … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4326,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-frankenstein"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/robot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/robot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/robot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/robot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4326"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/robot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/robot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/robot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115\/revisions\/128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/robot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/robot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/robot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}