Why Should Frankenstein Scare Humans From Pursuing Scientific Research

How scientific research in today’s world expresses the true meaning of Frankenstein

Even if humans possess the power to do something, does it necessarily mean that they should? Mary Shelley's book Frankenstein shows how people who pursue power within research will have a lot of bad consequences. Why should Frankenstein scare humans from pursuing scientific research that defies the laws of nature? Victor Frankenstein created his creature because he was interested in and wanted to do it for the sake of scientific research. He did not exactly know the consequences that would come as a result of his creation. Cloning human beings, using biomedical enhancements, and making GMO’d foods is the type of technology that is being used today. No one

knows what the outcomes will be and no one knows if it is psychologically right to pursue this knowledge.
One of the most well known technologies that express why Frankenstein should scare humans from pursuing scientific research is cloning. Cloning humans is not psychologically and ethically right. There is no data or information on what the possible outcome may be and there is no past knowledge on how the humans and clones will interact. “...though whether that technology will be safe and effective, as well as legally permitted, is uncertain.” (Brock 1) shows how there is no past knowledge that can tell humans if cloning technology will be effective and safe in the future. In the book Frankenstein, Victor did not raise the question of what the long term result of this research would be. Another reason that cloning should scare humans is that it decreases the human values, individuality, and uniqueness which Brock expresses by “First, cloning would undermine our sense of individuality or uniqueness… [and] the value or worth of human beings” (Brock 1). Cloning would undermine the human values, individuality, and uniqueness. Mary Shelley displays this by writing about Dr. Frankenstein not wanting to make the monster a partner because he did not want monsters to constitute a new race. This shows how Frankenstein did not believe that the monster had any good in him, which shows that Victor does not think that the monster has human values; there would be no freedom for the clone. The last reason that cloning should scare humans is that even though a scientist gives a clone the human genome, does not mean that the clone and the human will be the exact same person after some time. Brock explains “...cloning would produce persons with identical genomes...possessing identical genomes will not lead to qualitatively identical individuals” (Brock 3). Cloning would generate clones with the same genome as a human, but because of different past experiences and different life choices, the clone and human will have different physical and psychological characteristics. Just like the monster had experiences, he turned out differently than expected. This would result in two different human beings. To tie-up, cloning might work out and be a good thing in the future, but no one knows how it will help and how clones may interact with humans and the book Frankenstein shows this.
Another example that shows how the book Frankenstein should scare humans from pursuing scientific research by defying the laws of nature is using a biomedical enhancement to make oneself better.

Biomedical enhancements have been used for a long time in everyday life and in sporting events, such as the Olympics, as “Ancient Greek athletes swallowed herbal infusions before competitions. The Egyptians brewed...Viagra at least 1,000 years before Christ… [and] European nations began adopting anti-doping laws in the mid-1960s, and the Olympic Games began testing athletes in 1968” (Mehlman 1). Biomedical enhancements have been used by Ancient Greeks and Egyptians. Steroid make sports unfair, which resulted in the European nations making anti-doping laws for athletes. Another reason that biomedical enhancements should scare humans is saving the youth. The youth of the world is very vulnerable to biomedical enhancements, which is shown by “Another vulnerable population is children...consume powerful, potentially dangerous enhancement substances” (Mehlman 2). Legitimizing these biomedical enhancements would make the youth of the world very vulnerable to these dangerous substances. They don’t understand the everlasting effects of the enhancements. The last reason that biomedical enhancements should scare humans is the true motivation for doing the research is not what it should be, which is explained by “...research focused on enhancement, rather than on therapy…” (Weckert 1). In a lot of cases, research for enhancements is not focused on therapeutical purposes, but is rather conducted for the sake of research. Victor Frankenstein believed that it was important to do research for the sake of research and not for any other reason. Mehlman explains that “Individuals may be vulnerable to harm not only from using enhancements, but from participating in experiments to see if an enhancement is safe and effective... [and] designed to ensure that the risks of the research are

outweighed by the potential benefits…” (Mehlman 3). Many people that volunteer to be research subjects sign documents that are designed to guarantee that the benefits of the research will outweigh the risks, but by being a research subject, these people do not understand that there can be risks and side effects which may lead to worse results. Frankenstein did not understand that by doing his research, other people could get hurt as a result of his actions. The benefits of what the monster could have done will never be known. To sum up, biomedical enhancements used by the Greeks and Egyptians were different than the ones being used today, as modern enhancements are dangerous for the youth and others because of the risks that could occur.
The last reason that the book Frankenstein should scare humans from pursuing scientific research is GMO. It is the way that farmers grow foods in the 21st century and it is unknown whether it will help or ruin the way of human life and food. GMO is changing the way food is grown and eaten and can be dangerous as expressed by "...the most dangerous thing facing human beings in our generation" (Caplan 1). This shows how GMO could be dangerous and how it is changing the way that food has been grown for many years. Another reason GMO is dangerous is that it is already having effects on animals. These effects are expressed by “...Paul, who is with the Organic Consumers Association: ‘“Calves are born too weak to walk, with enlarged joints and limb deformities”’(Caplan 1). GMO is having effects on the calves that are born from animals that have eaten GMO'd grasses and other foods. There are some reasons that GMO could help, such as “There is a way to get rid of...unstoppable plant diseases...starvation for hundreds of millions, and cost the world economy billions of dollars. Genetically modified organisms” (Caplan 2). Diseases that kill plants in many countries will make hundreds of millions of people starve, and subsequently cost billions of dollars. So, GMO would save those people from starvation and preserve billions of dollars for the world's economy. The monster was not born bad, however, Victor getting scared of and not making the monster a lover was the reason that the monster got angry. As GMO, the monster could have had some good qualities and could have helped the world, but because of his past experiences, he became angry. Genetically modifying foods is a type of technology that, again, the world doesn’t know enough about to determine whether or not it is going to be truly beneficial in the future, or, on the contrary, truly disastrous.
To conclude, Frankenstein shows how people who pursue power within research will have a lot of bad consequences. Should people be allowed to do scientific research today, even though they do not know what the outcome will look like? In Victor Frankenstein’s case, the consequences of his scientific research killed his whole family and everyone he loved. Cloning human beings, using biomedical enhancements, and making GMO’d foods is the type of technology that is being used today. No one knows if these technologies will turn out similar to the monster in Frankenstein. Even if the outcome will be beneficial to humans, does it mean that it is ethically correct to pursue this technology?