Frankenstein: the Modern Prometheus (Book)
By ai-depot | June 30, 2002
Discover how this epic story has many philosophical insights into the creation of life, and how it affects research in virtual lives. We also look into two other minor aspects of the creature’s story, and detail how they have relevant insights into Artificial Intelligence.
Written by Alex J. Champandard.
Overview
It was a dark, bleak Thursday evening, reminiscent of all the other nights that week. I daringly ventured outside, and rushed towards the six storey building beside George Square. I walked into the library. Picking myself up off the floor in pain, I checked for shattered limbs and resolved to find the door. I quickly pushed my way up to the 4th floor, fighting through a multitude of frozen students huddled up like penguins, all waiting for the right moment to confront the weather. My spirits were instantly raised when, a few minutes later, I found the reason for my visit. Tucked away among the shelves, I managed to dig out a very old book, which seemed to have been forgotten since the 1970s. I jumped off the bookshelf, and wandered back down stairs.
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To be perfectly honest, I’m still not quite sure why I chose that book in particular, since many other 2nd or 3rd floor books were much better candidates. Having not seen either films, or read this classic, I suppose I felt obliged to do so at least once before my bitter end. Not to mention the fact I was thinking of naming my bots after it ;)
Anyway, to get on with the review: the book is worthy of its status as a ‘classic’. It’s a very good read, despite the story not advancing at great pace. The style and depth of the writing is enough to keep you captivated throughout. The content itself was surprising to me, having not heard a whisper about it. I was expecting a thriller type horror story. The hype around it leads you to believe in such an action packed scenario. However, I would not personally class it as a horror book, despite there being many shocking scenes. It is more of a meta-philosophical reflection upon the creation of life, via an in depth analysis of the main characters.
Who exactly is Prometheus? In an ancient Greek legend, Prometheus stole fire from the gods. As punishment, he was chained to a rock, where an eagle plucked at his liver each day. Haughty Prometheus sought fire for human betterment–to make tools and warm hearts. In a very similar fashion, Victor Frankenstein, the talented arrogant scientist steals life from the gods, and is consumed by regret, worry and fear.
In these days of crazy Italian doctors and cloning, this book is more relevant than ever. But where does Artificial Intelligence come into play? The creation of a virtual life is at least as much of an ethical issue as its biological counterpart. We’ll look into this in the next section of the review. The story also contains two lesser topics which are also key for the creation of intelligent beings. The first deals with the manner in which a creature gets to learn and understand to use its senses, which we’ll deal with in the third section of the review. And finally, learning by imitation will be tackled in the final part of the review, and we will show its importance for A.I. and extrapolate possible uses.
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