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Frankenstein and Robocop
As it happens, I was just on a plane, and not being a movie buff, was able to watch several movies including Robocop. This is about a policeman who gets blown up by criminals, and the doctors and scientists salvage his brain, lungs and arms to make him into a mix between a human and a robot, as a law enforcer. This movie, like Frankenstein, is basically about philosophy.

Well that is how I read it. Robocop is a sort of Frankenstein monster. The problems include what the world could become if we allow some of the current trends in technology, politics and law to continue and grow, how far robotic enhancements of human abilities should be permitted, and the ethics of extreme enforcement, such as finding criminal suspects who can hide from ordinary detection methods and killing them.

How much has the Frankenstein myth inspired other monsters, such as The Hulk, Robocop and others?

Robert Tulip wrote:Frankenstein and Robocop
As it happens, I was just on a plane, and not being a movie buff, was able to watch several movies including Robocop. This is about a policeman who gets blown up by criminals, and the doctors and scientists salvage his brain, lungs and arms to make him into a mix between a human and a robot, as a law enforcer. This movie, like Frankenstein, is basically about philosophy.

Well that is how I read it. Robocop is a sort of Frankenstein monster. The problems include what the world could become if we allow some of the current trends in technology, politics and law to continue and grow, how far robotic enhancements of human abilities should be permitted, and the ethics of extreme enforcement, such as finding criminal suspects who can hide from ordinary detection methods and killing them.

How much has the Frankenstein myth inspired other monsters, such as The Hulk, Robocop and others?

The singularity between man and machine (technological enhancements that will improve the species) will be the next leap in evolution. Along with that will come new ethical and moral concerns.

When our machines are able to reproduce themselves in superior ways to "themselves" at that moment the human race will become obsolete.

Robert, you raise an interesting point. I saw the original "RoboCop" movie, but have not see any of the sequels, TV adaptations, etc. As I am reading "Frankenstein" for the first time, I really can't make any comparisons yet. The concept of the mechanical man (or woman) is not a new one. The android, a robot in the shape of a human being is a staple of science fiction. Think of Commander Data on "Star Trek, TNG" of the female android on the older TV series, "Mann and Machine." As for the cyborg (part human, part machine), this has been around for a long time. The plots, if not the titles of innumerable cyborg stories are rolling around in my head as I write this; of course the "Six Million Dollar Man/Bionic Woman" tv series come to mind.

Maybe I can discuss this in more detail when I have finished the book.

The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells comes to mind too. Well, not the tech part, but the construction part.