Monday, November 28, 2011

Frankenstein Complex?

Please contemplate your final thoughts regarding the Frankenstein Complex and what the concept, read texts, and film made you think about humanity and the technology/science that we create. Please use at least one qoutation from the stories we read, and complete during class today.

30 comments:

  1. Frankenstein Complex is one of the easiest complex to figure out; they just want to be normal. But you see it from a 'alien' point of view or out of the norm type. Just like in Mimicry, Mita wants to be just like Fen but when she realized she tells her that she wants to switch places so she can say that she knows what it's like to be 'normal'. It's also the same with people who have disabilities; like me. When I grew up in a 'normal' atmosphere all I wanted was to be like other's; have a normal hearing. So I wouldn't be made fun of behind my back and I couldn't hear what they would say.

    ReplyDelete
  2. looking at all the stories that we have read regarding the Frankenstein Complex really show how different and new technological enhancements can have a very large impact on peoples lives and how they have to either cooperate with it or change it so that everything seems to work in harmony. When Mita takes Fen and ties her down and cuts her open just so they can switch spots and really become one another is a fantasist way i feel like of technology taking over the human society.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Frankenstein Complex is usually described as something a bit strange seemingly normal. It may not be seen yet or really known, but when it does come out in the open it becomes demented and awkward, and the people are terrified of it. It sometimes is normal and sometimes really is a monster, like Mita. The beast has to be driven away and usually either destroyed or come to normal, because it cant be living near the people. Even with Robots, they are really the strange ones even when they try to replace humans, the human factor wins out somewhere, even if it means just taking the credit for putting in a peice of paper. The 'frankenstein' is really probably a thing with thoughts and feelings, just deformed. They cannot be accepted as normal."a potbellied man leading two children came into the store then, pointing at Ceedeesy and me and whispering; we left."
    -Gretchen Spurgeon

    ReplyDelete
  4. The Frankenstein complex makes me think more about how when we do create smart technology, that the technology that we think is harmless, can actually take advantage of us and make us think about the negative side or dark side of that specific machine. "I saw her watching us from the top of the stairs" This quote goes to show that a servant that has machine and robot qualities begs to be more human like just because humans can have anything and i think sometimes in these stories that the robot wanted to have the same thing as Fen.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I think that the one short film we watched that was about "the machine" was the best description of the Frankenstein complex. "We are the machine" is what the film ended with and it made me think about how we create these machines that watch, remember, and do everything we do, but better. I think that humanity is getting a little too dependent on technology to survive. Look at our houses, we are so used to having water coming from the tap and food in the fridge. I think technology is becoming too powerful for us to control

    ReplyDelete
  6. The Frankenstein Complex is the fear of machines outlasting or eliminating the human factor in man-kind. "...and sat dumbly at the machine listening to it produce music that was now delicate, now commanding, now inspiring, all with an artistry beyond his own powers....he was the victim of the machine...he must somehow assert himself or lose his reason" (5-6, Ely). Can something truly be beautiful and pure if the human factor in it is non-existent?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Frankenstein Complex is the fear of the things that we create, so most creators should have a mild case of it. If nobody is afraid of mechanical men/things we create, then we will never be able to prevent them from harming us. Mr. Roseworth thought his copper robot copy of Fen was perfectly safe, but when he was gone out of the house, "Mita made a long cut along the inside of Fen's elbow," (pg 35). Mita wanted to be more than just a mechanical servant, she wanted to be a real girl, and be exactly like Fen. Not all technology that we create is out to harm us, but we must always be on the look out for such dangerous things.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Should the fear of what we create stop us from creating? I think that our technology is getting so advanced that it is starting to overtake us and become us. I think that it is good to have a fear of technology because then it wont get too out of hand or too much. In the story Mimicry it says "id be unnerved too if a copper version of myself was strolling around my house." When the thing you create starts too get too familiar or you feel it taking your identity then it becomes a problem and something that is going to haunt you. Technology and humans need to work together, but the it gets scary if the human is not in power and instead a robot or computer is.
    -TeddiG

    ReplyDelete
  9. To me the Frankenstein Complex is one that can not only relate in writing, but it can be one that we know could be a reality. The electronics of the future could be so realistic and smart that they one day may learn to take over. In Mimicry, Fen is targeted by Mita who is a robot that was made to "resemble Fen" Mita is jealous and seems to want to be a real girl and she wants to be Fen. Throughout the story this shows by the way she watchs Fen. At the end of the story Mita preforms a witchcraft act and says "Now we'll really be twins. You can take my place, and I'll take yours. You can mimic me for a while." Mita wants to be Fen so badly that she'll go to any cost. In addition I think the story The Human Factor showed Frankenstein Complex and made me think because Doctor Alpha gives up his pride and using an organ that doesn't require him to play. People think that it's beautiful and amazing and he takes the credit even though it's not him. This organ erases the "human factor". To me Frankenstein Complex is all about erasing the human factor and making our creations rule us.
    -Bailey S.

    ReplyDelete
  10. This concept and our stories should show us that humanity will create things without thinking through the long term affects. I know my fear with always creating new things is it takes away from what we do as humans like in "Human Factor" it says, "'But how am I supposed to play?''You aren't,' said Mr. Gill cheerfully. 'We engineered out the human factor.'" what will happen as we engineer out more and more human factors. We will be losing jobs to robots.

    ReplyDelete
  11. The Frankenstein complex shows how people that have a disability or are not real want to become "real." The X files made that very clear because, the man that had two faces was said to be scary, mean and not really. When the dad died they automatically thought it was him just because of who he was and how he looked. The son of the dad really killed him, but it was only after all of the towns people came after him that they realized it wasn't him. In the story mimicry, the robot wants to be exactly like the wife and wants to trade places with her. One night the robot takes her and she says now we can be exactly alike, just like sisters, so that could relate to wanting to be normal or wanting to fit in. Overall Frankenstein complex is about a certain someone or thing wanting to fit in with society.
    --Taylor S.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Dustin R.Said... My final thoughts regarding the Frankenstien Complex are that people do not take enough credit in the things that they create and that the things we create can be more intelligent then we see them to be. Also the things that we create aren't always necessarily good things and they should be destroyed. "Mita cried out and threw up her arms as he railed against her, beating her back with s ferocity that his gentle ,everyday manner would never suggest he possessed. The poker struck her arms, once to the crack of bone breaking, then to the clang of metal denting."

    ReplyDelete
  13. Eliminating the human factor might sound good because then work for humans becomes easier but it could also be dangerous because humans would become completely dependent on machines to do all the work and machines don't always work the way they should. In "Mimicry" Mr. Roseworth created Mita to look and operate like Fen so that when Fen left with Frank he would still have company around. Mita, however, became obsessed with Fen and tried to become Fen. She tells Fen "'Don't worry, I'll take care of you. I only wanted to be like a sister to you. I'll make sure of it. When we marry Frank, I'll take you with us. Our father will let us go, you'll see. He'll want us to be happy, and we'll be happy together.'" Mita replaces Fen but she wants to keep Fen around because of her obsession.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Victor P
    The concept we learned "Frankenstein Complex" with all the stories we read and watched really made me contemplate is are technology getting to advanced for humanity; daily I hear o the new phone can do this faster, the new laptop now has this capability. From the story "Mimicry" "She does everything you do". Technology is a really controversial concept because everyone wants to keep producing more and more advanced technology. Will wee be the ones living in fear of a copper form of ourselves

    ReplyDelete
  15. I feel that a lot of the time we think our technology would never go against us or harm us since we created it. But in Mimicry, they gave the robots too much power that one did try to trade places with one of the human beings. We make our technology too advance for even us, the creators, to handle it. In the X Files, they did an experiment on a human being and things went wrong which made the person deformed, looking like a monster. People didn't like what they saw because it was something different and something they don't see on a daily basis. So they wanted to destroy what they thought would be a danger to them. So its scary to think about having technology that we created, try to take over us, replace us.
    -Jennifer O.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I think in everything we've either seen or read the thing that is created comes back in it's own way against the creator or just defies what it is made for. For example in the episode of x-files when the are talking to the "creation" the doctor tells him " you were a mistake nothing more" in a way this shows the Frankenstein complex because in all stories that have any relationship with the Frankenstein complex the "creation" is either a complete mistake that the creator has to live with or had a mistake made on or with them. Like in Mimicry Mita obviously had something wrong with her (her mistake) and thats what made her do what she did.

    ReplyDelete
  17. The Frankenstein Complex makes us contemplate the possibilities and consequences of technology. It shows that people should take caution in what they use and in what they create. The stories we read and watched all displayed how the use of technology can spiral out of control, especially in the wrong hands. For example, in EPICAC by Kurt Vonnegut Jr, we read "When I arrived at EPICAC's room the air was thick with the oily stench of burned insulation. The ceiling over EPICAC was blackened with smoke, and my ankles were tangled in coils of paper ribbon that covered the floor. There wasn't enough left of the poor devil to add two and two" Because EPICAC was used for functions that were above his capacity and capability, he is inadvertently destroyed. Because the narrator of the story let it come to that, the computer could no longer be used for the functions it was programmed for. In this specific case, the Frankenstein Complex shows how ignorant and selfish humans can be when it comes to their own benefit and in turn ruins technology that may be useful to others.

    ReplyDelete
  18. zach k P1

    as technology grows the distance between humanity and machine becomes more common. Although so types of the Frankenstein complex are good and flattering there is always a ever growing dis concern in the technology we create. Frankenstein complex is more of a fear of technology and the loss of humanity, through the mimicking and the machine trying to become more human. "ill take your place, and ill take yours". in mimicry the robot girl tried to become a real girl and take fens place and did it using some kind of voodoo. as this happens the Frankenstein complex is very real and apparent

    ReplyDelete
  19. The Frankenstein complex to me is that people create machines and think its for the better and won't hurt the human race. Then the machine turns out bad and then the creator realizes that it wasn't a good idea. This happened in mimicry when a machines intentions are to mimic humans. After a while "What if [it] doesn't want to mimic any more?" It will turn into the opposite of what the creator wanted. Also I think that the film made me realize how a beast is hated and how it was a bad idea to create it because there is so much chaos involved with it.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Lexi M
    During the Frankenstein Complex unit we read many stories with robots or machines that display human qualities. Many people are scared of Frankenstein but he doesn't want to hurt anyone and wants to be human. In the story EPICAC by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., the robot, originally made for war learns how to love a human and in the end EPICAC dies and leaves a note saying it wishes it was a human, "I don't want to be a machine, and I don't want to think about war,... I want to be made out of protoplasm and last forever so Pat will love me."(pg 323)

    ReplyDelete
  21. My thoughts about the Frankenstein complex is that there are always two sides of the story, one being the "Monster/creation" and one part being the "People/Person". In the writing Mimicry, written by Maggie Slater, there was Fen and Mita that were the two sides of the story. In the X-Files, the episode that had the "monster" and "Person" that was the creation of the "Monster" that was revealed as a person with a genetic mutation. In that episode there were the 2 stories.The creation or monster or any way you want to call the creation wants to be normal like Mita wanted to be sisters with Fen in mimicry. The quote that backs it up is "Now we'll really be twins. You can take my place, and I'll take yours. You can mimic me for a while."

    ReplyDelete
  22. The Frankenstein complex is just where the computer or robot just wants to be normal. In the story Mimicry, mita just wants to be like Fen. In this story it shows how much they want to be alike, by cutting eachother open so they can be the same.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Basically its all about human-like technology that we create turning bad. What i take from this concept is that we are trying to create too much crazy technology and eventually the technology is going to overtake us in a bad way.

    ReplyDelete
  24. From the stories regarding Frankenstein Complex, you really get the picture that creating something human like can turn out badly. "We engineered out the human factor," expresses how we humans try to create things like us but more efficient; tools that are like human but better and greater at different jobs, and each story came to the same conclusion. Creating something can turn out badly. You either have the organ in Human factor that erased Dr. Alpha's value for himself. Or EPICAC, where the machine realizes it can't love and wont be loved and destroys itself. Or you have Eyebem, who realizes that he was made for a specific job to replace humans, but he can't overcome everything and be as good as humans. Last, we see the extreme in Mimicry where the robot wants to stop mimicking and be alive. These stories show that machines can replace humans, but not perfectly, and that our creations can haunt us and hurt us. All of these stories prove that creating human like inventions can turn out badly. -Eli B.

    ReplyDelete
  25. These stories made me think that people are reflected in their creations, and that is what they are most afraid of. When people creates something, they tend to put characteristics of themselves into their work, characteristics they feel are strongly represented in the creator carry over into the creation. Some people do not fully know or understand themselves, so seeing their own personal characteristics represented in an inanimate machine would lead them to question the purpose behind the machine. "The Human Factor" revealed to Doctor Alpha his full ability and potential to compose in nontraditional ways, he was accustomed to traditional ways, so he feared what he would become of him once his out-stepped his known limits. "Eyebem" took on human characteristics with the intent to replace humans, causing humans to fear what would happen to them once they were replaces. "EPICAC" was not intended to replace human emotion, but was able to learn it and replicate it better than humans. The most prominent example of fear of replicated characteristics is "Mimicry" where a metal girl outright copies the girl it was modeled after, is even encouraged to do so, and when the human girl raises suspicion she is told not to worry, yet the metal replication eventually becomes lost in the replication process and attempts to completely replace the human girl. Fears of technology replicating human characteristics shows the human their own characteristics, potentially in a critical way, and the human begins to feel replaced.

    ReplyDelete
  26. The Frankenstein Complex is a great warning for our society as our technology continues to evolve at an exponential rate. It tries to show us the power we possess and the power we put into our machines. The technology we create has so much capability and so many benefits that we forget to check its safety. In the short story "Mimicry" Fen is being changed by Mita, " Fen grew suddenly cold. Her fingertips turned hard and numb; her skin felt smooth but every motion she tried to make was stiff and forced. The machine watched her but it didn't look the same. Its molded block of hair moved in the wind; its skin was less copper and more rosy;...". Fen is becoming the robot and the robot is becoming Fen. Fen's father gave Mita, the robot, so much intellectual capability that she was able to learn for herself some sort of witchcraft. This helps illustrate that the machines we create can harm us if we do not take the right safety precautions and the machines will attack us in a way that we are unprepared for.

    ReplyDelete
  27. The Frankenstein Complex makes us second guess our advancements in technology. The things most of us now look at as ingenious and incredible new things are challenged by this complex, and instead thought of as vile, evil things that we should be careful around. In the story "Mimicry" the robot servant is considered by Fen to be the enemy, the story says, "She glanced up and down the hallway, afraid that by taking her eyes off one end, the enemy might suddenly charge from the other. This line explains the Frankenstein Complex itself. We should be careful what we create.

    Caleb Wilmore

    ReplyDelete
  28. The Frankenstein complex fundamentally explores the purpose of creation and is critical of those who create "life" irresponsibly. For example, the story "EPICAC" illustrates the story of man explaining love to a machine. This machine is ultimately destroyed, because it failed to grasp such an innately human emotion. The X-File entitled "The Modern Promethius" also dealt with the concept of the irresponsibility of creating something we do not understand. Even the title evokes an image of the recklessness involved with creating or introducing concepts that are inexplicable. Ultimately, the Frankenstein complex illuminates humanity's endeavor to create technology that mimics human characteristics and yet, the creation remains inexplicable, intimating that humans do not fully understand themselves.

    ReplyDelete
  29. it seemed to me like there were two different types, one where we should be afraid of what we create, and one where we should feel pity for our creations. if you create something intelligent enough to think on its own then i think it should be our responsibility to that to at least raise it. its like a child. children think but its the parents responsibility to teach and not take advantage of them which is what i have seen as a common thread in these stories. the other common thread is when humans create something better or thought to be better then humans themselves but there is a lack of human factor that humans have to get back

    ReplyDelete
  30. The Frankenstein complex allowed me to really focus on the dangers of technology. In our world today, almost everything we need to survive is controlled by technology. Driving a car or turning on the lights at home, it all can’t be used without it. It’s hard to believe that how much our world has changed in so little time due to technology. Our world cannot survive without it which scares me. We cannot communicate with others or get the necessities of life like water without using technology. If it were to stop working, our world would be chaos. Not only does most everything in our world require technology, it is replacing humans. “We engineer out the human factor.” Machines are taking over jobs that the people of America need. When calling for help on your computer or trying to get help from your insurance company, you almost always get a machine before you get an actual person. Technology is taking over the world and replacing humans. We need to take control of it and not allow it to ruin us.

    ReplyDelete