Lessons from Frankenstein on Technology and Society

Abstract

The lesson of Frankenstein is about the need to socialize our creations and, more generally, to care for our society. Service technicians work to make technology function in society; however, their work is poorly understood and little acknowledged. The circumstances of their job, their relationships with both customers and their employers, and even the tools chosen for them by their employers all indicate that the lesson of Frankenstein has not been learned. An effort to create a suitable (and well-socialized) tool for the technicians is described to show how hard it is to create technology with appropriate care and understanding.