"Prometheus turbo charged"
Hot on the heels of Ian McEwan's Machines Like Me Jeanette Winterson turns her hand to the theme of artificial intelligence and transhumanism in new title Frankissstein. Rather than set in an alternate version of Britain, Winterson weaves a contemporary story about medical science and ethics around a fictionalised account of Mary Shelley's time on Lake Geneva in 1816 where she original told her ghost story that would become Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus.
The flashbacks to the circumstances that led to Mary Shelley creating the most famous gothic horror story in history are expertly told through her relationship with husband Percy Bysshe Shelley and with their vacation buddy Lord Byron. Likewise Shelley's journey back to London and visits to the Bedlam Hospital are a great build on the Frankenstein myth but it is the contemporary story that really stands apart.
Ry Shelley is a young transgender doctor who falls in love with AI expert Victor Stein whilst investigating the medial ethics around Stein's work. In this adaptation Mary Shelley herself becomes the protaganist, in Ry, which enables Winterson to authentically weave together gender politics and transhumanism in a way that is characteristically thought provoking,
Like McEwan's Machines Like Me the story raises questions about the role of AI and the relations we form with them. In Frankissstein most research and development revolves around the Chinese sexbot industry which drives exponential growth in the development of AI like a turbo charged Prometheus. The unintended consequences are articulated with realistic danger in this cracking read.
The reinvention of a classic story brought right up to date 5
The flashbacks to the circumstances that led to Mary Shelley creating the most famous gothic horror story in history are expertly told through her relationship with husband Percy Bysshe Shelley and with their vacation buddy Lord Byron. Likewise Shelley's journey back to London and visits to the Bedlam Hospital are a great build on the Frankenstein myth but it is the contemporary story that really stands apart.
Ry Shelley is a young transgender doctor who falls in love with AI expert Victor Stein whilst investigating the medial ethics around Stein's work. In this adaptation Mary Shelley herself becomes the protaganist, in Ry, which enables Winterson to authentically weave together gender politics and transhumanism in a way that is characteristically thought provoking,
Like McEwan's Machines Like Me the story raises questions about the role of AI and the relations we form with them. In Frankissstein most research and development revolves around the Chinese sexbot industry which drives exponential growth in the development of AI like a turbo charged Prometheus. The unintended consequences are articulated with realistic danger in this cracking read.
The reinvention of a classic story brought right up to date 5
Frankissstein: A Love Story by Jeanette Winterson published by Jonathan Cape 352 pages
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