by Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein looks at the complicated question of how society defines being a moral or immoral person. Specifically, is Victor Frankenstein a moral or immoral scientist? Frankenstein’s actions are not consistent with being moral. Yes, he is an incredible scientist because he can create a living creature from scratch, but he did not own up to the consequences of his actions. When creating his creature, he did not have the forethought of what to do with the being once he brought it to life. After it became clear, Frankenstein’s creation was responsible for choking his brother William to death, Victor did not confess he knew what happened. When his family’s maid Justine was wrongly put to death for William’s murder, Victor still did nothing. Even when the creature killed his best friend Henry, Victor did not confess. Yet he was so consumed with the guilt he “…lay for two months on the point of death…” (Pg 181). The creature warned Victor he would visit him on his wedding night. But Victor did nothing to protect his family. He was too blinded with his self-absorption to think about the possibility the creature would kill his wife and not him. Victor Frankenstein knew he did something wrong but did nothing to rectify the situation, which is arguably more morally egregious than if he did not realize he had made a mistake. Zooming out from Victor Frankenstein, Mary Shelly alludes to the question of what makes a scientist moral and where do we draw the line for what is not moral. Even today, over 200 years after Frankenstein was first published, there is no simple answer to defining morality in the field of science.
A contemporary example of inventors lacking a moral conscience is Mark Zuckerberg and how he handled Facebook amidst the scandal of the 2016 election meddling. Zuckerberg could not have foreseen his website becoming a focal point in a presidential election when he was creating the social media platform in his college dorm room. The issue lies not with his inability to predict the future. It was his lack of moral integrity in not owning up and rectifying the situation once sufficient evidence was produced that Russia was taking advantage of Facebook ads and user information. Part of being an inventor is being responsible for your invention no matter how big or small. Mark Zuckerberg and Victor Frankenstein should not have underestimated the power of their creations. And they both lacked the moral integrity to fix the situation once it had gone awry.
It is not just up to the creators to keep their invention under control. In the case of Facebook, users also have a moral obligation to hold Mark Zuckerberg accountable to help protect society. Technology is embedded in everything we do, and it is important not to underestimate the power and complexities of how various technologies affect society. If users of any given piece of technology, no matter how simple or complex, understand its full potential, they can better wield the power of said technology. For example, if you are using a pencil but do not know that pencils have erasers, you are not using the full potential of the pencil. Technology and science reach every corner of our society, and inventors and consumers alike have a moral responsibility to make sure they understand the uses and effects of any given invention.