Frankenstein complex

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In Isaac Asimov's robot novels, the Frankenstein complex is a colloquial term for the fear of robots. Asimov's stories predict that the phobia will be widespread against machines that resemble people (see android). It is similar in many respects to Masahiro Mori's Uncanny Valley hypothesis.

The name derives from Victor Frankenstein's monster in the book Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. In Shelley's story an artificially created, intelligent, and superhuman creature rebels against its creator (Victor Frankenstein), leading to the creator's death from his pursuit and persecution of his creation. The creature is arguably the first real robot in literature.

Note the distinction between Frankenstein and Frankenstein's monster, which many people ignore, confusing the creator for the creature. A Frankenstein complex is not a fear of roboticists or mad scientists, but of artificial humans, although fear of one generally implies some fear of the other.

The general attitude of the public towards robots in much of Asimov's fiction is fear and suspicion: ordinary people fear that robots will either replace them or dominate them. Although dominance is impossible under the Three Laws of Robotics, which state clearly that a robot may not harm a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm, the fictitious public does not listen to logic, but rather to their fear.

In Asimov's robot novels, the Frankenstein Complex is a major problem for roboticists and robot manufacturers. They do all they can to calm the public and show that robots are harmless, sometimes even hiding the truth because the public would misunderstand it and take it to the extreme. The fear by the public and the response of the manufacturers is an example of the theme of paternalism, the dread of paternalism, and the conflicts that arise from it in Asimov's fiction.

[edit] See also

• Frankenstein argument - an argument against engineered intelligent beings (but not specifically robots)
• Uncanny Valley - a hypothesis that posits a gap in emotional response to things created to resemble humans that fall short of perfect mimicry.