Death is the inevitable fate that all human beings must meet at some point in their life. I’ve always been fascinated by the notion of immortality and how science can expand the human lifespan. I remember a few years ago, when I was looking up immortality on the internet that I found a very interesting species of jellyfish that was immortal. There were scientists who were trying to replicate the immortality process and see if it could be applied to humans. Now, a few years later the direction of immortality seems to have shifted.

The media source that I am using for this assignment is a webpage discussing the next steps toward immortality. The URL is http://www.thatsreallypossible.com/immortality/

The article discusses what the outlook for immortality looks like from the perspectives of the artificial intelligence industry and the bioengineering field. The most popular approach to immortality currently is known as the 2045 approach and is quite unique because it is different from the traditional view of immortality where the body never ages. In simple terms, the 2045 approach is trying to transfer the brain into an artificial “avatar” that will eventually replace the original body.

I think that this article is in a way a modern example of the events of Frankenstein in a scientific way. Just like Victor was attracted to the “unnatural” sciences and alchemy in the novel, modern scientists today are trying to defy the laws of nature. Death has never been defied before by any human, and it is only natural that human beings eventually die someday. We also must keep in mind that what these scientists are trying to do with expanding life is not a work of fiction, and there are many research companies and researchers working in this field currently. The consequence of Victor’s hunger for science led to the creation of the monster and ultimately his downfall as the monster destroyed everything and everyone he loved. This makes me wonder what type of consequences there will be if immortality does indeed become possible in the future? These modern-day scientists are very similar to Victor because they are passionate and hungry to find the answer to immortality, but aren’t really putting much emphasis into the aftereffects of what can potentially happen.

Science has been an extremely powerful tool from the start of civilization to the modern era, but it is very much a double-edged sword. Victor’s experiments and ultimate downfall in Frankenstein draws comparisons to a lot of scientific creations that brought suffering into the world. If we do someday get to the point where immortality is a possibility, I think it will be more of a bad thing than a good thing. Immortality is unnatural just like Victor’s creation and it will lead to more tension between the social classes and possibly dry up the Earth’s resources much quicker than predicted. One can interpret Frankenstein as a novel that warns us to be careful with science. It can be a useful tool, but can even be deadlier if not used properly.