Summary
Was this newsletter forwarded to you?Sign upto get it in your inbox.When the first trailer for legendary Mexican directorGuillermo del Toro‘sFrankensteindropped, the tagline—four words slammed across the screen in huge white letters—sent me scrambling for a Google doc: ONLY MONSTERS PLAY GOD.As a writer who works in technology and also happens to have an extremely marketable degree in English literature, my immediate impulse was to reach for the AI take: Frankenstein, creation, hubris, founders, models—theSubstack essaybasically wrote itself.Then I watched the movie, twice.Frankensteinabsolutely has something to say about AI. Just not the thing I thought.Here’s a quick recap for those of you who haven’t read the book or have, but it’s been a while since high-school English:Mary Shelley’sFrankensteintells the story of an obsessive young academic, Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaacin the film) who, on a mission to conquer death and push human knowledge to its outermost limits, brings the creature (that’s a spectacularJacob Elordiin the movie) to life. Fallout ensues.Del Toro’sFrankensteinis a largely faithful adaptation of the 1818 novel, with a number of what I’d say are acceptable-to-excellent tweaks. But the more I think about it, the more I have an issue with its slogan.“Only monsters play God” is a catchy tagline aimed at driving views. But there’s so much more to this bookandthis film than Disney-grade platitudes about “real monsterhood” can convey. Because the most interesting part is not the “it’s aliiiiive” moment in the lab (as much as that scene in the movie rips); it’s what happens after the eyes open, when the question becomes what you owe to what you’ve made, and what kind of monster you become when you walk away.Become apaid subscriber to Everyto unlock this piece and learn about:Why Guillermo del Toro despises AI—yet accidentally made the most layered metaphor for our moment with itWhat Victor Frankenstein's disappointment with his creation reveals about why "AI doesn't work" for most peopleWhy the real story begins after the eyes open, not in the lab—and what that means for anyone building powerful systemsSubscribeClick hereto read the full postWant the full text of all articles in RSS?Become a subscriber, orlearn more.Book information
Genre
Business and Economics
