The Clockwork World and the Exiled Soul

In this episode, I turn to the Romantics as guides for a world coming apart, viewing Mary Shelley's Frankenstein as a protest against a mechanistic worldview that devalues feeling. Some questions that emerge from this journey are:   What do we do when technology outpaces our moral framework? Just because we're able to do something, should we? What responsibilities do we incur when we create a new form of life?  Are we repeating Frankenstein's mistake when we build systems and then disclaim any obligation to the creatures we have released onto the world?

Books Mentioned:

Magnificent Rebels, Andrea Wulf
Romantic Outlaws, Charlotte Gordon
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
A Flash of Golden Fire, Thomas Elsner
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Taylor Coleridge
The Romantics and Us, Simon Schama
BERGHAIN, Rosalia [Lux]
Guillermo del Toro’s, Frankenstein