Frankenstein
Dr. Frankenstein reminds me of Aza Raskin, the inventor of the infinite scroll.
Driven by unchecked optimisation, both men create something monstrous: one a creature that destroys his loved ones, the other a technology that consumes the attention of billions. Regret shadows them alike, their inventions ever-present reminders of their mistakes.
Raskin might have seen the error of his ways. Founding the Center for Humane Technology is proof enough of that. Sadly, Dr. Frankenstein wasn’t so lucky – his death of exhaustion and despair in the frozen Arctic stands as a warning to every innovator who lets their creation escape their control.
Rationalists rarely understand why we read fiction. But the avid fiction reader knows there's more truth in fiction than non-fiction. Novelists have license to say what no non-fiction author ever could. When we read with that beautiful abstract mind we've been gifted fiction can teach us how to live a good life. It can also offer so much more. Frankenstein taught me more about the dangers posed by the modern technocracy that any banal pop science book ever has.
1984 is the greatest warning against authoritarianism. Brave New World, written in 1932 let's not forget, describes modern culture better than anything written today.
As the monster kills more of Frankenstein's loved ones, he seeks revenge more fiercely. You want him to succeed. But you just know that if he does, there'll be nothing left for him to live for. He dies of cold and exhaustion, but perhaps it was the lack of hope that kickstarted his decline.