It's not the monster's name. Mary Shelley, the novel's author, called him variously, a creature, a monster, and a few other things but she never named him. Published in 1818, the book was an immediate hit and spawned a play which ran for decades in London's West End. (In today's [2008] copyright-wary environment, the play would likely not even get a reading let along a production.) It was the play which helped to establish Frankenstein in the popular imagination and led to the publication of the better known amongst literary theorists 1831 edition.

The story's reputation as a cautionary tale about the dangerous consequences of thoughtless scientific experimentation is not entirely deserved but this is not about righting a misperception about Mary Shelley's story. To all intents and purposes the Frankenstein story is exactly what we believe it to be. 

The transformation of the Frankenstein story into a science cautionary tale started almost immediately and was complete within a few decades. The monster has acted as a remarkably flexible metaphor that can be applied to virtually scientific worry of the day. Prior to the 1931 movie which pretty much set the means of animation (electricity) in stone, the monster in various plays, stories, and artistic renderings could be animated by any scientific means that were the concern of the day. Nonetheless, the Frankenstein myth remained flexible enough to become a pop culture fixture as a breakfast cereal, Frankenberry, a US television series, The Munster, inumerable comic books, and an expression of unease about science and technology.. 

1992 marked a dramatic shift in Frankenstein's role as a pop culture icon. In a letter to to the New York Time, Paul Lewis, a Boston College professor who was known for his proclamations against technology, coined the word which came to describe first, genetically modified food and onto all of biotechnology.

"Ever since Mary Shelley's baron rolled his improved human out of the lab, scientists have been bringing just such good things to life," wrote Lewis, echoing the corporate slogan of General Electric. "If they want to sell us Frankenfood, perhaps it's time to gather the villagers, light some torches and head to the castle." (p. 288)

The word spread like wildfire giving activists a means of reaching out to mobilize public opinion against genetically modified food and biotechnology generally. Eventually, scientists working in the biotechnology field experienced funding freezes.

While it's tempting to take sides, ultimately it's a zero sum game. Activists and scientists both play an important role in how we determine our collective future. Unfortunately scientists and, as their discoveries are implemented, have not always been sweet angels and we have discovered that some kind of oversight is needed.

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Can you hear me nanotech

To nano or not to nano