The Frankenstein Complex: Origins of the Robotic Rebellion in Science Fiction

Author: Tieran O'Connor

Field of Study: Economics: Financial Economics

Program Affiliation: Source Project Research Program

Faculty Mentors: Will Glovinsky

Easel: 76

Timeslot: Afternoon

Abstract: As artificial intelligence arose as a cultural concern in the postwar era, science fiction fanned these fears through portrayals of insubordinate technology in literature and film. Much of this media illustrated what Isaac Asimov dubbed the Frankenstein Complex – the fear that humanity’s creations would rebel against their makers. Rapid developments in automation, cybernetics, and nuclear weaponry reshaped perceptions regarding technology, raising skepticism about humanity’s control over its own inventions. Although it is clear that these representations of artificial intelligence were not merely speculative, their origins nevertheless remain ambiguous across contemporary scholarship. Scholars differ in their interpretations of the roots of these narratives, attributing them to concepts such as alienness and misperception. Drawing on mid-twentieth-century science fiction, such as 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Asimov’s I, Robot (1950), this research seeks to examine the emergence of the recurring trope of rebelling machines, arguing that it developed from the uncertainty of technological innovation.