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Frankenstein

A creator who builds something they cannot control.

Origin

Victor Frankenstein, in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel, assembles a living being from corpses and then abandons it in horror. The creature is unnamed in the book, but popular culture has called it 'Frankenstein' anyway. The subtitle of the novel — 'The Modern Prometheus' — names the theme exactly.

Modern usage

Used to argue that a creator bears responsibility for what they create — AI, social platforms, weaponizable research. 'A Frankenstein monster' = a system its creator can't rein in.

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