Frankenstein Fallacy (dfn): Term coined by author and academic Yuval Noah Harari, the Frankenstein Fallacy is a cognitive bias or a predicting error that occurs when considering new technologies and their affect on society.
In Mary Shelley‘s 19th century novel, Victor Frankenstein creates a new kind of life and is punished for this presumed act of hubris, falling victim to the very thing he created. Cultural examples of the Frankenstein Fallacy appear prior to the modern era as well, in ancient myths like the Tower of Babel, Adam and Eve, the legend of Atlantis, and the Flight of Icarus.
The Frankenstein Fallacy is often employed in popular culture to explain the origin of dystopias. Battlestar Galactica, the updated series from the early Aughts in particular, explored many consequences of technological progress. The Terminator films used the Frankenstein Fallacy to great and gaudy effect. One critique of the film Ex Machina employed aspects of the Frankenstein Fallacy to point out the act of psychological projection that takes place when two men encounter an entirely novel form of AI consciousness, embodied by an android with a female visage.
New technology and knowledge undeniably come at a societal cost. The Frankenstein Fallacy, however, emphasizes the retributive aspect of this interaction, suggesting the comeuppance for technological progress should be the end of human life itself. The tendency consequently disregards further technological progress as a means to overcoming essential challenges that humanity faces, and artificially limits the extent to which technology could and should be utilized to address these challenges.
The interpretive prism of the Frankenstein Fallacy has played a part in public fears related to CRISPR, COVID-19 vaccination programs and continues to inform the perspectives of thought leaders like Elon Musk and the late Stephen Hawking, who both spoke provocatively about their apprehension towards AI.
