RUR v. Frankenstein

In both Frankenstein and Rossum’s Universal Robots the creator of synthetic creatures have various measures of control over their creatures. In Frankenstein, Victor exhibits no control over his creature what so ever, which could be argued for the reason the creature haunts him in the way it does. In contrast in Rossum’s Universal Robots humanity exerts too much control over its creations to the point where it is oppressive causing the Robots to rebel and eventually kill off all the humans. A point of interest in both of these tales is that the creations were generally equal to or even better than the creators. For example, Victor Frankenstein’s creature was much larger and stronger than Victor, and seemed to be of similar intellect. The Robots were superior to humans not only intellectually but physically as well. In both stories this seems to be a root of fear that the creators have of their creations. This fear then leads to both the lack of control in Frankenstein and the over use of control in RUR.
The statement both authors seem to be making is that we should fear our creations but not let that fear dictate our actions. The approach that authors of this specific type of science fiction seem to advocate is a paternal one. We should not oppress nor abandon our creations but guide them through their development and eventually their rise to a position of power. Since we cannot prevent the creation of artificial life, as it is inevitable that someone will strive to achieve that creation, we should instead guide it through its rise. Unfortunately many who read these novels generally don’t interpret the works in this way. They often read it as a testament against technology, not as an advisory tale. Hopefully we won’t create our own end by making the mistakes outlined by these works.