It is for me extremely fascinating how the novel “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley was published for the first time in 1818 in London, and it works with some issues that are still controversial in today’s society. In the story, the scientist Victor Frankenstein discovers the secret of life and creates a living monster out of dead human pieces. The idea that a mortal human being could “play God” as some could say, and be successful in creating human life, at least in a physical or genetic level, is not only controversial, but also very dangerous. Even so, some scientists today seem to be perhaps a little too interested in the topic. I found a BBC News (world edition) article on the Internet named “Scientists call for life creation debate”2 that revealed the intention of a group of scientist to make an experiment that may result in the creation of human life.

The experiment basically consists in “trying to synthesize an artificial bacterium in the lab – for scientists to create life from non-living chemicals”. The scientists implicated in the experiment agreed that they would not proceed to start with this experiment until a publicly open debate about the moral and ethical side of the issue is discussed, and also until all the consequences that the same could bring to the whole world are taking into account and consideration; as said by Dr Craig Venter, the founder of Tigr and now head of the Celera Genomics Corporation: “We are not going to carry out this experiment until there has been a broader debate on the issue.” But when interviewed, he also admitted the following to the BBC News Channel: “Will we eventually get to a molecular definition of life? I hope that will happen, yes,”

The connection between these two works of literature and writing is very transparent. They are both at the same time proof and an example of that curiosity humans have demonstrated to have throughout history. One might call it a thirst for knowledge. Trying to discover the unknown. Looking for the explanation of why do we exist, or more exactly how do we exist. We have come up with different believes through the years regarding our creation, such as the Big Bang, and all the different religious believes as well. But still, we don’t yet know what exactly is it that gives us life. What is it that makes our organism function? What makes us think and have feelings? Some call it spirit, and others call it soul. But no matter what you call it, and regardless of religions or believes, it exists. It’s in you, it’s in me, and it’s nature. It’s part of the world, and for me that all that there is to it. But for others, well I guess humanity will have to just wait and see. See what experiments like this one leads science to. See where books like “Frankenstein” leads literature to. See where they both lead cultures and humanity to. And until then just keep thinking, writing, discovering and living.