Chapter 9 Can Artificial Humans Go to Heaven? Transhumanist Salvation in Shelley’s Frankenstein and the Hitman Series
In: Religious Narratives in Contemporary CulturePurchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Abstract
This chapter inspects the theme of transhumanism in the Hitman video games and in their hypotext, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. My comparative analysis takes on two directions. Firstly, I look at how the modern idea of the betterment of mankind is transposed into transhumanism’s idea of building better humans and show that, on the one hand, Shelley’s novel criticizes Victor Frankenstein’s experiment on the basis of 19th century medical thought and the moral standards of the scientist responsible for the experiment, while, on the other hand, the video games evince a high degree of optimism with respect to the benefits of improving man through science.