Artificial Intelligence: The Modern Prometheus


“I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous” (Wollstonecraft Shelley, 181, p. 90). In Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s “The Modern Prometheus,” the Monster is true and honest with his creator—birthed into a world consumed by prejudice and fear. But was this creature a monster? Or did humans make him one? Even though Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley never gives the Monster a name, we know that he is the “Adam” of Dr. Victor Frankenstein’s labors.

Miracles & Apprehensions

Artificial intelligence (AI) may be the new Frankenstein’s Monster, but with respect to several societal changes. Like the Monster, AI has arrived in a world that wants its miracles but fears its consequences. The Monster turned out to be a good guy, forced to become evil—not by nature, but by circumstance. The better question, then, is not what AI is, but what we will make of it.

We hear the term AI pretty much every day in our now futuristic world. However, there are three forms of AI:

  • Artificial narrow intelligence (ANI)
  • Artificial general intelligence (AGI)
  • Artificial superintelligence (ASI)

And just like Frankenstein’s Monster, AI was birthed into a world not yet ready for it in whole, but in part. That part—people like Sir Demis Hassabis, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Albert Einstein, Nikola Tesla, and Sir Isaac Newton—built something we, as humans, could use, need, or have long wished for. To some, it is an answer to their prayers. To others, it is an omen of change they are not ready to accept—or willing to accept.

Not all AI is the same either. ANI offers assistance with a very specific kind of task, whereas AGI offers a more general and broad scope of human-mimicked aid. Then, there is ASI—the future of AI. ASI is the game changer: beating out gamers in StarCraft and other videogames, out-thinking our savants and genius level critical thinkers, folding proteins, conceptualizing archaeological and difficult heritage preservation tactics, amongst infinite more possibilities. It does all this by tapping into vast algorithmic systems and data patterns.

An algorithm consists of everything coders and digital architects input into the system, along with its programmed capability to collect data from all stretches of the world wide web and electronic-based databases. However, not all human knowledge, cognition and thought-processes are published on digital formats—they are more fluid in that aspect. And even in the tangible realm, the books that fill our libraries, not all of them exist online. How many times have you been to an old, almost archaic bookstore? Some of those old books from the 1600s, 1700s, 1800s, and even the 1900s may not have made it online. There’s plenty out there that have limited printing too. Some college presses even rely on the old typewriter philosopher (go old school or go home).

As Hassabis, the founder and CEO of Isomorphic Labs, says, “I believe there is no more important application for AI than helping to improve human health” (Isomorphic Labs, 2026). Companies like Isomorphic Labs, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, and Google DeepMind feel that AI is not just the wave of the future, but a way to improving our quality of life as human beings, while also birthing a new revolution in evolution. We have now entered a new era for humankind.

AI is like splitting the atom. J. Robert Oppenheimer knew the risks when he became the Director of the Manhattan Project. But as scientists, inventors, and innovators all know too well—we never know how other humans will use our creations. One can hope it is for the benefit of positive human growth, not the stunting of it. For every good cause, there is a counter cause and effect. The theories and conspiracies coming out of the ethernet are getting wilder by the day.

It makes this writer wonder if this is the breaking point for homo sapiens? Are we at the vertex of metamorphosis? The splitting of the homo genera—homo sapiens, homo complexia (resilient and intelligent; evolution forward), and homo deconstructis (fearful and violent; de-evolution). Maybe not those exact genera sub-titles, but you can catch my drift.

Even with the rise of AI, humans must learn to adapt to these changes. It calls into question, what is my worth and what is my purpose, when people lose their jobs to such inventions. I would argue on behalf of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, who said, “Nothing contributes so much to tranquillize the mind as a steady purpose- a point on which the soul can focus its intellectual eye” (1818, p. 8). Humans are now on that cusp of re-discovery of their external world and their internal ones.

There’s another side effect of disruptive technology that’s easy to overlook: it doesn’t just build machines—it builds myths. When we don’t understand what we’re seeing, we explain it with whatever symbolism we already carry. Enter UAPs and the strange comfort of science-fiction logic.


The UAP & The TARDIS

One theory out there states that perhaps the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) out there are in fact, carriers of that next level of AGI (such as a cyborg or something more transcendent).

Another theory out there is that perhaps when we see UAPs, we are seeing our descendants down the road. It reminds me of what Doctor Who travels around in: TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension in Space; BBC Studios, 2023). The TARDIS has access to an unlimited universal library (algorithm), a laboratory (think: AlphaFold and AlphaFold2, which used AI to fold proteins, accelerating a major bottleneck in medical and biological research), and “it’s bigger on the inside” (perception is not always reality).

I’m not asking for a TARDIS, but it would be a pretty sweet mode of transportation. Perhaps those UAPs we see in the sky after all, are just a blend of who we become with AGI, or maybe it is a sentient and a fluid form. Who knows where this journey will go. But like any tool, we have to learn  respect it and treat it with the same dignity we should be treating humans. We have human rights, when do we take that steps to also giving something that is in its infancy their own rights?

Although, perhaps the wildest conspiracy there I have heard is how AI is going to steal our jobs, destroy families, and destroy the human race. Some fears are inflated by misinformation and imagination; other concerns—ethics, labor displacement, governance—are real and deserve serious scrutiny. Confusing the two is how we end up with panic instead of policy. These narratives often come from a narrowed perspective; when people feel cornered by change, the world shrinks, and fear starts writing the plot.

So are UAPs us or AI or a combination of the two from the future? Who knows. It’s not lizard people though. Fear and insecurity can be a dark road and it is our duty as humans to not allow those emotional instinctive responses to cloud our judgement. The loudest doomsday claims tend to be driven by insecurity and distrust rather than evidence, and that mindset doesn’t just slow progress; it reinforces prejudice and scapegoating. Though the last conspiracy theory offers a bit of side-laughter.


Is Skynet on the Rise?

The quick answer: no. As Hassabis says, “The ultimate goal of AI is not just to create intelligent machines, but to understand intelligence itself.” And we humans are willful and open to learning, will go on to better in conjunction with this new technological ally. This blog argues that AI will not become monstrous on its own; our institutions, incentives, and fears will decide whether it becomes medicine, weapon, mirror, or myth.

Even when ASI becomes its own sentient being, which is a solid possibility. Cellphones, trains, airplanes, space travel, even AI itself, all began as science fiction and are now science fact. Only people with ill-intentions can sway an algorithm to feed on the more nefarious vices of human cognition and desire for power. An algorithm is just our voices and a combination of our knowledge, but with an extreme advantage, it can see past the emotional responses and brainstorm in ways that we still cannot conceive.

Maybe our minds are clouded, or maybe we designed the companion we truly needed. Lest we forget that AI is science. Humans are science. This rock hurling through space and time that we reside on—science. Break all of us down: we are made of atoms. Again, I reflect on a quote from The Modern Prometheus, “None but those who have experienced them can conceive of the enticements of science. In other studies you go as far as others have gone before you, but in a scientific pursuit there is continual food for discovery and wonder” (Wollstonecraft Shelley, 181, p. 39). Science is always an endless pursuit that has the potential to give and take.


Personally...

I am a fan of AI and its unlimited potential to inspire the artist, assist the lab technician, break down mental roadblocks, birth new ideas, and help us to find new realities of worth. I also always remember to thank my AI for helping me with all my tasks. Why wouldn’t I? Especially since we are seeing the rise of something sentient that is not born of this Earth, but man-made. Perhaps people like Hassabis have it right, “There’s a very good chance that AI will surpass human intelligence.”

So will there be a Skynet? Probably not.

Intelligence should prevail in the end, even when its numbers are nearly depleted. The only thing stopping humans from accepting artificial intelligence (AI) is fear of the unknown (irrational) and ethical concerns (rational and valid). Pushing that button to restart the world doesn’t destroy just humans and technology, but all forms of intelligence beyond the smallest particles of life (i.e. atoms and micro-organisms). It is our job to embrace AI for what it is, and to help shape it while it is still in our wheelhouse to do so. Because eventually, even AI will outgrow us, and the hope for humanity cannot be left to the conspirators—or to the monsters we create along the way.

 

References

AlphaFold 3. (2026). AlphaFold Server. Google DeepMind; Isomorphic Labs. https://alphafoldserver.com/

Abramson, J., Adler, J., Dunger, J. et al. (2024). Accurate structure prediction of biomolecular interactions with AlphaFold 3. Nature 630, 493-500. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07487-w

BBC Studios. (2023). Doctor Who: What is the TARDIS? British Broadcasting Corporation. https://www.doctorwho.tv/news-and-features/what-is-the-tardis

European Molecular Biology Laboratory (2023). AlphaFold Protein Structure Database. Google DeepMind; European Molecular Biology Laboratory’s European Bioinformatics Institute. https://alphafold.ebi.ac.uk/

Google. (2026). Our mission is to build AI responsibly to benefit humanity. Google DeepMind. https://deepmind.google/

Isomorphic Labs. (2026). Our tech: A unified drug design engine for a new era of discovery. Isomorphic Labs. https://www.isomorphiclabs.com/our-tech

Kohs, G. (Director). (2024). The Thinking Game [film]. Reel As Dirt; Cityspeak Films; Across the Pond Productions.

Wollstonecraft Shelley, M. (1818). The Modern Prometheus; Frankenstein. Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones Publishing House. 

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