Title: Answer

Author: Fredric Brown

Date of First Publication: 1954

Place of Publication: Angels and Spaceships (collection), E. P. Dutton

Type: Short story

Characters: No Character

Themes: ANDROID; BYRONIC HERO; POSTHUMAN; MAD SCIENTIST/MONSTER

Critical Summary: Dwar Ev and Dwar Reyn, two unspecified beings, finish work on a cybernetics machine, connecting the combined knowledge of 96-billion planets together. After Dwar Ev flips the switch to turn on the machine, Dwar Reyn asks the being if there is a god. The being answers that there is now, referring to itself. Dwar Ev fearfully attempts to disengage the switch that brought this collective entity to existence and is immediately struck down by lightning.

This work weaves together the thematic elements shared in Frankenstein in a way that reinvents them into modern fears. This publication from 1954 echoes a similar fear of modern technology regarding the internet, artificial intelligence, and post-human machinery. The new Internet-God is superior to all, directly evoking the theme of the android and posthuman due to the implication of artificial intelligence replacing biological life. From this, the political hierarchy is well established, as the Internet-God does not hesitate to title itself as god. This leads into the Mad Scientists/Monsters theme, as Frankenstein and the Creature lash out at each other, with the Creature only attacking Frankenstein after Frankenstein rejects the Creature fearfully. In the same way, the Internet-God strikes back against its fearful creator.

Since the work is so short, it leads to more afterthought than is actually written; many questions are left unanswered, but still evoke thematically Frankenstein thoughts. Will this Internet-God outlast humanity? Is it malicious or simply defending the life it was given? Was it wrong for the being to define itself as a god given the definitions given to it by its creators? This places the Internet-God into the realm of the Byronic Hero, as it is willful, superior, and morally grey. Following this line of questioning, has it done anything out of its nature to deserve the fearful response from Dwar Ev?

Administrative Notes: Mark Zschaechner, CSUF; Alexandra Roman, CSUF (editing)