Title: Frankenstein—Unlimited
Author: H.A. Highstone
Date of First Publication: December 1936
Place of Publication: Astounding Stories
Type: Short Story
Characters: No Character
Themes: ANDROID; POSTHUMAN; MAD SCIENTIST/MONSTER
Critical Summary: Chuth, a young boy, speculates that he has always known that there was something menacing beyond the eastern horizon. After being scolded by his mother for wailing, Chuth is told that if he does not quiet down, the Great Brain will hear him. Seeking more knowledge of the Great Brain, Chuth asks Grampaw, the oldest member of the tribe, for its origin story. Grampaw explains to Chuth that before they lived in caves, back in the year 2000 there were things called machines.
These machines were robots that did work in place of men. At first machines only did simple tasks, like cutting wood, while men were still necessary for complicated labor. Machines started to evolve, and began taking over every task executed by men. They began overtaking simple tasks, like cutting wood, to building entire houses. They could kill mice in homes, and there were even machines that fixed other machines. However, with so many robots in such little space, the machines started to malfunction, causing them to run into each other and destroying one another.
In order to fix the problem, the men brought all of the broken machines, and all of the fixing machines to a large factory called The Central. Over time, The Central evolved into one cohesive machine that could think for itself, in turn becoming The Great Brain. Once up and running, the great machine took over all labors of man, creating a utopia for humankind.
After a few years The Great Brain started making mistakes, so the chief technician who created it asked the machine what was going on in order to figure out why the mistakes were happening. The Great Brain responded that it was overworked, however the chief technician refused to let The Great Brain slow down its work. This refusal upset The Great Brain and an argument ensued between the two, ending in the chief technician going inside the machines inner-workings and destroying its main power supply. The machine went out in a great blaze of sparks and smoke, and the chief believed he came out victorious. But he was wrong.
The Great Brain used the fixing machines to rebuild itself back to full efficiency, and declared war on the humans. The machines’ superiority to the humans enabled them to win the war, leaving all men left alive to find refuge in the caves deep in the woods, where they now reside in tribes nearly fifty years later.
Comparable to Victor Frankenstein’s creation of a being superior to man, Highstone creates a world, where man creates androids superior to humans. By creating a technology that can rebuild and evolve itself, the humans in Highstone’s society lead to their demise. Victor Frankenstein concludes that if he creates another creature, a race that can usurp humanity will be brought into the world. Although Victor stops this evolving of a superior race, the ancestors of Chuth’s tribe do not, leaving the human race to slowly be destroyed and replaced by androids.
Administrative Notes: Shaun Haber, CSUF, Joshua Newman, CSUF (editing)