The Bitter Aftertaste of Technical Sweetness
The Bitter Aftertaste of Technical Sweetness
When completing his creation, Victor Frankenstein is in the thrall of technical sweetness, which is the allure of the pieces of an intellectual puzzle fitting neatly together. Scientists working at Los Alamos experienced a similar excitement and blindness to the full implications of their work, and they reacted similarly to Victor, bearing a burden of responsibility for their work into the post-WWII context. Frankenstein thus serves as a useful parable for scientists and engineers, showing the difficulty of looking past immediate technical success to the broader implications of their work.
Keywords: Technical Sweetness, Los Alamos, Trinity Test, Scientific Responsibility, Nuclear Weapons
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