The grotesque monstruosity: technological innovation and the crisis of humanism

Abstract

The reason why the image of honor monsters have provided a particular access to the processes of civilization is that we can find in those images an unexpected resistance to the fundamental principles such as proportion, order, harmony and control. Our research is restrict and tries to understand this certain kind of grotesque monstruosity which is peculiar to the industrial and pos-industrial society. In fact, what is central is some science fiction characters such as Frankenstein, Mr. Hyde, Proteus, Robocop and also the GMOs (the genetic modified organisms) or "frankenfood", and a whole list of cybernetic beings that destroy the barrier between action and reality and act as to demolish the "civilized" limits between the human, natural and the technological. This demolition is the central aspect of this paper. The simple fact that, with modernity, the technological innovation can be iconized as grotesque monsters makes one think about the humanistic capacity of providing answers to challenges that are beyond the logics of identity.