Sparks of Life

During the past 6 months of Frankenstein A.I. development, I have been asked many times, “What inspired you to write it?”

I did not receive a paid commission, grant, or any extrinsic reward for this project.  Inspiration implies a more intrinsic motivation because it is the process of being mentally stimulated to feel or do something creative.

So why would I, or anyone, spend hundreds of hours on an unpaid creative project? I suggest it starts with sparks. There is something about the creative process that sparks our vitality—it is when we feel most alive! —when we feel most human.

"Creativity is often a complex, mysterious, idiosyncratic, and, perhaps, divine process."

I think this is what initially interested me in the Frankenstein story. I say “I think” because I’m not sure. We swim daily in a soup of ideas, experiences, emotions and a thousand other influences on our being and doing. Who can say how these elements inspire or motivate us to pursue a creative project? But there seems to be something peculiarly and particularly human about it.

"Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley" by Richard Rothwell (1800-1868), oil on canvas, exhibited in 1840.

Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, first published in 1818, is about a young scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who combines mechanical parts with the limbs and organs from cadavers to assemble a Creature that is sparked by an electrical charge and becomes alive as murder and mayhem ensue. But is it human? Mary Shelley was only 18 years old when she started writing her novel. What inspired her to do so?

In researching this story, I discovered that Mary’s mother was a pioneering feminist who died shortly after Mary’s birth. Her father was a political philosopher and publisher. Mary received a rigorous education steeped in radical thought and literary creativity. At age 16, she eloped with a married man—the poet Percy Shelley—and had a child at age 18. They married shortly thereafter, and during that same year, she started writing her novel while visiting Switzerland.

"There is something about the creative process that sparks our vitality—it is when we feel most alive! —when we feel most human."

Due to stormy weather that confined them indoors, Mary and company began making up ghost stories to pass the time and Frankenstein was inspired by a nightmare. In addition, the Industrial Revolution was transforming economic life and Enlightenment ideas were disrupting social norms. Electricity was only just being harnessed for practical purposes and people at the time were fascinated by experiments in animating dead tissue. To try and parse each spark or influence that inspired Mary to write Frankenstein may be impossible because creativity is often a complex, mysterious, idiosyncratic, and, perhaps, divine process.

Similarly, here are a few sparks that lit a fire in me. During the development of 9th Hour’s original audio musical drama Beauty Will Save the World (BWSTW), I watched some YouTube vignettes depicting certain scenes from the UK’s National Theatre production of Frankenstein.  Shelley’s themes of human hubris, the boundary between life and death, and the consequences of scientific overreach resonated with some of the themes we were exploring in BWSTW, particularly the command to obey and not question ‘the Science’ during a crisis. Science must always be questioned in my view, especially when not doing so may undermine individual freedom and social cohesion.

About the same time, Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) was emerging into popular discourse as a possible disruptor to our economy with the potential to replace millions of jobs and change social norms to a similar extent as electricity had done during the Industrial Revolution. I decided that the pros and cons of A.I. deserved a good hard look.

As I researched that topic, I also listened to an audiobook version of Frankenstein and then went to a used bookstore and purchased a copy of Shelley’s novel to better analyze the story for themes, plot, and characters. Meanwhile, my friend William Stewart and I met for coffee several times and discussed the threats and opportunities of A.I. What is scary—according to some architects of A.I.—are the possible catastrophic consequences for humanity, especially in the early stages of developing this technology.  Bill and I were both very concerned that A.I. is changing our world as a fait accompli with little informed debate or consensus.

"Science must always be questioned in my view, especially when not doing so may undermine individual freedom and social cohesion."

Bill subsequently wrote a paper, "The Human Biological Advantage Over AI" in which he makes a strong argument that A.I. humanoids can never achieve moral agency because they do not have physical bodies that have evolved over 3 billion years. They can never experience suffering, pain, or empathy and, therefore, may behave like psychopaths (i.e. simulating emotions but never experiencing them). Silicon cannot replace DNA and there is an existential danger, says Bill, in acting as if it could. After I read his paper, I felt inspired to organize my ideas and feelings for a modern adaptation of Shelley’s novel into a play.

As I wrote, I kept in mind Shelley’s themes of scientific innovation, responsibility, and the consequences of playing God. I submitted a first draft to 9th Hour’s Artistic Director Jonathan Harris, who agreed that Frankenstein A.I. raises questions about the moral and ethical implications of creating life and is worthy of development within the framework of 9th Hour’s mandate to explore issues related to faith, spirituality, and the human experience.

What motivated me to persevere with this project is my conviction that theatre can be a creative agent for demonstrating why and how to preserve, protect, and nurture our humanness as embodied, relational, emotional—not just rational—children of a creator God.

I hope Frankenstein A.I. will help our actors and audiences think about what kind of future we want as humans and engage in meaningful conversations illuminated by sparks of life.

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GEORGE DUTCH is an actor, director, writer, and the playwright of the original theatrical work Frankenstein A.I. developed by 9th Hour Theatre Company in 2025.

Read more about Frankenstein A.I. and the artists who contributed to its development

Essays and papers by WILLIAM STEWART (PhD in Computer Science) are available at WillamStewart.com