Note on this edition: this is an electronic version of the 1999 book ...

Technodemons of the Digital Self 219clay – as Prometheus plasticator. 74 Frankenstein, the modern Prometheus, isboth of these, he is a creator and a thief, he is a benefactor and the victim ofhis own machinations, subject and object, man and artefact. The paradoxicalquality of the modern self as both construction and the constructor of itselfhas the capacity to evoke deep anxieties, and Mary Shelley’s reinterpretationof the myth was able to capture the popular imagination in a manner whichstill has resonance today.“THE DEVIL WITH A METAL FACE”: PHILIP DICK’S ANDROIDSWithin the universe there exists fierce coldthings, which I have given the name “machines”to. […] We mean, basically, someonewho does not care about the fate that his fellowliving creatures fall victim to; he standsdetached, a spectator, acting out by his indifferenceJohn Donne’s theorem that “No manis an island,” but giving the theorem a twist:That which is a mental and moral island is nota man.– Philip K. Dick, “Man,Android, and Machine” 75The Faustian inventor and his demonic invention form a motif overlappingboth the areas of horror and science fiction. Technology carries a demonicedge that surfaces in such stories as “The Hellbound Heart” (1986) by CliveBarker. This novelette (made famous by the series of Hellraiser films) usesthe intricate device named “Lemarchand’s Configuration” as a symbol forthe fatal human curiosity that opens the door for demons to come. Cenobites,the most cinematic demons of new horror, are marked by technology;as a Cenobite speaks, “the hooks that transfixed the flaps of its eyes andwere wed, by an intricate system of chains passed through the lower lip,were teased by the motion, exposing the glistening meat beneath.” 76 Theirhybrid deformity is void of emotion, even humanity – they are only expressiveof desperation and “appetite.” 77 The implied association is between demonsand body-as-machine, the cold inhumanity and lack of feeling in tech-74 The third important aspect of the complex tradition that the romantic literature emphasisedwas Prometheus patiens, suffering Prometheus. (See Trousson 1976, 31, 47, 364.Also: Kerényi 1959/1997.) Werblowsky 1952 relates Milton’s Satan to the myth of Prometheus;Wutrich 1995 is a comparative study of Prometheus and Faust (it includes aconcise account of the emergence of this combined tradition in the myth and drama).David S. Landes’s The Unbound Prometheus (1969/1988) and Timothy V. Kaufman-Osborn’s Creatures of Prometheus (1997) employ the figure of Prometheus for the needsof history and cultural criticism of technology. The literature on Prometheus is a fascinating,constantly expanding field.75Dick 1995, 211-12 (1976).76 Barker 1986/1988, 189.77Ibid.