Behind the Monster: Reading Frankenstein as a Warning Against Isolation, Greed, and Hubris in 21st Century Agritech

21/10/2025 13 min

Listen "Behind the Monster: Reading Frankenstein as a Warning Against Isolation, Greed, and Hubris in 21st Century Agritech"

Episode Synopsis


This bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Addison Kerwin can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2025/10/behind-the-monster-reading-frankenstein-as-a-warning-against-isolation-greed-and-hubris-in-21st-century-agritech/. About the post: An analysis of Mary Shelley's allocation of blame in the novel Frankenstein reframes what “franken” signals in the term “franken-food.” Rather than marking genetically modified crops as inherently monstrous, the modifier highlights the responsibility of agritech creators, the ‘Frankensteins’ who engineer and deploy the technology.

More episodes of the podcast Platypod, The CASTAC Podcast