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Hi All, Off list Ken informed me that the list rule is just a suggestion. So in the interests of being less cryptic I will elaborate briefly. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, or to give it it’s full title 'Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus’ published in 1818 is the modern parable which among other things is about the relationship between creation and responsibility. Again, as Ken reminded me of the key quote towards the end of the work when Frankenstein realises the consequences of creating a monster: "At these moments I wept bitterly and wished that peace would revisit my mind only that I might afford them consolation and happiness. But that could not be. Remorse extinguished every hope. I had been the author of unalterable evils, and I lived in daily fear lest the monster whom I had created should perpetrate some new wickedness. I had an obscure feeling that all was not over and that he would still commit some signal crime, which by its enormity should almost efface the recollection of the past.” I do not want to imply by any of this that good people on this list are promoters of serial monster making. But I do want to suggest that as designers we have both an individual and collective responsibility beyond the invention of new things to collect evidence about the potential harm or benefit that could arise from our creations so that we can alert others to the potential problems. Collecting that evidence is often difficult and problematic in itself for all the reasons already discussed. I am, in agreement with Ken, suggesting that with the freedom to create comes responsibility beyond creation. Only the old testament god thought otherwise, but we are not gods, old testament or otherwise. Thanks Ken David -- blog: http://communication.org.au/blo <http://communication.org.au/blo>g/ web: http://communication.org.au <http://communication.org.au/> Professor David Sless BA MSc FRSA CEO • Communication Research Institute • • helping people communicate with people • Mobile: +61 (0)412 356 795 Phone: +61 (03) 9005 5903 Skype: davidsless 60 Park Street • Fitzroy North • Melbourne • Australia • 3068 > On 16 Jul 2015, at 6:53 am, David Sless <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > In keeping with list rules, this will be short. > > (See Shelley 1818) > > David > -- > > > > > > blog: http://communication.org.au/blog/ > web: http://communication.org.au > > Professor David Sless BA MSc FRSA > CEO • Communication Research Institute • > • helping people communicate with people • > > Mobile: +61 (0)412 356 795 > Phone: +61 (03) 9005 5903 > Skype: davidsless > > 60 Park Street • Fitzroy North • Melbourne • Australia • 3068 > ----------------------------------------------------------------- PhD-Design mailing list <[log in to unmask]> Discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design Subscribe or Unsubscribe at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/phd-design -----------------------------------------------------------------