Over the course of my career, I’ve written a few monster movies and shows (“Tales From The Crypt”, “Children Of The Corn 2”, “Bordello Of Blood”). I have a certain storyteller’s appreciation for monsters – and what makes them monstrous. And, the thing about monsters is, while all monsters are definitely monsters, not all monsters are villains.

The difference is considerable. A perfect example – Frankenstein’s monster.

He’s definitely a monster, but is he a villain? I really don’t think so.

To me, he’s just an unfortunate dead guy who Dr. Frankenstein dug up and then reanimated without asking first. A truly monstrous thing to do!

The monster comes to (after being electrocuted), confounded by his situation. This wasn’t his idea. He doesn’t know how to fix it. And that makes him angrier and more monstrous.

Frankenstein’s monster – it’s the case with most monsters – is a human creation over which humans lost control.

Other Monsters

Technology is a lot like that. All technology. Fire, for instance. One of our first technologies, it literally changed our bodies and our lives. Cooked animal protein is easier on our guts than raw. Warm living spaces are better than cold ones. With fire, we could have light where otherwise it wasn’t.

But, fire could also burn down our houses and kill us. It could be easily weaponized against us.

Once we achieved the ability to create and manage fire, we had a monster on our hands. We learned how to live with it and that’s where we are today.

The internal combustion engine is a monster. It liberated us to go where we want, but the fuel it requires in order to run is killing our environment.

In fact, the more advanced technology gets, the more monstrous it becomes. And the more that “monstrousness” threatens to become villainy.

Like with AI.

Some monsters do become villains. We cannot live with these monsters, and, so, we do everything in our power to not live with them. But, even as we try to neutralize a monster, we need to remember: they converted from monster to villain with our help.

We helped them convert! And that’s because we learned to live with them.

In its proper context, compromise is a wonderful thing. But, compromising with monsters is perilous because of what one must compromise in order to make the monster happy with the deal. But, in order to live with monsters, we had to see them as less monstrous.

And, that’s what opened he door to our monster-filled world.

A Monster-Filled World

We know from human history that allowing monsters to govern turns out badly. Not just for us, but often for the monster, too. Monsters, given power, get more monstrous. They don’t govern, they rule.

Ah, but government itself is a monster. We created this thing – but struggle to control it. One way or another, we have to find ways to govern ourselves (or risk being governed by others). When Winston Churchill said of democracy “it’s the worst form of government – except for all the others”, he was making the same point. If there has to be government at all (and there must be), we might as well be a democracy. We’ll learn to live with the monster.

Our current crisis began with a monster that was always a villain: slavery. We’ve never slain it. In many ways, this villain is stronger now than in the past. Or maybe it’s just more present – which feels like it’s stronger.

Racism is another monster (we created ) that turned villain. So is bigotry of every stripe. Misogyny, too.

Religion is a monster. And politics is a huge monster. Everything humans do or think or manifest into reality has at least a modicum of monster to it.

From the planet’s perspective – from the POV of every creature condemned to live side-by-side with us – we humans are pure monster. The planet’s not so sure anymore that it can live with us. Perhaps we’ve already crossed over from “monster” into “villain” and simply don’t know it.

The biggest monster turned villain facing us right now is Donald Trump. In a sense, Trump’s damaged psyche – the monster’s core – is the ultimate human creation: thanks a ton, Fred Trump! From Fred’s perspective – his son took a fortune and pissed it all away.

Yikes! How monstrous!