Class Description:

In the early nineteenth century, a young Mary Shelley penned Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus—her immortal tale of science, madness, and monsters—amid a time of drastic technological revolutions in Europe. Today, in the early twenty-first century, we are witnessing another societal revolution with the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), what some consider to be humanity’s newest monstrous creation. 

Join Marshall Laidlaw, a current Harvard Divinity School student and historian of queer religion, for a six-week program exhuming Frankenstein’s lessons on creation, education, technology, and relationships for our lives today. In this class, we will ponder: what can Shelley’s novel and its legacy teach us about the perils and pleasures of creation and the dangers of unbridled technology? What do you long to create with your life? How ought you to create it? Using Shelley’s novel as a foundation and AI as a case study, students will discern their own value system around creation and apply it to a creative endeavor in their life for a final course project. In addition to Frankenstein, we’ll read selections from Jeanette Winterson’s 12 Bytes, an essay collection on the history of AI and how it may change humanity.

This class is for you if you…

• …love Frankenstein or have always wanted to read it. 

• …feel uncertain about how to navigate AI.

• …long to rediscover your creative spark. 

• …want to think deeply about your creative impact on the world.

Course Outline: Saturdays, 12:00pm - 2:00 pm ET on September 19 - October 24, 2026

• Week 1: Intro to text and each other. Why read Frankenstein in 2026?  

• Week 2: Frankenstein, Part I - intro to creativity presentation

• Week 3: Frankenstein, Part II

• Week 4: Frankenstein, Part III - creativity presentation workshop

• Week 5: Winterson, 12 Bytes (essays TBA) AND creativity presentations (round 1)

• Week 6: Winterson, 12 Bytes (essays TBA) AND creativity presentations (round 2)

If you’d like to enroll in this course but cost is a barrier, email programs@notsorryproductions.com to inquire about scholarships.

Course Texts:

Shelly, Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. 1818. New York: Vintage Classics, 2025.

Winterson, Jeanette. 12 Bytes: How AI Will Change the Way We Live and Love. New York: Grover Press, 2021. 

Pre-course Assignments:

• Complete: Student Inventory survey (emailed at time of registration)

• Read: “The First AI Panic Happened in An 1818 Novel” by Heather Colley

• Ponder: What am I creating with my life? How do I wish to create better?

This class will be recorded for asynchronous viewing.
Questions? Email our team at programs@notsorryproductions.com.