Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Prosthetic Gods, Taylor C. Cronin

Honors College

Freud describes us as “prosthetic gods,” or creatures of free will and choice. This aspect of human nature is an important part of what makes us inherently human. It is, unfortunately, part of the human condition to struggle with the paradox of free will and human agency versus the idea of fate and destiny. Addiction intensifies this struggle by removing control from individuals’ lives, pushing them down the path of destruction. Without the idea of control, that part of what makes us human is gone.

The process of writing, editing, casting, and performing a play highlights this same struggle, in …