He takes texts and interprets them. It's all he gets. Edgar can't see, smell, taste or feel anything. The title also is meant to encourage close readings. And Edgar's lone convert at the National Security Agency, policing a computer security breach, is named Thomas, as in the doubting apostle Thomas.
People tell stories about the nonhuman or the superhuman to learn what it means to be human.
His hair is now shoulder length. To say a scientist is not at all responsible is wrong. But to say that someone who invents a piece of knowledge or technology is responsible for all future uses is ridiculous. It doesn't have to be that binary. And, in the end, Alice fails at that.