Transcript Myths: Reactions against Technology

Myths: Reactions against
Technology
COMP 3851
Prometheus: Fire to Man
• Prometheus and Epimetheus were given the task of
creating man. Prometheus shaped man out of mud,
and Athena breathed life into his clay figure.
• Prometheus had assigned Epimetheus the task of
giving the creatures of the earth their various
qualities, such as swiftness, cunning, strength, fur,
wings. Unfortunately, by the time he got to man
Epimetheus had given all the good qualities out and
there were none left for man.
• Prometheus decided to make man stand upright as
the gods did and to give them fire.
Prometheus: Tricking Zeus
Zeus decreed that man must present a portion of each
animal they sacrificed to the gods Prometheus decided
to trick Zeus. He created two piles, one with the bones
wrapped in juicy fat, the other with the good meat hidden
in the hide. He then bade Zeus to pick. Zeus picked the
bones. Since he had given his word Zeus had to accept
that as his share for future sacrifices. In his anger over
the trick he took fire away from man. However,
Prometheus lit a torch from the sun and brought it back
again to man. Zeus was enraged that man again had
fire. He decided to inflict a terrible punishment on both
man and Prometheus.
Pandora – Man’s Punishment
• To punish man, Zeus had Hephaestus create a mortal of
stunning beauty. The gods gave the mortal many gifts of
wealth. He then had Hermes give the mortal a deceptive
heart and a lying tongue. This creation was Pandora, the
first woman. A final gift was a jar which Pandora was
forbidden to open. Thus completed Zeus sent Pandora
down to Epimetheus who was staying amongst the men.
• Prometheus had warned Epimetheus not to accept gifts
from Zeus but, Pandora's beauty was too great and he
allowed her to stay. Eventually, Pandora's curiosity about
the jar she was forbidden to open became too great. She
opened the jar and out flew all manor of evils, sorrows,
plagues, and misfortunes. However, the bottom of the jar
held one good thing - hope.
Promethus’ punishment
• Zeus was angry at Prometheus for being tricked, for
stealing fire for man, and for refusing to tell Zeus which
of Zeus's children would dethrone him.
• Zeus had his servants, Force and Violence, seize
Prometheus, take him to the Caucasus Mountains, and
chain him to a rock with unbreakable chains. He was
tormented day and night by a giant eagle tearing at his
liver.
• Zeus gave Prometheus two ways out of this torment. He
could tell Zeus who the mother of the child that would
dethrone him was. Or meet two conditions: First, that an
immortal must volunteer to die for Prometheus. Second,
that a mortal must kill the eagle and unchain him.
Eventually, Chiron the Centaur agreed to die for him and
Heracles killed the eagle and unbound him.
Flying Too Close to the Sun
Daedalus & Icarus
• Daedalus, highly respected and talented Athenian
artisan, descendent from the royal family of Cecrops, the
mythical first king of Athens.
• known for his skill as an architect, sculpture, and
inventor and he produced many famous works.
• Talus, his nephew and apprentice, invented the saw after
having seen the way a snake used its jaws.
• Daedalus, momentarily stricken with jealousy, threw
Talus off of the Acropolis.
• For this crime, Daedalus was exiled to Crete and placed
in the service of King Minos, where he eventually had a
son, Icarus, with the beautiful Naucrate, a mistress slave
of the King
The Minotaur
• Minos called on Daedalus to build the famous
Labyrinth in order to imprison the dreaded
Minotaur, a monster with the head of a man and
the body of a bull. Minotaur was the son of
Pasiphae, the wife of Minos, and a bull that
Posiedon had sent to Minos as a gift.
• Minos was shamed by the birth of this horrible
creature and resolved to imprison the Minotaur
in the Labyrinth where it fed on humans, which
were taken as "tribute" by Minos and sacrificed
to the Minotaur in memory of his fallen son
Androgenos
Secret of the Labyrinth
• Theseus, the heroic King of Athens, voluntered himself
to be sent to the Minotaur in the hopes of killing the
beast and ending the "human tribute" that his city was
forced to pay Minos.
• When Theseus arrived to Crete, he fell in love with ,
Ariadne, Minos's daughter,
• Daedalus revealed the mystery of the Labyrinth to
Ariadne, who revealed the secret to her lover Theseus,
thus enabling him to slay the Minotaur and escape from
the Labyrinth.
• When Minos found out what Daedalus had done he was
so enraged that he imprisoned Daedalus & Icarus in the
Labyrinth
Flying from the Labrynth
• Daedalus devised an escape from the Labyrinth with
Icarus by constructing wings and then flying to safety.
• The wings were built the wings from feathers and wax,
and before the two set off he warned Icarus not to fly too
low lest his wings touch the waves and get wet, and not
too high lest the sun melt the wax.
• The young Icarus, overwhelmed by the thrill of flying, did
not heed his father's warning, and flew too close to the
sun, the wax in his wings melted, and he plunged to his
death into the sea.
Thamus and Writing
• (from Plato's Phaedrus)
• Egyptian King Thamus is entertaining the
God Theuth, who has brought his
inventions before the king so that the king
could decide whether they should be
made available to the people of Egypt
Rejection of Writing
• Thamus inquired into the use of each of them, and as
Theuth went through them expressed approval or
disapproval. When it came to writing, Theuth declared:
'Here is an accomplishment, my lord the King, which will improve both
the wisdom and the memory of the Egyptians. I have discovered a
sure receipt for memory and wisdom.'
• King Thamus of Egypt replied:
"this discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the
learners' souls, because they will not use their
memories; they will trust to the external written
characters and not remember of themselves. The
specific which you have discovered is an aid not to
memory, but to reminiscence . . . they will be tiresome
company, having the show of wisdom without the
reality." (Plato)