"Technology alters the human condition; it also gives it expression."

The Ancients’ Tech Anxiety 

On the shallowness of reading mythology as sci-fi

Charles T. Rubin

"With respect to inventiveness of robot-like beings, the Greeks displaced some of this wonder to the divine realm. But the inventive Hephaestus, at least, is surely the most human of the all-too-human gods: lame, short, ugly. Mayor endorses the idea that, as scholar Jessica Riskin put it, “mythology blurs the distinction between technology and divine power.” The ancient stories, then, suggest that technology involves a godlike creativity, yet is often used for the satisfaction of our more bestial desires. Daedalus’ wings are a means to and an expression of human freedom, but they empower also the ingrained rashness of youth. Technology alters the human condition; it also gives it expression."