Prometheus Unbound?
Prometheus Bound is a Greek tragedy thought to have been composed by the poet Aeschylus sometime between 479 and 427 BCE and part of a trilogy the latter two of which (Prometheus Unbound and Prometheus the Fire Bearer) only fragments remain. Based on earlier myths Prometheus was the Titan god of forethought who was given the task of moulding mankind out of clay. His attempts to better the lives of his creation induced him to steal fire from Olympus and gift it to humanity in defiance of Zeus. As punishment he was chained to a rock for eternity and condemned to have his ever-regenerating liver eaten by an Eagle each day (1). Percy Blysshe Shelley published a drama based on Prometheus Unbound in 1820 concerning Prometheus’ release from captivity, but unlike the original there is no reconciliation between Prometheus and Zeus and the latter is abandoned by his supporters and falls from power, allowing Prometheus to be released (2).
In reality the controlled use of fire was a foundational technology in human evolution dating back ~1.5 to 2 million years and facilitating revolutions in diet (3), adaptation to colder climates and tool-making.
In October 2024 the Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded to John J. Hopfield of Princetown University and Geoffrey Hinton of University of Toronto “for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks” (4), for Chemistry to David Baker of the University of Washington, Seattle “for computational protein design” and to Demis Hassabis and John Jumper of Google DeepMind, London “for protein structure prediction” (5). These discoveries clearly hold enormous potential in the fields of what have loosely come to be called artificial intelligence and synthetic biology, but advances in our scientific understanding and technological capabilities often raise new risks as well as benefits.
In November 2023 Henry Kissinger died at the age of 100. On 23rd November 2024 his final book was published posthumously (6). Co-authored with Craig Mundie, former Chief Research and Strategy Officer for Microsoft and Eric Schmit, former CEO and Charman of Google, it builds on his earlier book published in 2021 (7) and recent warnings by other experts in the field such as Mustafa Suleyman (8), cofounder of Deep Mind and Inflection AI and current CEO of Microsoft AI ?and Geoffry Hinton formerly of Google (9) in warning of the potential dangers in the development of Artificial Intelligence. Similar concerns have been raised by experts in the field of synthetic biology in respect of gain of function virology research and the potential development of ‘mirror life’ (10). Leaders in these fields seem to fluctuate between high optimism and deep concern, but what the scope of likely scenarios over the coming years?
In ‘the Great Transformation’ first published in 1944 (11), Karl Polyani describes the transformation of European civilisation from an agrarian economy through the enclosure of open fields and conversion of arable land to pasture from the mid-16th century and the first and second industrial revolutions from the mid-18th and late 19th centuries respectively. In the early 20th century the Russian economist Nikolai Kondratiev proposed that capitalist economies experience long-term cycles of expansion and contraction driven by major clusters of technological innovation creating a period of radical innovation followed by maturation and eventually stagnation. Both authors observed the profound disruptive social, economic and political impact of these technological ‘waves’ on the people living at the time. These technological waves are reminiscent of Thomas Kuhn’s concept of periodic disruptive paradigm shifts in scientific conceptual frameworks followed by periods of relatively ‘normal’ science (12) as discussed in my post of August 2024. I suspect the two are closely aligned.
Brian Arthur of the Santa Fe Institute has written on the nature of technology and how it evolves (13). He draws attention to the fact that the development of new technologies is dependent on both advances in our scientific understanding of natural phenomena and on the recombination of elements of existing technologies. Technology evolves recursively i.e. a new technology itself becomes a basis for future innovation. Those technologies which address problems effectively persist, whilst those which don’t or are superseded, tend to fade away. Rather as in biological systems therefore, the evolution of technology is historically contingent and individual technologies don’t stand in isolation, they are part of systems of interdependent entities which evolve together. The evolution of these systems (or the ‘scientific-technological ecosystem’ to frame it more broadly) is complex and indeterminate and the wider impacts unpredictable.
In 1818 Mary Shelley published her gothic story of Victor Frankenstein who, obsessed with the idea of creating life, secretly constructs a creature from human remains and brings it to life. However Victor is horrified by what he has created and abandons it. The creature becomes bitter due to its rejection and exacts revenge leading to tragic consequences for Victor and his family and friends (14). Who bears the greater responsibility - the creature or its creator?
As we move into another global scientific and technological revolution, led by advances in artificial intelligence and synthetic biology, the potential benefits to humanity are substantial. However we ought to be mindful that the disruptive impact on our wider social, economic and political systems is likely to be profound but uncertain and proceed with precaution.
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1.?????? Aeschylus. Prometheus Bound and Other Plays. Penguin Classics. 2023.
2.?????? Percy Blysshe Shelley. Prometheus Unbound: A Lyrical Drama. Anodos Books, Dumfries. 2017.
3. Richard Wrangham. Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human. Profile Books, London. 2010.
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6.?????? Henry Kissinger, Craig Mundie, Eric Schmidt. Genesis: Artificial Intelligence, Hope and the Human Spirit. John Murray Press, London. November 2024.
7.?????? Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt, Daniel Huttenlocher. The Age of AI. John Murray Press, London. 2021.
8.?????? Mustafa Suleyman. The Coming Wave. AI, Power and the 21st Century’s Greatest Dilemma. The Bodley Head, London. October 2024.
10.?????? Katarzyna Adamala et al. Confronting Risks of Mirror Life. Science 386; 1351-1353, 12 December 2024.
11.?? Karl Polyani. The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time. Penguin Classics. 2024.
12.?? Thomas Kuhn. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions 4th Edition. University of Chicago Press, 2012.
13.?? W Brian Arthur, The Nature of Technology. What it is and How it Evolves. Penguin Books. 2009.
14.?? Mary Shelley, Frankenstein: or the Modern Prometheus. Penguin Classics. 1003.