Does anyone know of myths which are critical/skeptical of technology?

manpreet Best Answer 2 years ago

The closest I've found would be something like the Prometheus myth, or perhaps even the story of Eden, where man is punished by a deity for poking his nose where it doesn't belong. But this isn't exactly critical of technology, at most it's saying that (some) knowledge is dangerous for people to have.

I'm thinking more along the lines of the myth at the end of Plato's Phaedrus (274b-279b), which he attributes to the Egyptians but which I've never found elsewhere. In it, the god Thoth approaches the god-king Thamus offering his invention of the technology of writing, suggesting that it will improve mankind's memory.

"Far from it," Thamus replies, "in fact it will have just the opposite effect since men will become dependent on it and lose their natural capacity for memory."

Does anyone here know of similar myths which are skeptical or perhaps even critical of technology?