for
- progress trap
- Prometheus complex
- Dan Carlin
- Gaston Bachelard - philosopher
summary
- This short article brings up an interesting connection between
- the Prometheus complex,
- a term coined by the French philosopher Gaston Bachelard and
- progress traps,
- the unintended consequences of progress
- The key insight is that human beings may have an Achilles Heel
- the desire to know, even at the cost of harm
- could be such a powerful impulsive urge
- that we throw caution to the wind and
- Icarus mythology may be a self-fulfilling prophecy
- This also echos the views of my colleague Gyuri Lajos,
- that invention for invention sake possesses this very dark side.
- This is an important adjacency
- as it questions the ethics of knowledge for knowledge sake
- As we know from
- the history of
- progress and its shadowy counterpart,
- the progress trap
- our impulsive urge to invent has harmful impacts on everyone,
- and these continually compound with time