The warning of Icarus

[jennythe_reader]

The other day, I was listening to an episode of the radio show/podcast On Being. Seth Godin was the guest, and he had some thought provoking things to say.

If I were to ask you to tell me the story of Daedalus and Icarus, what would you remember of it? What lesson do you think we should take from it?

Comments

[tx_cronopio]

Oh, that's fascinating! Like you, the message I took was don't fly too close to the sun, don't reach too far. I didn't know about the converse.

Cool.

[jennythe_reader]

I'll have to find a copy of the book of mythology we had when I was a kid, and see what that translation does with the story. I think it was Bullfinch's Mythology...

Anyway, even if that version has the warning not to fly too low, it wasn't the part that stuck with me. It also seems to get left out of references to the Icarus story in popular culture, which to me implies that it didn't stick with most other people. And that, I think, implies interesting things about our society.

[siderea]

I like this. I did learn that version, in which both perils are spelled out, and have always thought it curious, and perhaps a comment on the society which created the myth, that the death that claimed Icarus was from hybris, not cowardice.

What lesson do you think we should take from it?

That any technology which is powerful enough to liberate us is also powerful enough to destroy us. :) Any technology of sufficient power to be interesting is a Hole Hawg.

[jennythe_reader]

You're probably right, that it says something interesting about the Greeks which way Icarus died. I really need to read more about them. I don't know enough to even make an educated guess about what that something interesting might be.

[inaurolillium]

Parables and maxims about not going to extremes were very common in ancient Greek culture (there's a Delphic maxim about it, and a bunch of cults advocated it), actually, and this story is often considered one of them. Not about aspiration or lack thereof, but about taking the middle path, about moderation.

Which doesn't mean you can't take this message from it, just that it's not necessarily the original context.

[jennythe_reader]

Absolutely.

I don't know much about ancient Greek philosophy, but as I was writing this up I kept thinking about the Stoics and how they probably loved this story for that very message.

Since I was reacting to Mr Godin's statement and to the way the story of Icarus is presented and interpreted in modern culture, it seemed like spending much time on the probable original interpretation would distract from my point. I probably should have said something about it though.