The Artificial Man in Ancient Myth #81
We're not the first to dream of robots
Welcome back to Daily Philosophy! Following multiple requests, I will use the Wednesdays to post something outside of our year-long experiment of living the main philosophies of life and happiness. On the next three Wednesdays, we’ll have a look at the history of ideas around Artificial Intelligence and we’ll see how it all began — 2,500 years ago. I hope that you’ll find it interesting and fun!
Creation stories
Many cultures have a myth about the creation of man and often it is a god who, through the use of divine powers, makes man out of some inanimate material. We all know the version of the Bible:
7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. (King James Bible, Genesis 2)
A very poetic version of the creation story can be found in the Slavonic Book of Enoch:
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