3152 - Mankind and Time XX

N. Lygeros
Translated from the Greek by Evi Charitidou

Access to Mankind is not possible but through work, because only incessant activity justifies the human existence. It is for this reason that society controls labor. For, it does not want it to be transformed into work. It accepts merely forced labor, useful labor, labor under command. Any other form of labor is suspicious, because it is humane, too human for society. A form of labor that leads to liberty can only be the fruit of Promethean audacity. Yet, this makes society worry as much as gods. If they contemned Prometheus via the state and violence, it is because Prometheus represents the symbol of Humanity and Time. Prometheus as a Titan were already present in gods’ past. So, he saw them arriving and taking over power. He saw this society establishing itself and deciding to stop time with immortality. However, Prometheus saw the future as well. By deeming time necessary for Mankind’s evolution, he could not but struggle against gods’ immortal power. So, he is memory of future, intelligence of enclosed future in the past. His resisting gods and his sacrificing for Humanity correspond to a deep mental model. Beyond Sisyphus’s myth according to the thematic of the absurd deployed by Albert Camus, Prometheus’s myth is about intelligence. This myth shows that intelligence is Mankind’s future. From the cybernetics point of view, this has to do with a real Wiener’s machine. This machine takes advantage of temporal feedback, since Mankind lacks in meaning without intelligence, and intelligence would not have existed without Mankind. Thus, the myth of Prometheus, who is an archetype of a universal genius, represents the paradigm of temporal resistance to immortality of the present. It is, thus, natural that society so much hates the one whom it deems responsible for the end of eternity. For, allowing Mankind’s vision means that gods’ dream must cease. It is for this reason that Prometheus assures in our oratorio that if he had been a god, he would have committed suicide so as to leave Mankind free to evolve. Prometheus constitutes the generic confrontation of society against humanity. On the one hand, he is the one to have committed a sacrilege, i.e. the theft of fire, and on the other hand he is the one who dares to make the sacrifice, i.e. the offer of the light. So, it is possible to interpret him as a generic transformation. Through his work, fire of power becomes light of essence. He is the example to follow for everyone who is aware of belonging to Mankind. However, to do this one has first to become an aim for society, then overcome its obstacles to transform oneself from a simple singularity in a multiple anomaly, capable of provoking a creative impact, a creator for Mankind. For, Prometheus is the Time of Humanity.