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PROMETHEUS AT SPACEX: A MONUMENT TO HUBRIS

The "classical" foundry, Atelier Missor of France has created a 50ft statue of the Titan Prometheus, meaning forethought, at the cost of 1 million dollars. It is made of titanium, a corrosion resistant material. The statue was installed at Starbase in Texas, an industrial complex, testing site and rocket launch facility serving as the headquarters for SpaceX. But the project was not commissioned or funded by SpaceX or Musk (link), so the question remains who paid for it? In the modern reading the myth of Prometheus stands for the individual man's intelligence, foresight, the advancement of human knowledge and technology, and rebellion against tyrannical authority. But that's not even half the story. Modern man, being the ideologue that he is, is very good at cherry picking what's expedient. Utility is what motivates him. Not long ago the YourTube channel Philosophy Across Time (link), posted the entire retelling of the story of Prometheus and how he stole the fire from the gods and gave it to humanity.


May 16, 2026 Philosophy Across Time: Why Prometheus Had to be Punished.

True to type, Prometheus started his life as a Greek rendition of Caine, who also tried to fob off God with inferior offerings. That was the start of all of humanities problems in both stories.

The mental state of modern man is perpetual adolescence. He refuses to grow up, deflects responsibility and refuses to accept justice for his deliberate violation of cosmic laws. 

We love that sort of thing. Satan is another rebel who is admired in the same way by modern man. Where man had once been understood as part of nature and as a co-creator, nature has become an obstacle to be conquered and exploited for human progress. 


The characteristic in which this spirit of rebellion against the cosmos habitually is made manifest, is hubris. No matter how often the classics warned against disrespecting the all powerful cosmic forces, man can't help himself. 

In Homer's Odyssey, Zeus argues that humans are their own worst enemies because they attribute their suffering to the gods while ignoring the consequences of their own reckless choices.

Zeus asserts that while fate assigns a portion of grief, humans "compound their pains beyond their proper share" through their own depravity and lack of self-control.

They keep forgetting that in the the final part, humanity is punished as well with a thousand plagues from Pandora's box. Only hope springs eternal.


Update:
Note how this comes right out of Nietzsche's vision of the Ubermensch? Modern man believes he's referencing the pagan Greeks in his elevation of individual man. But the Greeks thought in terms of community and were honoring the gods as a duty to the polis, whereas modern man is putting himself individually at the center of the cosmos.




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