1. Ancient Myths About Artificially Created Beings
Ancient myths from China, Greece, India, and medieval Europe offer insights into humanity’s longstanding fascination with crafting artificially created beings that surpass human capabilities.
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“The king stared at the figure in astonishment. It walked with rapid strides, moving its head up and down, so that anyone would have taken it for a live human being. The artificer touched its chin, and it began singing, perfectly in tune. He touched its hand, and it began posturing, keeping perfect time[…] The king tried the effect of taking away the heart, and found that the mouth could no longer speak; he took away the liver and the eyes could no longer see; he took away the kidneys and the legs lost their power of locomotion. The king was delighted.”
Lie Yukou,
Taoist Philosopher
Liezi [Liezi and Graham]
Circa 300–500 BC.
The desire to create artificial beings, which we now call AI, is an age-old pursuit with roots that go back thousands of years, vividly portrayed in the myths of ancient cultures around the world. These ancient stories beautifully convey the deep human longing to become creators and understand ourselves well enough to make beings that are superior to us, a power once reserved only for gods.
Although these ancient myths and legends were developed millennia before the formal birth of AI and robotics, to a modern audience they resonate with today’s technological developments.
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Link to the book: Machines of Tomorrow
Mechanical Creations of Mythical Chinese Engineers
The oldest myths centered around the pursuit of fashioning intelligent entities come from millenary China. These stories date back to a time of significant political and cultural changes during the Zhou Dynasty, which ruled from the 11th century BC to 256 BC. This period marked the path to China’s unification under the Yellow Emperor in 221 BC and witnessed the rise of philosophical movements like Taoism, which stressed harmony with nature, and Confucianism, which aimed for societal balance.
One of the most notable mythological accounts of crafting artificial beings comes from the Taoist philosopher Lie Yukou, also known as Liezi, around 400 BC [Liezi and Graham]. It tells the story of an encounter between a king of the Zhou Dynasty called Mu and an ancient mechanical engineer, which supposedly happened 600 years before, in the 10th century BC. This engineer presented the king with a remarkable, full-scale mechanical automaton in the shape of a human. The automaton moved gracefully, turned its head, and sang melodies in perfect harmony, executing precise postures and movements. However, the king became angry when the automaton approached the court ladies and flirted. To appease the king, the engineer quickly disassembled the robot, revealing its complex internal structure made from leather, wood, glue, and lacquer. This intricate assembly mimicked the workings of internal organs, muscles, bones, joints, skin, teeth, and hair with astonishing precision.
This ancient tale highlights mankind’s enduring fascination with creating artificial beings with human-like appearances and remarkable abilities, a theme that also captivated ancient Greece.
Gods, Heroes, and Automatons in Ancient Greece
Around the start of the first millennium BC, Greece was a growing society and a pivotal center of early trade. The ancient Greeks, known for their profound curiosity about the world, laid the foundations of Greek mythology during this era, which reflected the cultural values of their time.
One of the earliest stories exploring the concept of artificial creations is the myth of Pygmalion and Galatea, dating back to the 8th century BC. In this tale, a passionate sculptor named Pygmalion brings a female sculpture, Galatea, to life. The legend delves into the relationship between art and existence and echoes the idea of giving life to inanimate matter.
Another ancient Greek story that embraces the concept of artificial life is the tale of Cadmus and his mechanical servants. In the 7th century BC, Cadmus, a daring Phoenician adventurer, planted dragon teeth given by Athena in fertile soil. Surprisingly, these teeth grew into formidable mechanical warriors who became invaluable allies in Cadmus’s quest to establish the city of Thebes [Mayor].
Finally, the god Hephaestus, master of fire and metalwork, also plays a central role in Greek myths related to artificially created beings. Hephaestus, the Greek god of blacksmiths, created automata of metal, as we do today with modern robots. Hephaestus’s legacy includes various mechanical creations, such as Talos, a colossal bronze giant he crafted to protect Crete in the 7th century BC. Talos met his end when a plug was removed from his ankle, releasing the vital fluid that powered him.
Hephaestus is also credited with crafting golden mechanical maidens who assisted in his workshop, hinting at the concept of industrial automation, a notion that would take millennia to materialize. Other myths tell of his construction of fire-breathing bronze bulls, showing his role as a precursor to modern engineers.
The enduring impact of these Greek myths, centered on artificial life, has left an indelible mark on Western civilization. However, their influence extended beyond the Western world, as they accompanied Alexander the Great’s vast conquests in the 4th century BC, including his expedition to India.
Mechanical Warriors in Mystic India
In ancient India, we also find compelling narratives about mechanical warriors. The Lokapannatti is a collection of Buddhist texts penned in 11th or 12th century AD Burma. Lokapannatti translates to “Description of the World” and presents a rich tapestry of narratives, anecdotes, and ethical teachings. Among these tales, one stands out: an account of Emperor Ashoka’s reign and the creation of an army of automaton soldiers known as the “Machines of Spiritual Motion” [Strong].
Emperor Ashoka holds a special place in history for ruling over the vast Maurya Empire across the Indian subcontinent in the 3rd century BC. His conversion to Buddhism after witnessing the ravages of war and violence made him one of the first rulers to adopt it as the state religion. As part of his legacy, he built numerous temples to house Buddha’s relics throughout his wide realm.
Just a few years before Ashoka’s reign, Alexander the Great’s expedition had crossed the Indus River in 326 BC into northwest India, which triggered a profound cultural interaction between East and West. The tale of the “Machines of Spiritual Motion” takes us on an intriguing exchange between Greece and India. According to the legend, skilled automaton makers resided in the Greek world west of India and guarded closely the secret technology, which was used for trade and agriculture. Leaving or divulging these secrets was strictly prohibited, and lethal mechanical executioners hunted down those who dared to break this rule. Hindu and Buddhist texts describe these automaton warriors as swift and deadly beings, wielding swords with the agility of the wind.
The myth took a significant turn when a young Indian craftsman from Pataliputra — now called Patna — located on the banks of the Ganges River, aspired to master the skill of crafting automatons around the 5th century BC. By marrying the daughter of a master automaton maker, he cunningly learns these skills. At the same time, he prepares plans for constructing automatons back home and devises a strategy to transport the plans back to India. Aware of the danger posed by the mechanical assassins, he cleverly hides the stolen plans inside a wound on his thigh, skillfully stitching the skin to conceal them.
The artisan is captured before he can begin his journey home and meets a tragic fate. Nevertheless, his son manages to recover the plans, embarks on the journey back to Pataliputra, and follows his father’s wish to build the automated guardians. According to the instructions, the mission of the guardians is to safeguard the hidden relics of Buddha in a secret underground chamber. These relics and mechanical guardians remained concealed and protected for two centuries until Emperor Ashoka ascended to power in 304 BC, with Pataliputra as his capital.
The legend recounts Ashoka’s relentless quest to locate the hidden relics. When he finally finds them, violent clashes ensue between him and the mechanical warriors. In some tales, the Hindu god Vishwakarma aids Ashoka by dislodging the bolts that held the guardians’ rotating structures with well-aimed arrows. Other versions reveal an engineer in charge of maintaining the machines, who discloses to Ashoka how to deactivate and control them. Ultimately, Ashoka gains mastery over the machines. From that moment, the mechanic warriors accept Ashoka’s authority, and the Emperor leads them in support of his military campaigns. However, Ashoka never fully trusts these powerful warriors and always fears losing control over them and the consequences that could bring to the Empire.
This story inevitably recalls Greek myths of Cadmus and his army of artificial soldiers created from dragon teeth. The concept of automatons safeguarding Buddha’s relics emerged from technical and commercial exchanges between Indian and Hellenistic cultures. Tales and myths always intertwine across vast distances, bridging empires and cultures.
Alchemy, Talking Metalheads, and Medieval Ethics
A millennium and a half later, in the backdrop of medieval Europe, society is still captivated by the legends of skillfully crafted, intelligent beings. During the 13th century in Europe, tales of automated talking metal heads started circulating across the continent.
The 13th century was a period of political instability and fragmentation across the whole continent, from Italy and Germany to France and England. However, this era also saw the dawn of the Renaissance, characterized by a revived enthusiasm for classical Greek and Roman culture. Additionally, a promising discipline known as Alchemy was gaining prominence. Alchemy blended chemistry, metallurgy, and esoteric philosophy to transmute base metals into gold and brew elixirs that promised eternal life. Yet, the Catholic Church regarded alchemy cautiously, sometimes leading to the prosecution of alchemists labeled as heretics.
Simultaneously, medieval philosophy and theology thrived under the guidance of notable figures such as the erudite German scholar Albertus Magnus and his pupil, the Italian philosopher Thomas Aquinas. Albertus Magnus earned fame for his profound expertise in various fields, including the enigmatic realm of alchemy. Legend suggests that through his mastery of alchemy and mysticism, Albertus Magnus crafted a metal head with a human aspect that could talk [Butler]. This creation was said to be able to answer inquiries and perform divinatory acts. However, this kind of invention was deemed blasphemous, violating divine laws and contradicting Church teachings. Upon discovering this creation, Thomas Aquinas destroyed it with a hammer blow, arguing its incompatibility with Christian theology.
In a parallel narrative set in 13th-century England, we encounter Roger Bacon, known as Doctor Mirabilis — the Wonderful Doctor — an English Franciscan friar, philosopher, and scientist. Like Albertus Magnus, Bacon embarked on an alchemical experiment that resulted in yet another metallic head endowed with extraordinary properties [Redgrove]. Bacon’s brazen head was also able to converse and respond to queries, serving as an oracle or divinatory instrument. Some versions of the story even claimed that the head could foretell the future or impart spiritual wisdom. Roger Bacon asserted that his alchemical and technological knowledge was bestowed upon him through divine inspiration and the aid of supernatural entities, including angels. Yet, due to the other-worldly and anti-religious nature of his experiments and writings, Bacon faced persecution by the Church and endured imprisonment.
Myths and stories across epochs and cultures, such as those above, reveal humanity’s enduring desire to forge beings surpassing their own capabilities in order to dually address real-world challenges and articulate aspiration. Partly human, partly mechanical, and partly divine, these artificial beings were close to gods and heroes for our ancestors. It would not be correct to label them as robots or AI, as the term “robot” was first coined in 1920 in a work of Science Fiction, and “AI” was defined as a field of study for the first time in 1956, a foundational moment we will explore in great detail in Chapter 4. But from a contemporary standpoint, all these ancient myths have a commonality. Not only do the creations from pre-Christian Chinese, Indian, and Greek tales stories with both modern AI and robotics concepts, but they also contain literally the same warnings as cited in Exodus: “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.”
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Author: Pedro Uria-Recio
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