Modern Technology and the God of Communications

Greek mythology offers insight into our love of technology

Surrounded by the pantheon of Greek gods and the Muses, Apollo, god of the sun and of music, displays his skill at the lyre. Henry Howard/Wikimedia Commons

We love our technology, and not surprisingly, for it appears to make our lives easier, more productive, and more secure. But with every advance in human “progress,” we find that things come with a cost, sometimes a steep one—and sometimes one we refuse to acknowledge until it’s too late.

Using digital devices now seems disconnected from the consideration that the 20th century was the bloodiest in human history. Yet for that scale of bloodshed to have occurred, we needed the scientific advances that have led to the technological revolution we are currently experiencing.