Hacking the Mythography

In 1511, Michaelangelo’s The Creation of Adam was enshrined into the roof of the Sistine Chapel at the behest of Pope Julius II.

The image of God reaching out to Adam visually encoded the creation myth of God breathing life into Adam from Genesis.

In recent times, the imagery – and the myth itself – has been subjected to culture jamming of all sorts…including the below as parody:

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A friend recently emailed me the below image. The resonance is metaphorically chilling as well as outside of casual parody.

I think a good title would be “The Creation of Android.”

Through the cultural lens of Michaelangelo’s imagery, we are becoming the breathers of life into the earliest form of android life – and on some level dethrowning God in the cultural mythography.

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My questions are…

What would an artistic depiction/fresco of the cyborg culture of co-evolving man+machine look like?

Is it possible that the creation myth will evolve to the point that we – like the God of the Old Testament – will play the role of the creator only to be dethroned as well?

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I keep coming back to C.S. Lewis’ idea of God which is rooted in iconoclasm:

My idea of God is not a divine idea. It has to be shattered time after time. He shatters it Himself. He is the great iconoclast. Could we not almost say that this shattering is one of the marks of His presence?

I think it is about time to start asking the question: what possibilities are embedded in this shattering of myth?

Is there a etherial mythic/epistemic force that can be harnessed as cultural energy once the metaphysical bonds of myth are shattered?

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Above image: Louis Buckley, content developer at London’s Science Museum, played rock, paper, scissors with Berti the robot at the Science Museum in London.(PA Photos/Landov)

Here’s more on Berti if you’re interested in reading about our android progeny.

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