Stories like Icarus and Prometheus are not anti-technology; Daedalus's wings worked for escape. The myths primarily warn against the hubris of using new tools to transcend human nature and become god-like, which often brings unforeseen negative consequences like Pandora's Box.

"Frankenstein" is foundational because it captures a crucial turning point in Western thought. It explores the shift from God as the sole creator to humans as creators, introducing anxieties about scientific overreach and moral responsibility that have defined technological discourse ever since.

Technology isn't a cold, separate discipline; it's the manifestation of our deepest desires and dreams. This is why we instinctively give it mythological names (e.g., Apollo space program) and frame it in epic narratives. It's how we make sense of our own creations.

Titus uses his sci-fi novel to create an "ethical crucible" for human genetic engineering, forcing readers into a binary choice between extinction and genetic modification. This medium allows for exploring high-stakes scenarios and removing the "edge cases" that often bog down real-world policy discussions.

Author Max Harms defines "rationalist fiction" not by the realism of its initial premise, but by the author's commitment to extrapolating the consequences of that premise as realistically as possible. The creative act is setting up compelling initial conditions, not bending the plot for entertainment later.

Great civilizations are frequently built on powerful myths or "lies," from the Babylonian god Marduk to the American Declaration's concept of "natural rights." The power of these ideas for social cohesion is independent of their objective truth, which is often not even believed by later generations.

What we call "prediction" is just the recognition of recurring patterns from history. The future is genuinely unpredictable because the universe is inherently creative and open-ended. The future doesn't exist yet to be predicted; it must be constructed.

Public resistance to frontier tech like AI and genetics is driven by abstract sci-fi narratives. The most effective antidote is direct product experience. Using ChatGPT makes 'Terminator' seem ridiculous, just as seeing embryo selection software demystifies the 'Gattaca' narrative.

The tech industry often builds technologies first imagined in dystopian science fiction, inadvertently realizing their negative consequences. To build a better future, we need more utopian fiction that provides positive, ambitious blueprints for innovation, guiding progress toward desirable outcomes.