A fear of machine consciousness has defined Western storytelling for millennia

Evidence

Humanity’s ancient fear of its technological creations is at the heart of many of Hollywood’s favourite storylines. Movies like Terminator and The Matrix turn on the same fear that animated Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Hesiod’s ancient telling of the tale of Pandora, in which she is a robot made by Hephaestus on Zeus’ instructions to punish us for Prometheus’ crime of stealing fire from the gods on our behalf. All such tales, movies and TV series feature a so-called singularity: the moment a machine, or a network of machines, achieves consciousness. At that point, it generally takes one long look at us – its creators – and decides we are not fit for purpose, before proceeding to eradicate, enslave or, merely, make us miserable. — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 275

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the singularity as the moment a machine achieves consciousness, and connects it to Frankenstein and Pandora.
• XREF: This frames how tech alarms are often obsessively pitched at AI consciousness, an angle relevant to the broader platform critique. — connects to: Technological utopias mask a fear of our embodied vulnerability; An age’s defining technology shapes the consciousness of its writers — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, 43; Modern technology links mind-control fear to the Antichrist’s Mark of the Beast (+1 more)
• FICTION: The point that Pandora is cast as a robot built by Hephaestus is a striking reframing of an ancient figure.

Broader Connections

• Modern technology links mind-control fear to the Antichrist’s Mark of the Beast #exemplifies (0.82)
• An age’s defining technology shapes the consciousness of its writers #expands (0.75) — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 43
• Radicalized uncertainty intensifies society’s hunger for orienting narratives #expands (0.75)
• Technological utopias mask a fear of our embodied vulnerability #expands (0.72)