The Technological Frontier
Talos, the bronze giant who patrolled Crete (c. 1000 BCE?), stood at the edge of the known world and at the boundary of technological imagination. Forged by Hephaestus, he circled the island daily, hurling stones at intruders. Yet his immense power hinged on a single flaw: a single vein of ichor sealed with a plug at the ankle. When Medea loosened it, the life-fluid drained and the “machine” collapsed. Adrienne Mayor notes that myths placed automata and simulacra at the world’s margins—on remote islands or distant sanctuaries, pushing the limit. Talos shows how ancient storytellers imagined technology on the frontier: wondrous yet unstable, and always carrying hidden flaws.
