Infinite Loops Alex Petkas - What Ancient Greece Can Teach Us About AI and the Future (Ep. 310)
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Apr 16, 2026 
Alex Petkas, a classics scholar and podcaster who explores ancient Greek myths. He links Prometheus, Plato, and Icarus to technology and innovation. Short takes on decentralization, cultural power, and why origin myths warn about progress. A lively dive into memory, rhetoric, and what it means to stay fully human as AI reshapes our world.
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Prometheus Frames Technology As Ambivalent
- Prometheus is the foundational myth of technology: fire is a divine gift that enables civilization but brings unforeseen harms.
- Petkas frames technology as ambivalent—enabling agriculture, cities, and science while introducing new miseries like war and disease.
Hesiod's Feast Trick That Led To Pandora
- Hesiod's Prometheus story includes Zeus withholding fire after Prometheus's trick at a sacrificial feast.
- The punishment sequence yields Pandora, whose jar releases evils but retains hope at the bottom.
Plato's Warning That Writing Encourages Forgetting
- Plato's Thoth story warns writing becomes a tool for forgetting, not remembering, because external memory displaces internal memory.
- Petkas highlights Plato's irony: he worried about writing while using it to found a lasting school.