The Price of Fire — Prometheus, Nietzsche, and the Cost of Creating Values
We have made Prometheus into a mascot for progress. The Titan who stole fire and gave it to a shivering humanity now lends his name to prizes, foundations, rockets—anything that wants to sound bold. But the myth does not end with the gift. It ends—or refuses to end—at the rock. Chained to a crag in the Caucasus, Prometheus has his liver torn out by an eagle each day and grown back each night, so that the wound is always fresh and the punishment never finishes. The fire was given once. The price is paid forever. To read the myth honestly is to keep your eyes on the rock, not the flame. …