Ray Chen, Pd 7, 11/15/2023

Modern Mythology 2024

Ray Chen, Pd 7, 11/15/23

    Creation myths are important cultural tales that explain the universe's origins. The

research looks into recurring themes, symbols, and their effect on cultural identity and beliefs.

Comparative analysis shows common human experiences and adaptations over time,

influencing beliefs and practices.

    Common themes found in creation stories from different cultures include the rise of

chaos and the presence of powerful beings, which provide insight into issues that humans

share. A brief comparative analysis of a few chosen myths reveals parallels as well as

differences emphasizing common cultural themes. Common symbols, including divine

intervention and primordial chaos, act as a unifying factor, revealing the deep connections

between diverse cultural narratives and the human mind as a whole.

     Myths are crucial in shaping the cultural identity of a society as they provide foundational

narratives that define its origins, beliefs, and values. These stories contribute to a shared sense

of identity and continuity between past, present, and future generations and influence societal

norms. They add to the establishment of ethical guidelines, influencing one's behavior and

interactions within society. Hesiod’s Theogony plays an important role in shaping Greek culture

by providing a narrative of the origins of the cosmos and the hierarchy of the gods. The myth

themes include cosmic order, the struggle for power, etc which cause them to view authority

differently. In Enuma Elish. A Mesopotamian creation myth it also contributes to cultural identity

as it also portrays a struggle for power between gods which influences their culture by causing

them to value order and the authority of rulers. In Hinduism, The Rigveda’s creation myth

shapes cultural identity as it's about Brahman the supreme god, Atman which is his soul and the

source of the soul in each living creature. It also, talks about cyclical creation which basically

just karma, and the deeds people perform will influence what one faces in the future. This myth

is very important in Hindu culture and influences societal norms by promoting concepts such as

dharma and karma which contribute heavily to the ethics of the people in Hindu society.

    Creation myths are very important in shaping cultural identity by defining a society’s

origins and values. The different narratives in every culture provide a sense of continuity across

generations as parents would tell their children these stories and their children will tell their

children about it continuing on. By studying creation myths we can appreciate the various

cultures and stories and how they shape different societies.

Ayad Alghaithi, Period 7, 11/9/2023

Modern Mythology 2024 

Ayad Alghaithi

Period 7

11/09/2023

Love can be expressed in many different ways. I used to think of love as only caring and spending time with someone, but it is a lot more than that. Everyone has a different definition of how they perceive love. Love is blind. Loving is commitment. Love is a battlefield. It is a dynamic feeling that can be felt by everyone whether its good or bad. 

Love is always one of the main themes in mythology, and in any story. In the tales “Cupid and Psyche”, and “Orpheus and Eurydice” their love for each other is tested and in the end, without trust, there can never be any love. Like the phrase “love is blind”, truly loving someone requires you to openly trust them. Trusting someone means you need to be “blind” to some things and put your faith in them, rather than letting your curiosity take over. 

Not only in stories, love is everywhere. The most important thing everyone in love requires is trust. Trust is the pillar of all relationships, without trust, conflicts will build up. If instead, you have your “walls” up, it is impossible to love and build any type of relationship with anyone because it prevents or breaks any type of connection. Being able to let your guard down and be vulnerable with your loved one allows for you to connect with each other. It helps loved ones understand you better and have a deeper connection, like emotional intimacy. 

Love is a battlefield. Trusting your partner ensures that you are always on the same side, instead of fighting each other, your relationship should be fighting everything together. Throughout my years in high school, I have learned that love always has ups and downs, but true love is showing what you are willing to do for someone. Love is not always easy, like in mythology, there are different types of love from family love, to romantic love. All of these show different journeys and levels of commitment that they are willing to take for someone they love. 

In the grand scheme of life, love isn’t just a simple feeling that you get in your chest, it is much more complex. Love has many different aspects such as trust, vulnerability and commitment. The understanding of love through mythological stories and gaining a new perception of love will help shape my approach to relationships. Helping me truly appreciate the connections we have with other people. 

In class group effort about our understanding of love:

Morgan Lee, Period 1, 11/27/2023

 Morgan Lee, Period 1, 11/16/2023, Modern Mythology 2024

Literacy & Learning

In this blog I would like to discuss the creation of mankind, as was told in Greek Mythology. As a recap, this is how the Greeks believed mankind was created: After the Gods overthrew the Titans and cleared the world of monsters, they delegated the task of inhabiting the world with creatures to Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus. Epimetheus (whose name means afterthought) impulsively gave all the best gifts, such as shells, wings, speed, strength to the animals, leaving nothing for man that could help them survive. Prometheus (whose name means forethought), made up for this by making humans walk upright, more similar to the gods, and used the sun to light a torch, and then brought fire down to the humans. This allowed mankind to thrive, using the fire as protection and also as a way to make crafts. At the time, called the “Golden Age,” there were no women. To further help humans, Prometheus tricked Zeus into picking the fatty part of the meat over the good, edible, parts of the animal. Thus leaving the humans with the best parts of an animal to consume, while only having to burn the fatty parts as offerings. It was because of Zeus’s rage that women were created, he used them as a way to punish mankind. He created Pandora and gave her a jar, and bid the other gods to put something harmful in it. Zeus forbade her to open it. Eventually, curiosity got the better of her and she opened it, releasing all the evil into the world.




While I have heard of this myth as a child, and have rediscovered it multiple times as I was growing up, it was only now, when I could look at it through a more analytical lens, as opposed to just reading mythology for entertainment, that I realized that this myth is still relevant in today’s day and age. Essentially, the story pits Pandora (and all women) as the sole reason why mankind has to suffer. If women didn’t come along, then man would still be thriving, living a life without hardships and sorrow, where they would never have to worry about having food or being attacked. While this exact belief would be rare to find in today’s day and age, other, similar beliefs are much more prevalent in society presently. Our society is a patriarchal one, where women have to struggle more compared to men, even though they are just trying to live. This struggle is so inherent and deep rooted in our society that inequalities are often overlooked due to them being so normalized. Even people who are actively trying to fight for women's rights, can sometimes act misogynistically without even realizing it, because of how it is ingrained in our upbringing. Myths such as the Pandora myth can help us become more self-aware.

Even though it is unfortunate, the fact that myths are still so relevant presently, despite being written/told centuries ago speaks to why the study of them is still important. When people think of mythology, typically they just think that they are childish stories, and they brush them off. However, the reason that these myths still survive to this day is because of the fact that they are so relatable and applicable to us. Reading, analyzing, and studying these myths can help reveal truths about ourselves and the world around us, especially ones that maybe we haven’t realized yet. The myth of Pandora is just one of the most obvious examples of this. These myths can allow us to better understand ourselves, personally and societally, and can help us make changes that can reduce the faults in our society. Myths are an especially powerful tool and I hope that more people can appreciate them, and apply what they learn from these myths into their everyday lives.

Hao Chen, Period 7, 10/14/2023

Hao Chen

Period 7 

11/14/2023

Modern Mythology 2024 

Research Paper

Recently in class we discussed the idea of the evolution of heroes from Greek mythology to contemporary times and what is the difference between them. Such as that Greek heroes are born special( child of gods or kings), suffer physical damage,  are noble characters with a fatal flaw that will end their life, and much more. Whereas in current times the hero is most likely to be born from a humble background, is usually noble with little to no flaw, and suffers mostly from psychological damage. 

For example, let's compare two famous heroes, one from Greek mythology, Odysseus from the Odyssey, and a superhero from the current times, Spiderman from Spiderman. Odysseus has two backgrounds, one that is not known by most is that he is the great grandson of Hermes and one that is known by most people which is that he is the king of Ithaca. He suffered from a lot of physical damage from the way it took him to go home, and he has a fatal flaw of hubris over his intelligence. Although in the poem he didn’t die from the flaw his crew member suffered instead as he is the only to return from the journey. Now when we turn back to Spiderman, he is a normal student from a normal family until he was bitten by the spider which gave him the super power. He suffered a lot of psychological damage from the death of his uncle Ben knowing that he could have said his uncle if he stopped the criminal. Due to the death of his uncle he developed a sort of noble characteristic and followed the code of greater power equal to greater responsibility. 

These changes occur because as we discussed in class in the times of Greek the ruling class want to display themself as these divine people appointed by gods to rule over them and they are qualified because they have completed these impossible tasks as a display of their power. They also wanted to put ideas into the common people that even these divine heroes died for their kingdom in wars and so the common people should do the same. Now the idea of a hero is more toward the entertainment side with movies, comics, cartoons, and much more. They are more so there to set a moral standard for people to follow and show the good qualities appreciated by society especially for children. That is why most of the heroes come from humble background ;to show to the people that they can do the same even with the humble background. 

As we progress through the Greek unit and in the future the Norse unit we are going to encounter more of these ancient heroes. From these ancient heroes we can identify more differences and even similarities between them and contemporary heroes. We can even spot the differences between the Greek heroes and the Norse heroes due to the changes in location and culture between these two different civilizations. Together we can understand how these myths, folklores, fantasies, fairy tales and legends depicting heroes let us understand the culture from the civilization it came from. 

Sources 

1 Heros teacher’s resources 

https://www.cam.ac.uk/system/files/heroes_teacher_resources_.pdf

2 Forgeard, Author Valerie. “Traits of Modern-Day Heroes: Beyond Superpowers and Capes.” Brilliantio, 29 Sept. 2023, brilliantio.com/what-defines-a-hero-in-modern-society/. 

3 Tolentino, Cierra. “Odysseus: Greek Hero of the Odyssey.” History Cooperative, 15 Aug. 2023, historycooperative.org/odysseus-greek-hero-of-the-odyssey/#:~:text=In%20fact%2C%20unlike%20many%20Greek,a%20famous%20trickster%20and%20thief. 

Charles Gian, Period 1, 11/14/23

Charles Gian
Period 1
11/14/2023
Modern Mythology 2024

Socio-political Consciousness: Chat GPT

Is The Terminator saga less of a sci-fi film and more of a reality show? In the future, will Skynet and robots that are practically impervious to damage as well as infinitely knowledgeable exist? Maybe.

Of course, certain things from the film are likely to never exist, like the shapeshifting metal in Terminator 2 or time travel in The Terminator. However, I believe in the next 5 years, we will have most of the technology shown in the film. Facial recognition and information on every single person? Very plausible. China already has facial recognition, as well as social score. AI that can carry out a specific task using a replica of the human body? Well, we've already built the physical AI robots. One massive company over the production of these robots?

Definitely.

Chat GPT, and AI as a whole, has made a scarily fast progression. In much less than 2 years, we already have AI tools which can create essays for us, solve our math problems, give us illegal information and recipes, chat to us as our therapist or as a friend, create art and images either abstract or very similar to human work, create ultra-realistic portraits, and even stitch on faces to videos with it looking practically seamless. There are hiccups, and all of their functions are not absolutely perfect to our human eyes. However, if AI has come this far, imagine what it could do in the next year, or the next 5 years. We already have experts who warn that AI will lead to human extinction, and say combatting this, “... should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.” In modern culture, we acknowledge these risks, but we don’t actually believe in them. We joke Ai will be our overlords, and that we must start posting praising messages about AI so they don’t murder us when they do become sentient and look through our chat or post logs. We jokingly dream about what the world would be like with sentient robots patrolling our neighborhoods, with our AI leaders keeping a close eye on us, reminiscent of 1984 but with a robot Big Brother.

If AI continues advancing how it has been, we could easily see worldwide shortages of human jobs, being replaced by the AI counterparts. You would no longer need to pay money for a therapist, but there would be many AI therapists free online you could talk to, with the payment being your data. An underground search engine that allows you to use the infinite expanse of knowledge of AI to search up anything you ever wanted to, illegal or not. Unless extreme action is taken immediately about AI to remove it completely, I believe it will be here to stay and it will shift the world dramatically, more for bad than for good. We must take some kind of action to prevent AI from spiraling out of control, and allowing bad actors to exploit it, and to stop AI from becoming the bad actors themselves. There must be some guidelines, restrictions, or way we can leash AI. If we don’t, according to the experts, it could cause the end of society. Elon Musk, the ChatGPT Founder, Google DeepMind CEO, and countless other important and noble figures acknowledge this, and it’s not a coincidence. With all of this said, there remains only one more question.

Are you ready to bow down to our future overlords?

Bibliography

Darcy, O. (2023, May 31). Experts are warning ai could lead to human extinction. are we taking it seriously enough? | CNN business. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/30/media/artificial-intelligence-warning-reliable-sources/index.html

Statement on AI Risk: Cais. Statement on AI Risk | CAIS. (n.d.). https://www.safe.ai/statement-on-ai-risk#signatories

Chloe Chen, Period 6, 11/13/2023

Chloe Chen 

Modern Mythology 2024 

Period 6

11/13/2023

Research Paper

Love is a universal feeling and a language that has no limits or barriers. Most people dedicate their entire lives to finding and experiencing it. Although love may seem like just a pounding heart, scientists have researched the chemistry and biology behind it. So what exactly is love?

According to Dr. Helen Fisher from The Science behind Lust, Attraction, and Companionship1, the three components of love are lust, attachment, and attraction. Lust, driven by hormones like testosterone and estrogen, is based on the human need to reproduce offspring. Attachment, through hormones like oxytocin and vasopressin, creates a feeling of bonding and comfort. Attraction is an increased level of dopamine and norepinephrine hormones that the reward center of the brain fires off. Love, with these three components, is like a chemical reaction inside our bodies. Love is similar to a drug; when these hormones are taken too far, people become addicted to the temporary 'high' feelings. However, love is more complicated than just a few simple hormones firing off because these feelings will fade, leaving people craving more and unable to survive without them.

As the highs begin to fade, people start using their five senses (touch, sight, smell, taste, hearing) as a guide for a desirable relationship. Dr. Philip Stieg from The Science Behind falling in love2 states that touch fuels oxytocins and can evoke pleasure or disgust. Sight creates the initial spark and fixation on a love interest, playing a vital role in triggering feelings of lust. He notes that smelling pheromones signals the brain when someone could be a potential love interest. Taste, influenced by sugary treats, increases the chances of desiring a relationship, as the sugary high becomes associated with that person. Hearing specific phrases or sharing similar music tastes can stir romantic feelings and form a verbal connection between two individuals. From what I learned, when feelings deepen and emotions settle down, people begin observing traits of their partners that make them want to stay together. Love is not solely about the good qualities but also about accepting their less-than-perfect traits.

Throughout all the Greek stories we read, the idea of love is involved in most of them. Persephone and Demeter represent maternal love, while Cupid and Psyche represent romantic love. However, in many stories, there is a fine line between love and power. Did Poseidon love Amphitrite, or was he obsessed with the power he had over her? Did Hera love Zeus or the power he had? According to research, most of the idea of 'love' in Greek mythology isn’t really love in modern standards. The Gods falling in love with mortals was simply lust and power. The mortal girls were not necessarily attracted or attached to the immortal gods; they were forced into 'loving' them because they didn’t have the power to refuse. Perhaps knowing the death that will soon arrive from mortals, the gods quickly abandon humans to prevent themselves from feeling hurt. Perhaps the gods view humans as disposable creatures. Whatever the reason is, many “love stories” were not love but a play on power. 

Like Harvard professor Richard Schwart stated in Harvard Gazette3, “I think we know a lot more scientifically about love and the brain than we did a couple of decades ago … But do we think that makes us better at love, or helping people with love? Probably not much.” With the advancements in technology, our perception of love is easily influenced by others. It becomes easier to compare personal relationships with others and the pressure of being the perfect partner can force two people apart. So despite being a scientist of love, I am not better at it than anyone without this knowledge. 

Sources: 

1. Wu, Katherine. “Love, Actually: The Science behind Lust, Attraction, and Companionship.” Science in the News, 19 June 2020, sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2017/love-actually-science-behind-lust-attraction-companionship/. 

2. Wirchin , Jason. “Your Brain and Five Senses: The Science behind Falling in Love.” NewYork-Presbyterian, 12 Feb. 2022, healthmatters.nyp.org/the-science-behind-love-how-your-brain-and-five-senses-help-you-fall-in-love/. 

3. Powell, Alvin. “Scientists Find a Few Surprises in Their Study of Love.” Harvard Gazette, 9 Nov. 2023, news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/02/scientists-find-a-few-surprises-in-their-study-of-love/. 

Ethan Cadotte, Period 7, 11/13/2023

Ethan Cadotte, Period 7, 11/13/2023

Modern Mythology 2024

Inequity by definition is the lack of fairness or justice, which is prevalent in American society today, it can be seen directed at almost everyone in American society in some shape or form. No matter who you are, there is usually some sort of bias placed on your people, whether it be about race, religion, sex, beliefs, etc. Thankfully, I have personally never been seriously judged on any of these bases to the point where I would feel offended or endangered, but I see all over the news people being attacked and all over social media people being put down for any sort of reason. Seeing these events happen has opened my eyes to some of the injustices that occur in America, but also all across the world. 

One primary basis of discrimination I have seen to be the most prevalent is race. Throughout some of the more recent years, there have been many occurrences of racial discrimination, whether it be in violent acts or something as simple as a comment on an instagram post. Some of the bigger things I have noticed was the Black Lives Matter movement, attacks on asian people, and more recently, the protests against Jewish people. These events are terrible, and nobody should feel that they are less than or could be harmed at any moment because of the color of their skin or the way they look. The one that scared me the most was the random attacks on asian people, as I myself am half Chinese. When I saw news of these attacks on the streets, I was too afraid to go outside or take the subway during the night for fear that a random person would run up behind me and hit me in the back of the head with a hammer. One that I felt more second handedly was the protests against the Jewish in their position of Palestine, as I have some Jewish friends who themselves were protesting for their rights as American citizens. They were being targeted in protests because of the events that were happening in Israel, whereas they had absolutely nothing to do with what was happening in a land thousands of miles away. Seeing these acts of discrimination has taught me to be socially aware of events and how they may be affecting people around me.

Another basis of discrimination is sex, being a part of the LGBTQ community is bound to make you receive some sort of criticism somewhere in America. I don’t often see people discriminated against for being bisexual or transgender around me, however I do see it very prevalent on social media in the comments of posts. Many call members of this community several derogatory terms that can affect someone’s mental state. This basis of discrimination comes from deep roots in history where people considered anti LGBTQ to be the way things are. In recent history, there have been many hate crimes against this group of people, many of them violent. This caused many people to hide the fact they are who they are, and it is also part of the reason that some people choose to hide that they want to be a part of this community. It feels wrong to belittle people just because they choose to be a slightly different version of everyone else. The difference is so small that you might not even be able to tell that someone associates themselves with this community unless they told you directly. I personally have had no idea that family or friends have been apart of this community until they told me that they were. Hopefully things will get better in the future between this community and whoever may disagree with their beliefs.

As for my personal beliefs, I believe that people shouldn’t be afraid of being who they are, whether it means having a certain skin color or identifying as something that others may disagree with. I believe that everyone should have equal rights in this country and all over the world, but unfortunately sometimes the views of others prevent that. Many problems of discrimination root from the way we were brought up, whether that be experiencing a traumatic event that we could tie to a group of people, or just being taught that something is good or bad, it roots from our preconceived notions that some of us grow out of. When we don’t though, it creates violence among our people. I hope that someday, the differences between people is not what separates them, but what connects them.