The Odyssey as AI allegory

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has returned Homer’s epic to the center of popular culture, a feat that must be welcomed. Many have asked me to review the film. I declined. Being Greek gives me no privileged vantage point from which to comment on a work that belongs to everyone, that has traveled across centuries and languages to settle in the imaginations of strangers. So, for now, I shall pick up on some of Homer’s, and Nolan’s, themes to revisit contemporary developments that keep me up at night. From our dwindling highbrow publications, to our proliferating social media, everyone is fixated on the clash between the technooptimists and the technophobes. Is efficiency more important than justice? Will AI liberate or enslave us? These debates take us around in circles, reinforcing entrenc