ABSTRACT
The origins of the myth of automation go back to the Thales of Miletus’ astronomical observations in the 6th century BC. They offer ambiguous accounts of a prediction and monopoly that led to a fall into a ditch. Thales controls time and the future as Chronos thanks to his knowledge of astronomical cycles, but he is also a master of his time who explores things no one cares about (Kairos). In Plato’s account, Thales defines the future as Melos (μέλλωis), matter of governance and lawmaking (νόμος), against the reduction of future to monopoly and calculations of what is ‘advantageous’ Ophelimos (ὠφέλιμος). ‘Future makers’ and ‘lawmakers’ like Thales then balance the knowledge of ontology and cosmology (Chronos), which critique (Kairos) described as expertise, connoisseurship, and artistic creation. In contrast to the monopoly contraptions and governance machines reducing the future to control of time as Chronos, Thales defines the possibility of future and prototyping as a critique or action emphasizing the experience of time as Kairos.
