Paid essay — public preview. This page introduces the original essay. The complete argument, examples, and conclusion are available to paid Geomytha subscribers on Substack.
Modern people usually imagine danger as destruction.
Fire.
War.
Collapse.
The villain burns the villageThe Village — The PrisonerThe controlled settlement in the television series The Prisoner.Read full entry →, breaks the law, tears the world apart.
But older myths often know something stranger.
Sometimes the most dangerous figure is not the destroyer.
Sometimes it is the builder.
Rick SanchezRick Sanchez — Rick and MortyRick Sanchez is the scientist whose car battery contains the microverse system analyzed in “The Ricks Must Be Crazy.”Read full entry → does not create the battery universe because he hates its inhabitants. He creates it because he can. He needs power. He has intelligence. He has tools. So he builds a world and allows its people to live inside a hidden function.
They are not merely alive.
They are useful.
That is the Demiurge problem.
The false creator does not need to be a cartoon devil. He may be brilliant, funny, wounded, pragmatic, even occasionally protective.…
Read the complete essay on Substack →
This WordPress page preserves the essay’s place in the Geomytha archive, its original title and subtitle, and its publication date. The full subscriber edition remains protected on Substack.
