Pygmalion

And those lessons are going to be couched in a couple stories themselves.

The first is gonna be Pygmalion.

The second is gonna be The Wizard of Oz.

And the third is gonna be Keanu Reeves.

Okay, that's the only one, other references nobody gets.

Okay, but I'll explain.

So, Power to the People, Pygmalion, Wizard of Oz, Keanu Reeves.

Here we go.

If the correct body can be constructed and some animating principle can be placed or maintained within it, then the difference between manufactured form and living being becomes considerably less secure.

The Pygmalion story approaches the same problem from another direction, because the artist produces a human form of such perfection that he falls in love with it, yet craftsmanship alone does not provide the final transition into biological life.

The art supplies the form while divine intervention supplies animation, establishing one of the oldest versions of a question that will follow artificial generation traditions for centuries.

Human beings may be capable of shaping matter into something that resembles us, but what supplies the final principle that transforms resemblance into life? Later traditions propose almost every answer imaginable.

Like an artist.

Conceiving like a Pygmalion in Galatea.

And Pygmalion conceives the most glorious thing in the world as he can conceive it.

But it's dead.

It's made of marble.

And to whom does he pray? He prays to the goddess of love.

And when Galatea responds, the first word that she utters is the name of her creator.

I've seen the play, and here, this beautiful mob statue, and suddenly it begins to pronounce Pygmalion.

All right, yep.

I'm mixing up my Pygmalions with my Cupid and Psyche, which has something to do with my own selection down the line, so.

I

mean, the fairy tale is very much like a direct line of ancestry from Cupid and Psyche, so.

documentary, not

scripted, like real, like a Pygmalion, you know, My Fair Lady thing.

And then I moved here And then I tried to start it up again and it didn't happen and couldn't find anyone to commit.

And one of my friends here who I'd become friendly with was a drag queen.

Um, but...

And then the other thing I was gonna say is that actually this reminds me a lot of the Pygmalion myth, which-

Mm

... came up in our previous book, Galatea, and we wrote about on the newsletter last week.

Y vamos a conversar.

[risas] Lindo es el mito de Pigmalión.

Pigmalión, rey de Chipre, había buscado una esposa, estaba buscando siempre una esposa cuya belleza correspondiera con lo que imaginaba.

Primero se imaginaba la esposa y después la buscaba.

Mala política para los bailongos.

Y esculpió una estatua de mujer que le salió hermosa.

La llamó Galatea y era tan perfecta y tan bella que se enamoró de ella perdidamente.

Y en una de las grandes celebraciones en honor a la diosa Afrodita, Pigmalión suplicó que diera vida a su estatua.

And then likewise, And then also, not just do you get resources, but you also get additional kind of, what's the word? You get additional kind of praise and this notion of expectation.

And that's something referred to as the Pygmalion effect.

And that's linked to this notion.

It comes from the famous movie and play, My Fair Lady.

I like that.

The Galatea effect is a psychological phenomenon when an individual's high self-expectations lead to improved performance.

Named after the mythological character Galatea, who was brought to life by her creator Pygmalion.

Due to his belief in her, this effect underscores the power of self-belief.

Some are ancient, like your mother, while others are just really old.

One of the most well-known myths follows Pygmalion, the king of Cyprus, who sculpted a statue of Aphrodite that was so beautiful that he actually fell in love with it.

Not a day went by where the king didn't feel up his creation.

Fawning over her white, ivory skin that was soft to the touch, he treated her with more love and adoration than he had any woman he'd ever romanced.

Lo and behold, that day would eventually come during the festival honoring Aphrodite.

He made a sacrifice and prayed to the goddess of love that his creation would come alive, and for some reason, she granted his request.

The next time Pygmalion pressed his lips to the statue, he felt her lips warm at his touch and reciprocate his gesture.

Pygmalion is lucky that when his creation came alive, she acted exactly how he wanted and wasn't disgusted with his behavior because that isn't always the case.