A Wily Problem Solver

The desire of the Tech Oligarchs to fight and break things is widely known, clearly displayed.  Among this rogue band of Billionaires the intellectual appears to be Marc Andreessen, co-creator of the Mosaic web-browser and co-founder of a Silicon Valley venture capital fund.  

On Substack, Mr. Andreessen has written, “I was asked what I think of Mark Zuckerberg’s recent Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) training, Elon Musk’s challenge to a cage fight, and public reports that a Zuckerberg/Musk MMA fight may well happen…perhaps in the actual Roman Colosseum.  I said, “I think it’s all great.  …it’s important to understand how important – how primal – MMA is in the story of our civilization.”

He proceeds to tell the origin of the sport, “…it was introduced to the actual Greek Olympic Games in 648 BC (!).  The Greeks called it “pankration” (παγκράτιον), but it is the same thing – a combination of boxing and wrestling.”  Trying to impress us by using the Greek letters – Google Translate is free – in fact Mr. Andreessen is showing his lack of understanding.  

The rape and abduction of Helen is central to Greek culture; masculine strength and dominance were key, and the Iliad tells the story of the ten-year fight against the Trojans.  Helen’s beauty was so great, her “face that launched one thousand ships” when Menelaus, her husband, the King of Sparta, rallied the Greeks to settle the score for her infidelity.  

The Iliad sings the praise of manly heroes skilled in fighting and warfare.  But the greatest among the heroes was Odysseus, whose skill was not warfare but resourcefulness, his wily, cunning ability to solve problems.  

Of Homer’s two epic poems the Iliad is an ensemble story, while the Odyssey sings of Odysseus, alone, his ten-year homecoming after the Trojan War, his return to Penelope and their marriage bed.  

During the War, Odysseus was one of the most trusted counselors and advisors.  A voice of reason, renowned for self-restraint and diplomacy, he served as a counter balance to the pugilism among the heroes.  His homecoming was filled with travail, the hero’s journey in the most archetypal sense.  Consider the challenges he overcame:

• When Achilles’ beloved Patroclus was slain, Odysseus negotiated with Achilles to let the men eat and rest, rather than resume the fight.  Funeral games were held and Odysseus wrestled with Ajax “The Greater” and raced with Ajax “The Lesser.”  He drew the wrestling match, and with the help of Athena, won the foot race.  His manliness well-equaled that of other heroes.  
• Odysseus devised the Trojan Horse, and lead the siege within the walls of Troy.  This brought the defeat of the Trojans, and the end of the war.  
• Homebound from Troy, his ships were driven off course and captured by the Cyclops Polyphemus.  He and the Cyclops drank much wine, which allowed Odysseus to blind him and then escape.
• Aeolus, the master of the winds, gifted a leather bag containing all of the winds except the west wind, to ensure his safe trip home.  But his sailors opened the bag while Odysseus slept, releasing the winds to create a major storm, driving them off course, when his homeland was within sight.  
• They re-embarked and encountered the Laestrygonians – man eating giants – which only Odysseus’ ship escaped.  Circe the witch-goddess turned half of his men into swine, then Odysseus and his remaining crew spent one year with her enjoying feast and drink.  
• He set sail to the western edge of the world, summoned the spirit of the prophet Tiresias and learned of Penelope threatened by suitors.  He sailed onward, past the land of the Sirens, through the dire straits of the Scylla and Charybdis, after which his crew hunted down the sacred cattle of the sun god Helios.  A shipwreck followed, in which everyone except Odysseus drowned.  He washed ashore, whereupon Calypso, a sea nymph, compelled him to remain her lover for seven years.  
• He escaped, set sail, shipwrecked again but befriended the Phaeacians, whose King agreed to deliver Odysseus home, to a hidden harbor on Ithaca, his home island.  
• Home after 20-years, he sleuthed the island to learn the status quo.  His son Telemachus, now a grown man, also returned from the Trojan War, theirs was a grand reunion, of secrecy.  
• His wife Penelope, having held at bay her suitors for decades, announced that whoever could string Odysseus’ rigid bow and shoot an arrow through twelve axe shafts should have her hand in marriage.  Dressed as a wandering beggar, Odysseus alone strung the bow and won Penelope’s hand, once again.  He and Telemachus, his son, easily slayed the suitors. 
• Penelope still could not believe her husband had returned, and so tested him with a ruse: she ordered her servant to move the bed in their wedding chamber.  Odysseus protested, knowing this could not be done as he himself had built their wedding bed and knew that one of its legs was a living olive tree.  Rooted deeply into the ground, such was the union of Penelope and Odysseus, which survived 20 years of separation.  
• To avenge the killing of the Suitors, the citizens of Ithaca rose up, but Athena and Zeus intervened and both sides made peace; after 20 years’ destruction the Odyssey ends with peace and reunion.  

In 431 BC, Sparta attacked and defeated Athens, with the justification that “might makes right.”  And now, Mr. Andreessen praises the primal, “If it was good enough for Heracles and Theseus, it’s good enough for us.  Fight!”

But the apex of Classical Greece – the birthplace of democracy – was the Athenians’ understanding of virtue. From Socrates, to Plato, to his student Aristotle, civic virtue – “arete” – emphasized justice, courage, and moderation for the benefit of the community, rather than the individual.  To the Greeks, the most enduring heroic quality was not skill in warfare, but cunning command to solve problems for the civic good.  

Elon Musk, called “the smartest 15-year old on the planet,” holds now the keys to the American kingdom.   For better or worse, our House seems reduced to Animal House.  The tech bros – the puer aeternus – shine in their moment to break and destroy with libertarian glee.  But this moment of breaking shall pass – all things pass – and great then shall be our collective need to problem solve.  

We the people must rise to the coming moment.  

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