[Robert Urbanek]

Can you know too much or be too zealous about pursuing knowledge? The penalties and dangers of pursuing knowledge have been expressed in mythology and culture. The Greek god Prometheus was chained to a rock where his liver was eaten by an eagle in a continuous cycle after he gave fire and knowledge to humanity. Per Wikipedia:

In the Western classical tradition, Prometheus became a figure who represented human striving (particularly the quest for scientific knowledge) and the risk of overreaching or unintended consequences. In particular, he was regarded in the Romantic era as embodying the lone genius whose efforts to improve human existence could also result in tragedy.

A more contemporary example of the folly of seeing and knowing all was depicted in the 1963 movie X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes, in which Ray Milland portrays a doctor who invents eye drops that give him X-ray vision. After accidentally killing a friend, he flees to a carnival where he puts his super vision to work as a mind reader. His increasingly powerful vision becomes a curse, and he finally sees beyond the stars to gaze upon the "eye that sees us all" in the center of the universe. He follows a preacher’s admonition, “If thine eye offends thee, pluck it out!”

Do these tales serve a valuable purpose or are they more a reflection of public distrust and fear of intellectuals and scientists, a fear exploited by populist politicians?