> fire was the sacred possession of the immortals, and Zeus, the tyrannical king of the gods, took harsh revenge on Prometheus for stealing fire for the benefit of mere mortals
This, in a nutshell, is the ontological basis of the Western civilization's conflicted spiritual relationship with technology and knowledge. This notion -- fire stolen from gods which exact punishment -- is uniquely Western. (I grep'd OP for Mephistopheles and Faustus, which is related matter, but alas, the author had failed to make the connection.)
For the Western man, acquisition of knowledge metaphysically requires distance from, and ultimately denial of, God. It is not even remotely a surprise that this strain of thought unique to the West has reached its culmination in a desire for the disfigurement ("enhancement") of the Human body "made in God's image".
The Nart Sagas, very old stories from the people of the northwest Caucasus (non-Indo-European speaking, arguably not "western civilization") have a very old story that is almost 1:1 with the prometheus story. It's possible that Greek traders on the black sea may have borrowed it from them. Or maybe it could go back even further, to the Maykop culture and its relationship with the nearby people who spoke Proto-Indo-European...
And here I thought the story of Prometheus is a story about intellectual property rights. After all, it's not for the mere mortals to know how the magic of modernity works, and anyone who dares to teach everyone how to work with it draws the wrath of the Olympians Incorporated.
More seriously though:
> For the Western man, acquisition of knowledge metaphysically requires distance from, and ultimately denial of, God.
I think denial is a polite reaction. When I first heard that particular story in school, my feelings were closer to "these gods are assholes and humans should get rid of them", and "Prometheus is a hero, he took one for the team humanity". It's not the relationship with knowledge that's conflicted, it's the relationship with those who seek to control access to knowledge, in order to control the people.
Also related, the famous Alpha Centauri quote: "Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master."
What do you mean by Western Civilisation or Western man?
The idea of forbidden knowledge comes up again and again in a lot of cultures (see also the biblical story about the paradise). Buddhism has also similar stories (book of the death etc.).
> acquisition of knowledge metaphysically requires distance from, and ultimately denial of, God
Historians James R. Jacob and Margaret C. Jacob have argued for a linkage between seventeenth-century Anglican intellectual transformations and influential English scientists (e.g., Robert Boyle and Isaac Newton).
Philosopher of Religion, Richard Jones, has written a philosophical critique of the "dependency thesis" which assumes that modern science emerged from Christian sources and doctrines. Though he acknowledges that modern science emerged in a religious framework, that Christianity greatly elevated the importance of science by sanctioning and religiously legitimizing it in the medieval period, and that Christianity created a favorable social context for it to grow; he argues that direct Christian beliefs or doctrines were not primary sources of scientific pursuits by natural philosophers, nor was Christianity, in and of itself, exclusively or directly necessary in developing or practicing modern science.
This, in a nutshell, is the ontological basis of the Western civilization's conflicted spiritual relationship with technology and knowledge. This notion -- fire stolen from gods which exact punishment -- is uniquely Western. (I grep'd OP for Mephistopheles and Faustus, which is related matter, but alas, the author had failed to make the connection.)
For the Western man, acquisition of knowledge metaphysically requires distance from, and ultimately denial of, God. It is not even remotely a surprise that this strain of thought unique to the West has reached its culmination in a desire for the disfigurement ("enhancement") of the Human body "made in God's image".