A Child’s Wonder With Socrates
I had an epic weekend in Greece this past week as part of my new EO (Entrepreneur’s Organization) chapter, EBC (Europe Bridge Chapter). Before the event kicked off, I had an awesome day to myself to run around the Panathenaic Stadium - the first ever Olympic Stadium! - and tour Acropolis, with the accompanying Parthenon.
And I learned a very valuable lesson on the hilltop by the Parthenon columns built 2500 years ago (gulp!), as if in the presence of Socrates himself.
Our tour guide was Greek herself, named Artemis nevertheless. Artemis was a great storyteller as we toured the grounds of Acropolis. As we reached the top of the hill, we took some time to appreciate the Parthenon, but then moved to a smaller temple next to it: Erechtheion.
Here’s the history:
According to Greek myth, in the reign of Cecrops, the legendary first king of Athens, the gods Athena and Poseidon competed for control of the city and its surrounding territory, Attica. Poseidon struck the Acropolis with his trident and brought forth a salt spring, while Athena produced an olive tree by the touch of her spear upon the ground. The olive, fundamental to the Greek economy and way of life, was deemed a worthier offering and Athena was thus adjudged the winner. Despite Poseidon’s anger, the two gods were reconciled and worshiped together here at this temple. In fact, if you head to the North Porch, you’ll see a hole in the floor (and a corresponding gap in the roof), which was considered the scar left by Zeus’ thunderbolt, which put a dramatic end to the divine contest.
But our guide told us more…
She explained that the hole in the ground left from Poseidon had never been fully measured. A woman in the 1900s fell in and died, and since then there have been attempts to send measurement instruments down but because of some mystical forces, no attempts have succeeded. I was hooked.
A hole that couldn’t be measured?! No way! My mind went racing: sonar, dropping a long rope down, cameras, and more.
I left the tour amazed at this story. If it were true, it might actually mean there are special forces leftover from Poseidon’s wrath. Amazing!!
So where did my curiosity drive me? To ChatGPT, of course…
In one response from the AI, it quickly shit on this myth, quite pointedly, too. It said, in sum: “Although this is a nice story for Greek myth and lore, it is most certainly not true. The hole is only a few meters (~10 ft) deep.”
I sank down in my chair in dismay. My wonder was crushed, and I truly felt a negative emotion inside me.
It reminds me of when I started Rayobyte. I was naive and didn’t know better. I just kind of… started! Today when I start new projects, I tend to over analyze and critique every possible angle. By the time it would normally be ready to launch, I'd essentially killed all excitement about that idea and don’t proceed. In the early days, since I didn’t know any better, I had naivety at my back and just marched on forward (which probably explains the bootstrapped $0 to $3m growth in 2 years!).
My takeaway? Some things are best left unanswered. A child has no way of confirming their ideas - they just endlessly wonder, dreaming up the world they want to be in!
