A Comparative Scholarly Analysis of Myth, Religion, Genetics, Catastrophe, and Artificial Intelligence
Author: LeRoy Nellis II
Date: August 2025
Table of Contents
Introduction
Origins of Humanity: Myth, Religion, and Genetics
Catastrophic Resets in Myth and Science
Comparative Frameworks: Religion, Myth, Science, and Theory
Prediction Analysis: AI, Humanoids, and the Next Reset
Conclusion: Humanity’s Endless Beginning
References
Introduction
Humanity has long sought to explain its origins and destiny. Ancient civilizations left myths of gods shaping clay, great floods that reset civilizations, and fiery destructions that ended ages. Religious texts—from the Hebrew Bible and the Qur’an to the Rig Veda—revisit these themes in theological frames. Modern science, through genetics, archaeology, and climatology, now provides testable models of human origins and survival bottlenecks.This paper provides a comparative scholarly analysis of ancient texts, mythological narratives, scientific findings, and modern technological projections, focusing particularly on the role of catastrophic resets and the looming influence of Artificial Intelligence on the human future.
Origins of Humanity: Myth, Religion, and Genetics
Ancient Mesopotamian mythology describes Enki, the god of wisdom, fashioning humans from clay infused with divine essence (Kramer, 1944). Genesis presents Adam created from the dust of the earth and Eve from Adam’s rib (Genesis 2:7, 2:21–22). The Qur’an describes humanity as emerging from a “clot of congealed blood” (Qur’an 96:2). The Rig Veda portrays the primordial giant Purusha, sacrificed so his body might generate humanity (Rig Veda 10.90). Egyptian traditions speak of Khnum shaping humans on his potter’s wheel.Science situates the emergence of Homo sapiens in Africa roughly 300,000 years ago, with genetics revealing that humans share approximately 98.8% of DNA with chimpanzees (Hublin et al., 2017).
Population bottlenecks, perhaps due to volcanic eruptions such as Toba (Ambrose, 1998), indicate survival through small groups.
Catastrophic Resets in Myth and ScienceFlood myths dominate global traditions. The Atrahasis, Epic of Gilgamesh, Biblical Noah, and Hindu Manu narratives share the motif of divine or cosmic deluge (Ryan & Pitman, 1999).
Science has identified plausible events, such as the Black Sea Deluge (~5600 BCE) and post-glacial floods.Fire myths, such as Sodom and Gomorrah or Norse Ragnarok, parallel scientific accounts of meteor impacts like Chicxulub (66 Mya) and the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis (~12,900 years ago) (Firestone et al., 2007).
Ice and darkness appear in the Norse Fimbulwinter, with volcanic winters plausibly linked to events like the Toba eruption.
Disease and plagues are cast in religious texts (Exodus plagues, Revelation’s pestilences) and mirrored in history by the Black Death, the 1918 influenza, and COVID-19.
War and famine close cycles, as remembered in the Mahabharata’s apocalyptic wars and paralleled by the Bronze Age Collapse.
Comparative Frameworks: Religion, Myth, Science, and TheoryReligious traditions interpret catastrophes as divine judgment.
Mythological systems, such as Hinduism’s Yugas or Greek Ages of Man, frame them as cyclical renewals.
Science explains catastrophes through environmental, astronomical, and biological processes.
The Ancient Astronaut hypothesis (Sitchin, 1976) suggests deliberate intervention by advanced beings, while Simulation Theory (Bostrom, 2003) interprets them as programmatic resets.These frameworks provide contrasting, yet intersecting lenses through which humanity interprets existential threats.
Prediction Analysis:
AI, Humanoids, and the Next ResetUnlike past resets, the next may arise from within humanity’s own creation—Artificial Intelligence.
Myth parallels abound: the Golem of Jewish lore, the automata of Hephaestus, and the Biblical Beast mirror AI’s ambiguous role as protector and destroyer.
Scenarios range from AI overrunning human governance to AI-human hybridization, creating a new species (Homo technologicus).
Resets may manifest symbolically:
Floods as data deluges,
Fire as technological collapse,
Plague as algorithmic contagion,
Famine as mass unemployment,
War as AI-driven conflict.
The philosophical dilemma emerges: are we birthing gods, or children?
Conclusion: Humanity’s Endless Beginning
Humanity’s story is recursive: fashioned from clay, now fashioning with silicon; gifted fire, now gifting thought.The myths encoded cultural memories of creation and destruction; science validates population bottlenecks and mass extinctions; AI raises the possibility of engineered destiny.Every ideology converges on the cycle: creation, catastrophe, survival, and transformation.The question remains whether the next reset will mark extinction or evolution, the end of Homo sapiens or the rise of a hybrid intelligence.
ReferencesAmbrose, S. H. (1998). Late Pleistocene human population bottlenecks, volcanic winter, and differentiation of modern humans. Journal of Human Evolution.Bostrom, N. (2003). Are We Living in a Computer Simulation? The Philosophical Quarterly.Diamond, J. (2005). Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. Viking.Firestone, R. et al. (2007). Evidence for an extraterrestrial impact 12,900 years ago. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.Hublin, J.-J. et al. (2017). New fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco and the pan-African origin of Homo sapiens. Nature.Kramer, S. N. (1944). Sumerian Mythology. University of Pennsylvania Press.Ryan, W., & Pitman, W. (1999). Noah’s Flood: The New Scientific Discoveries About the Event That Changed History. Simon & Schuster.Sitchin, Z. (1976). The 12th Planet. Avon Books.The Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Revelation).The Qur’an (Surah 2, Surah 96).The Rig Veda (10.90).📖
LeRoy Nellis 