Let's start the vertical and horizontal analysis of past, present and future myths.

Which topics are common to sci-fi ? Which ones are shared with other forms of fiction (fairy-tales, mythology, fantasy, speculative fiction) ? Which topics distinguish it from other forms of fiction ?

notion of other worlds (continents, moon, planets, solar systems, flat worlds etc.)

there is often a technology allowing one to "translate" between these worlds (ships, spaceships, wormholes, farcasters, ansible etc.)

zooming / scaling of the world (micro-, macro-)

less or more dimensional spaces

spaces with special topology (e.g. cycles, mobius strips); limits / borders of space

time slow-down / time acceleration

time dilation

time machines and time loops

pre-cognition and post-cognition

reversal of 2nd Law of Thermodynamics / axis of time

mismatch between subjective and objective time

transcendence beyond time

parallel worlds / universes / multiverses

uchronias / alternative history worlds

dreams, hallucinations, psychoses, altered states of consciousness

post-death, pre-birth / previous lifes

virtual reality, simulations

story worlds

"narrative ingression"

new sources of energy / new access to known sources of energy (nuclear fusion, rain energy)

new means of storing energy

other forms of energy (e.g. Elan Vitale, Force, Kundalini u.s.w.)

devices whose operation contradicts the Laws of physics (perpetuum mobile)

energy sleeping, energy waking up

too much energy, too little energy, energy disappearing

body extensions: protesis, (trans|im)plants, new body parts, exoskelets, nanotech

biochemical modifications (drugs, genetics)

sex, androgyny, kink

transcendence, immortality, HYBRIS

mind uploading / reincarnation / reactivation

human mutants, telepathy, invisibility & other superpowers

animals, past animals (mammooths, dinos), hybrids (centaurs, pegasus) , aliens

mutants; possible evolutionary developments (e.g. speaking poodles, planet of apes)

symbiosis, parasitism, food chain, predator & prey

nature-inspired environments (forest, ocean, desert, arctis)

epidemics, climate collapse, climate control

reactivated social forms already known from history (tribe-like communities, matriarchy, kingdom, empire, slavery)

extrapolations of existing trends (surveillance paranoia states, tech-equipped theocracies)

crossovers of above-mentioned

new religions or mixes of existing ones: new prophets -> new revelations -> new gods

new rites of passage, new languages, new cultures, new arts, new musical scales (& new musical instruments)

"legal fiction": alternative legal systems

humans create something "to their image"

creation surpasses its creator

something (a glitch, a divine intervention, a spark of empathy) happens

a conflict between humanity (resp. organic life) and machines

either mutual destruction

or mutual cohabitation and symbiosis/merging (e.g. cyborgs)

King Kakudmi & Revati visit Brahmā’s realm — return after 27 yuga cycles (Bhāgavata Purāṇa 9.8.26–28).

King Muchukunda sleeps for an age; awakens after Manvantaras have passed (Mahābhārata 3.186).

Vimānas described in Mahābhārata & Rāmāyaṇa — flying chariots with propulsion and weapon systems

Brahmāstra & other astra weaponry reminiscent of nuclear weapons (Mahābhārata)

Maya Dānava’s flying palaces & mechanical beings → engineered automatons and anti-gravity craft.

Brahma’s day and night cycles — billions of human years each → cosmic time loops / cyclic universe.

 "descent of a Hindu deity to earth in an incarnate or tangible form," from Sanskrit avatarana "descent" (of a deity to the earth in incarnate form), from ava- "off, down" (from Proto-Indo-European root *au- (2) "off, away") + base of tarati "(he) crosses over" (from PIE root *tere- (2) "cross over, pass through, overcome").

The meaning "concrete embodiment of something abstract" is from 1815. In computer use, it seems to trace to the novel "Snowcrash" (1992) by Neal Stephenson.

Pandora — first woman crafted from clay → engineered being.

Pygmalion — sculptor creates a synthetic woman brought to life by Aphrodite → early android animation myth.

Talos of Crete — bronze giant patrolling the island; → robotic sentinel.

Hephaestus’s mechanical servants — self-moving golden maidens → robot assistants.

Helios’s son Phaethon — seizes the solar chariot, loses control → allegory of human misuse of cosmic technology.

Daedalus & Icarus — inventors of mechanical wings; human-made flight technology defying natural limits.

Ra’s solar barque sails across sky and underworld each day → cosmic ship.

The Duat (𓂋𓏏𓈉) as cyclical underworld journey → time loop / nightly reset of the cosmos.

Isis reassembles and revives Osiris → early image of biotech resurrection.

The Shipwrecked Sailor meets a radiant serpent being on a lost island → hint of alien encounter.

“Opening of the Mouth” (𓅱𓊪𓏏𓂋) ritual reanimates statues and mummies → animation technology.

Thoth’s Book of Knowledge grants control over time, speech, and nature → forbidden technology.

The artificer Yan Shi presents the Yellow Emperor with a mechanical man of wood and leather — moves, sings, even flirts → one of the earliest robot legends.

Lu Ban’s wooden bird flies for days without rest → ancient image of aerial engineering or autonomous drone.

The I Ching encodes the universe in 64 binary hexagrams → a proto-digital code.

The Yellow Emperor’s cosmic compass and carriage always pointing south → navigation technology based on magnetic principles.

Chang’e ascends to the Moon after drinking the elixir of immortality → lunar colonization narrative.

Taoist Immortals → subjective time control and bioengineering.

The Yellow Emperor traveled north of the Red River and ascended the Hill of Kunlun. Turning south to return, he lost his way and for three months could not find it.

Two youths appeared, holding a white jade ring, and said, “Show this to the Queen Mother of the West, and you will obtain the Way.”

The Yellow Emperor met the Queen Mother, who sang to him: “You cannot remain long here; if you linger, the age will change and all things will be transformed.”

When the Yellow Emperor descended again, many hundreds of years had passed in the world of men. 

Maya and Inca

Yorumba, Dogon &c.

Edda & Kalevala

Ancient Sumerian–Babylonian mythic tablets inscribed with the divine code of the universe — whoever possessed them controlled fate, kingship, and cosmic order. In myths like Enuma Elish and Anzu, the theft of the Tablets causes chaos in heaven and on earth, until they’re recovered by the gods.

The Kernel is the sequence of symbols of constituting the core program of a computer’s Operating System — it manages memory, processes, and communication between hardware and software.

Whoever controls the Kernel can grant or deny access, alter rules, and govern the entire System’s behavior.

• The Mahābhārata – The Vimana Episode

• The Painter and the Mechanical Maiden

• Daedalus and Icarus

• King Kakudmi and Revati

• King Muchukunda Awakens

• Wang Ziqiao Ascends to Heaven

• The Shipwrecked Sailor

• The Hymn to Soma