Icarus

Somebody at Telluride attributed the following quote to Guillermo del Toro. It may be included in the new Leonardo da Vinci documentary by Ken Burns.

“The lesson of Icarus isn’t to stop flying so high. It’s to build better wings.”

I love this idea!

Daedalus, father of Icarus, knows the limitations of the wings he builds. He warns Icarus not to fly too high. He does his best to keep his son safe during their escape.

But the thrill of flying high is too much for Icarus. (I’m reminded of the movie Fly!) I can imagine Icarus thinking, “My father just doesn’t want me to have any fun.”

Could Daedalus have made better wings? Let’s assume there are enough feathers and wax and other materials to do so. Why take the additional time to make better wings?

If the goal is to escape, there is no need to fly very high. If the goal is to escape, there is no reason to over-design your solution. This is a lesson that more software engineers should learn!

So, Daedalus makes the “perfect” wings for his goal. The wings he makes can ensure their escape. The problem is that Icarus does not merely want to escape. He wants to experience the joy of flying high.

I don’t blame the father for not knowing his son’s goal. Before getting a taste of flight, Icarus probably has no idea that he wants to fly so high. Icarus discovers his goal in the moment and acts on it.

I don’t blame Icarus for acting in the moment. This is what the best actors are able to do!

While Icarus should have known better given his father’s warning, he doesn’t have enough experience as a builder to really understand the limits of these wings on his own.

We should trust scientists and engineers when they tell us the constraints of a given design. But this kind of trust only comes with maturity and a good education, which far too many people never acquire.

If Daedalus could have built better wings for the purpose of flying high, Icarus may have lived. Perhaps. It takes a lot of trial and error, even for master builders, to create designs that can propel us to new heights!

By the way, let’s forgive the writer of the myth of Daedalus and Icarus for offering an incorrect scientific explanation. If wax gets closer to a flame, it is more likely to melt. However, Icarus would experience many other issues before flying close enough to the sun that melting wax would be his primary concern.

Not being able to breathe at a very high altitude is a more likely cause of death for Icarus!