Know thyself
What the maxim inscribed at Delphi meant to the Greeks and Romans who read it, and why we took it as Soma's mission.
Soma Labs2 min read
Gnōthi seauton, "know thyself", was inscribed at the temple of Apollo at Delphi. Pausanias, a Greek who traveled the country in the second century and wrote down what he saw, puts it in the temple's forecourt along with a second maxim, "nothing in excess". He says the Seven Sages dedicated both to Apollo.
What it meant at Delphi
People argued about the meaning even then. In Plato's Charmides, Critias says the words were the god's greeting to everyone who walked in, used in place of the usual hello. The more common reading was humbler: remember that you're mortal and don't overreach. Some Romans read it that way too. A mosaic found in Rome shows a skeleton stretched out on its side above the same two words in Greek.
Socrates read it differently. In the Phaedrus he says he still can't do what the inscription asks and know himself, so it seems ridiculous to him to look into other questions first. What he'd rather find out is whether he's a beast more tangled than Typhon, the hundred-headed monster of Greek myth, or a gentler, simpler creature.
Why we took it as our mission
Medicine knows a great deal about the human body. Most of us know very little about our own, beyond our weight and maybe a resting heart rate. A watch counts steps and heartbeats, and a doctor gets a proper look at you once a year if you're lucky. Most of what shapes how you feel happens in between, in the way sleep, stress, food and training add up over weeks.
You only see that if you measure the same way every time, so that a change in the number reflects a change in you. That's why we're building Soma Axon, a pod you'll visit once a week for a few minutes, in the same cabin and under the same light. There's more on that in The same instrument, every week.
What we won't claim
Knowing yourself also means being honest about what a number can't tell you. Every figure Soma shows will come with how sure we are of it, and anything we didn't measure will be left blank. Soma doesn't diagnose either. If something keeps looking off, it'll suggest you see a doctor.
The half we added
Our mission is "Know yourself, love yourself". The second half isn't from Delphi. We added it because people tend to look after what they understand, and we'd like Soma to help with the understanding.
We'll use this blog to write about building Soma Axon as it happens, including the research behind it and the calls we make along the way.