Transcultural Mythopoeia and Techno-ethical Futures: Sino-Western Synthetic Creatures as Cosmological Frameworks for Posthuman Governance

This study presents a comparative framework for examining how Sino-Western mythological hybrid creatures and contemporary techno-scientific “cyborgs” embody distinct cosmological values and provide novel paradigms for posthuman governance. Through an analysis of ancient myths about Daoist–Buddhist philosophy, Western posthumanism, and cosmotechnics, the research reveals how these myths prefigure modern bioethical dilemmas—such as ecological restoration, AI agency, and the creation of synthetic life—through archetypes of resilience, restraint, and transformation. Employing comparative literary and cultural analysis, the study traces how foundational cosmological frameworks—Chinese Tian Ren He Yi (immanent unity) and Western transcendent hierarchy—inform the symbolic logic, functional roles, and ethical implications of these mythic hybrids. We argue that contemporary technologies, including AI and synthetic biology, remediate these mythic ontologies, simultaneously resurrecting ancient motifs of resurrection and hybridity while precipitating ontological destabilization. This necessitates the development of a “myth-informed ethics,” utilizing the symbolic architectures of these figures (e.g., the qilin’s restraint, the phoenix’s cyclicality) to address critical governance challenges surrounding synthetic agency, existential risk, and disanthropocentric futures in an era defined by converging technologies.