I deal in robotics and automation and I constantly question whether or not it's right for mankind to keep advancing technology at this rate and in our current direction. I then remembered that throughout history there have arisen religious/folk tales of man being punished or suffering due to advancing knowledge, sharing intelligence, and creating new technology.

Be it the tale of Adam and Eve, Prometheus, John Henry, or even the upcoming Age of Ultron movie it seems that there's been a sort of fear/shame complex in many cultures in inventing and furthering science.

Does anyone know of any similar tales? Were there any cases in history where people actually tried to go backwards? I'm curious to see if this persisted through different cultures in different time periods.