Herms wishes to say hello
Posted Jun 6, 2023, 6:23 PM UTC
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This comes across to me as a very surface level understanding of Hermes, with a touch of Western exceptionalism. Hermes isn't just a god of NOW. He has always been a god for all aspects of commercial, intellectual and political undertaking, for both empires and the unconquered. Comments like the West mastering alchemy and the conquest of stock markets is a view that presupposes that modern is always best, even though we sit on a mountain of past proofs that the contemporary can always be improved upon. It's a form of exceptionalism that seems true for the time, especially for those who benefit greatest from it, until it isn't.
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Well its an introductory piece. Im certainly interested in unpacking his mythos further (from his own perspective, mind you).
I would also just like to note that we live in the safest most peaceful time in human history by a wide margin. That is the progress we have achieved from Ancient Greek to now thanks (at least according the mythos) because of the contributions made by Hermes (the God or Trismegistus). Thats what Hermes is trying to assert here by claiming dominion over the internet, as a tool of communication.
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we live in the safest most peaceful time in human history by a wide margin.
Prior to 14,000 years ago we have evidence that less than 2% of all grave finds have apparent lethal damage. It's hard to know exactly, and ofcourse medicine has improved (for those who can afford it), but after 14,000 years ago, we do see violent death double or moreso. You can say that we live in the most peaceful time after the start of the Formation period, but ALL of human history? That would be shakey ground, to say the least.
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You mean when the life expectancy was still in the 30s? Thats the time period you feel was safer than now?
There are plenty of reasons to lament western modern society but it is demonstably safer and easier for humans to live, especially at scale, in such a society than it has in any civilization before it.
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No. That life expectancy at 30s is malarky.
From 6000 bce, life expectancy (SD) was 51+. During the time of Greek poets and philosophers, it was 68~71+, better than it was for us in the 1930s. Where do you get your info from?
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u/Fu_Man_Chu Did you create any of this video yourself?
Did you do the voice over or put together the art?
If you did cool, that's your right. I personally think AI derived art is a menace to our artist friends and family.
This is where I have a problem.
This video is claiming to be the voice of Hermes himself and that's an issue. This AI is posing as a god who can answer people questions and that's BS. Or you're posing as the god and making definitive statements also BS, hubristic and misleading.
Hermes is open and avalable for anyone to talk to using divination and discernment. He's the easiest to communicate with as a god of communication. People must be allowed to arrive at their own opnions and discoveries. You're helping no one with this.
An AI generated non-being is not a god. And you are wrong in making this claim.
It's not funny, it's not cute and it's not creative. AI is a problematic area for many and has the capacity to ruin the life of talented and hardworkig artist all over the world. Allready illustrators globally are sounding the cry that they are losing jobs ( not well paid to begin with) to AI in mass.
I'm putting a flair on it for AI art but you need to also change the title it to say something to the effect like, "This is my opnion and how I feel Hermes operates in the world and how he's helped advance Western society. I created this and it is MY opnion." If you want to post this as honoring him somehow then say so. I disagree with some of it but yes he does cover many of the domains you mention. If you don't re-title it, it will be removed.
I won't spend time arguing with you. Absolutely no one has the ultimate truth. And using AI to speak for a god is just a dishonor to that god.
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I have a degree in digital media. It took multiple systems and a wide breath of expertise to make this thing. All the tech is new so Im still learning it as it develops. Dismissing something because of one of the tools used to make it is an ad hominem. If you dont like it thats fine but it least dislike it for itself, and not because it touched an LLM (or 8 in my case).
But Im not here to assert anything. I will understand if its a bad fit for your community.
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That's not why I'm warning you. Read my comment more carefully. I told you I THINK AI is problematic and a menace to real artist. But again, that's not the reason I warned you.
The main point HERE is that you're talking for the god and you are not him and you don't have exclusivity to his thoughts and opinions. I gave you a warning to flair it ( I added the flair for you) and to somehow say "In my Opinion" in the title and you haven't change it yet.
Us mods here are pretty chill on most subjects but not on this subject. No one has the right to say they are the authority for the god and yet you do. For example, "Thats what Hermes is trying to assert here by claiming dominion over the internet, as a tool of communication." No, an AI voice over is not a god asserting anything.
The thing that makes it a bad fit is what I explained above not because it's AI.
You could say "In my opinion Hermes is the god of war and he loves stock markets, " and that would be perfectly ok. Or better "This is my AI piece and all contents are my opinion."
It's pretty simple.
Do you understand?
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Its a fictional piece about a archetype or being we only know through mythos. If you feel you know this being better than me, then by all means Im here to learn.
However, you seem to be pretty closeminded about it for other reasons. So I wont press the matter.
For the record the dialogue isn't "me" its an amalgamation of multiple AI systems answering questions about Hermes and society. All I do is direct the conversation. Its far from a perfect system and I had to manually pull out some of its hallucinations around THOTH but if anyone feels they are an "authority" on the position of deities then color me impressed.
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Several actively religious polytheists would say otherwise. So, from what I gather, you are a new thought adherent posting a golem-made video on a sub devoted to a deity many actively worship as a theistic entity and disregarding Thoth syncretists as nothing more than humoring hallucinations? Bold move.
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While the AI graphics are interesting (and gettier scarier all the time) I tend to agree with the other poster that the last half of the video seems a little off.
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how so?
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This creeps me out as much as the moving prophet tic toks my Christian mother sent. I am so uneasy. Points for effort, though, I guess.
Edit: I listened to this twice and strongly disagree with the whole line about the West mastering his alchemy. That's bullshit, and I am saying that as someone from the west. Also, the stock market doesn't show the progress of society. It's a deficit, if anything. Anyone who's bought stocks knows it's just high roller gambling and bluffing.
There's a lot to unpack in this short video:
Hermes is not associated with war. If anything, he'd be reliable for negotiations, treatise, and anything having to do with diplomacy. His role is not technological advancement of weapons and strategy that would most likely fall on Athena and Hephestas. Ares is not just a god of blood and madness. That is an oversimplification and bastardization of his character.
Alchemy is not just a synonym for science, it's one branch of science. In esoteric beliefs, it is a mental process that is meant to transform the soul. "Mastering alchemy " does not equate to the creation of stocks or the internet.
From Hermes perspective the stock market would absolutely be seen as progress though. He's associated with Business, afterall. And I m familiar with the tenements of alchemy, Solve et coagula. That's precisely what we have done with the foundation Ancient culture left us with.
I think you haven't thought through how a divine being given dominion over communications and business would feel about the wealthiest most connected society the world has ever seen. Nor how the foundation his work in Greece (or Greek culture which he is a proxy for) laid the foundation for our entire society.
I fully thought out the implications of being a god of communication. While having a great deal of influence, ultimately he is not a supreme, all seeing, all knowing god as the video paints him to be. My point is there are other gods. The world is also incredibly multifaceted, Hermes is not the sole spirit responsible for human evolution. Myths around the world show gods, spirits, and humans helping advance societies in some way. Since this is a mosty Hellenic sub, let's not forget good ol Prometheus after all.
On to the note on stocks, they are not a credit to human evolution. Yes, they can be contributed to Hermes through his aspect that is connected to gambling and thieves. Stocks are a scam by the rich, you invest in a stock in the hopes that you are paid back in what essentially are dividends. The idea is to not sell off before a market crashes, but if you sell everything to fast, you can contribute to a crash. I hated it. Its a game with awful real world consequences. That is not advancement. That is a distraction running on greed.
Western culture isn't as advanced as you may think. Communication can only solve so many issues. It takes justice, will power, and action to make the world spin. Hermes is only one, wonderful entity, but there are many to help.
Well we can say whether Hermes having dominion over communications and business is a good thing or not, but hes granted that as part of his mythos. And since its coming from his perspective he would of course claim dominion over all of it. Divine beings tend to be pretty greedy no?
No. Not all gods are greedy. That aside, I would never call Hermes greedy. Hungry? Yep. in his lore and myths, he was passionate about every job he took, and went out of his way to do more, to help more. That is arguably pretty selfless if majority of your identity revolves around what you can do for others.
His most well known myth was thieving and scheming for a better life for him and his mother. I would say the guy has big dreams but they are reasonable and he did his damn best to earn them.
Onto the note about his associations with trade, and commerce. These concepts are neutral in and of themselves. Hermes appears to be neutral himself, however I would actually think of him purposely as "chaotic good". In his myths he did try to do the right thing, and ultimately did know when he was deliberately screwing others over. I can absolutely see him knowing what bad business looks like. The kicker is Humans do have free will and we can do terrible things in the domains of gods. This is the world. The world is not fair. Stocks only benefit those who can afford to play them. Stock holders are money lenders. Stocks are not the most beautiful form of human evolution. Fuck. The invention of playing cards and dice are better. The invention of beneficial leisure time in general is a mark of evolution. We are no longer prey to the elements or animals (most of the time.) The invention of games could absolutely be in his domain and yet , you look at stocks like a pillar of success. Fuck stocks.
And if you are uneasy thats better than nothing. We should all br a little uneasy with these things, divine or otherwise.
Also I better not send you the Jesus one I have releasing tommorow, lol. I suspect its a little bit better than whats on Tik Tok right now but the association might be enough for you to reject it outright.