A swarm of gods – the dance on the VULKAN

“What is a God? Can we know that gods exist? “These questions are posed by Wednesday, and the answer is the same: “People believe in things, which means they are there! So what was the first thing – the gods or the people who believed in them?” In the course of anthropology, people have designed a variety of gods. Yes – God is a special form of constructivism. To the question of the deeper meaning of our life, the many of the Warums, which we can not answer, there remains no other possibility but to arrive at a first cause. There are gods and gods in all times and cultures. Accordingly, the images of God have also changed in the course of human history. An A-theistic worldview is probably the worst of all. And further, very probably, a new image of God will develop through the ongoing upheavals. Today you no longer need to believe in a bearded creator god or the already forgotten gods from the series. However, there are some, especially in modern times, essential assumptions about God:

• God does not intervene in the world’s events (is outside space and time).
• God does not need people – and vice versa.
• God does not change his will – is everything done – man does not know it.
• God has given us the world and given us the responsibility for it
• We have the best of all possible worlds; Vital Zone in the Universe
• Resources are limited and must be used gently
• Peace between all people, nations and traditions is our task
• The world has become a village – relationships independent of space
• Many different forms of life (life sections) are practiced
• Development of (tentative) assured knowledge (empirical spirituality)
• There is no certainty – material wealth does not help (no greed)
• Individual (ICH) goes back – transcendental global consciousness is emerging

These or similar attributions to a higher, transcendent power have led to the establishment of religions. To this, Wednesday also has an opinion: “Religion arouses in those who fear nothing, the fear of God”. Being able to control fear is probably the best way to power. Fear of eternal damnation, of lightning, before the sunset, etc. lead to enormous sacrifice. Only that all these gifts do not belong to the gods, unless they are human beings, but to the power system. The best construction is therefore a human-God unity. Just like in American Gods. The gods there are all characterized by a functionality – they are specialized in a specialized area. Alone the Hindu tradition counts over three million gods. Possibly, the title of the sixth episode – “The Swarm of the Gods” comes from the multiplicity of the titles.

Shadowmoon recognizes more clearly that the situation in which he is present is rationally not explainable. He asks Wednesday, “Where was all this before we met?” And he answers: “On the periphery, next door. But there is always a window. People are only afraid to look through. In a prison cell it is safer. “Even there, however, everything is not safe. There is no security. People have always known uncertainties and gods have helped to reduce these. The God of the dead for life in the hereafter, the love goddess, the god of wisdom, the god of war and much more. These functions have survived cultures and times. Depending on the culture and the weapons, war gods had different manifestations and abilities. At this point Wednesday and Shadow reach the city of Vulcan in Virginia.

They meet there the weapon god – “god of the volcano”. He had been responsible for the production of weapons. For centuries it was the quality of the sword, which decided on victory or defeat. It was exactly this weapon that the ancient gods had when they came to America. They were thus clearly superior to the armor of the Natives. Of the Weapon God has made America what it is today – the military world power. Until the end of the Cold War, iron and oil were the decisive resources for the weapon god. Vulcan is shown as an iron hut town, from the 1950s. With all their aftermath and memories of Nazi Germany.

The god Vulcan, however, should be very flexible – as far as arms production is concerned. He has changed over time to the production of ammunition. The huge market of private weapon owners had given him a new religion. Wednesday asks how he did it: “I have granted my faith. You are what you worship. God of the volcano – who worships him has the volcano (the weapon) in his hand.” Wednesday suspects behind these talks a collaboration between Vulcano and the new gods. After all, he has already taken the step into the armaments industry. Why not join the Technical Boy? In fact, the armaments industry is probably the segment that makes the most advanced technical progress. Cyberwar and drones are no longer science fiction, but reality. Today’s martial conflicts take place less and less at the battlefield, but are mixed reality with AI support. The action of the American Pentagon allows this conclusion. Earlier, troops were sent to the war zone (Iraq 1und2). Today, there is no combat group in North Korea, although the Americans are more present in digital form than is actually possible at all. Probably they can see all the computers there, know rocket launchers better than high-ranking Korean military, and can experience with Kim Jong-un his daily program.

Digital spies and the AI ​​soldier have nothing in common with traditional weapons – they could also be toys. A droning pilot does not even sit in a bunker, but in a four-star hotel ten thousand kilometers from the battlefield. It is hardly a difference in the operation whether he plays or actually fights. Only the UnDo button does not work in the real Cyberwar. When people are dead, they also remain – usually, so says Moon to his dead living woman Laura. A weapon God does not need anymore, because the Technical Boy does anyway. In the conflict, Wednesday, with the new sword, kills his divine friend Vulcano and throws him into the boiling steel. There is no longer the old God of weapons in America. The traditional military has then only more representative tasks – to make the comparison with North Korea again. The step of the pacing army there is far less dangerous than the Technical Boy (Trump), the digital war plays. In the first episode, he hanged Shadow – just like that. He is a boy and totally unpredictable.

Gods are now a human construction whose essence is determined by the particular culture. In the meantime anthropologists know five such large cultural spaces and call them anthropological spaces. Linguistically adapted to the series are: Hunter, Warrior, Producer, Digitals and Spirituals. Corresponding to the respective space the gods have developed: Naturgötter, Steingötter, Schöpfergötter, Technogötter and WirGötter. It is the medium through which the human being has been in contact with them. Here also the order: language, sculptures, writings, intelligence and consciousness. Further, the following characteristics can be attributed to the gods: animistic, egocentric, materialistic, systemic and holistic. The Technogötter does not say very much. You are still under development. The gods are still speculative anyway. However, as the name suggests, people would develop into gods. Whether it needs a post- and transhumane stage, can only be assumed. In any case, the series American Gods leads to think about it.

PS:
Laura to Moon: “You’re there in crazy stuff and I’ll protect you.”