Why must people be so hardened in their beliefs? Why are people afraid of saying, “I don’t know.” Or better yet, “I don’t know, but my experiences suggest….” or “I don’t know, but if we take look at things this way, the world will be a better place.”
To me, a dogmatic atheist is as boring and tedious as an evangelical Christian nationalist. They demonstrate the inability to think metaphorically. Instead of nit-picking over the historical accuracy of, say, an isolated passage in the Bible, why don’t we learn what scriptures say about people’s yearnings, hopes, fears, and aspirations?
“The hopes and fears of all the years / Are met in thee tonight.”
You don’t see Joel Osteen feeding hungry children, nor do you see Madalyn Murray O’Hair doing anything that wasn’t self-serving. Compare that to the boundless numbers of people who quietly show generosity, kindness, and compassion because of a belief in something beyond themselves.
O little town of Bethlehem / How still we see thee lie Above thy deep and dreamless sleep / The silent stars go by Yet in thy dark streets shineth / The everlasting light The hopes and fears of all the years / Are met in thee tonight. - by Phillips Brooks (1868)
AI is fascinating because, in a sense, the algorithms are able to synthesize vast amounts of literature, history, myths, commentary, news, academic knowledge…. and create a zeitgeist, a snapshot, of the collective human mind. AI is not conscious, but it does represent the fruits of the labor of untold brilliant scientists, engineers, and programmers.
This is why WLBOTT loves to present concepts to various AI image generators. We are often surprised by the various connections that arise. Some are disturbing, some are outright hilarious, some are achingly beautiful.
Easter Prompts
Easter, at one level, is a celebration of hope, rebirth, and renewal.
We created a variety of prompts related to Easter, and obtained some interesting results.
prompt #1
On Easter Sunday, we pray for hope, renewal, peace, and forgiveness. Oddly, there are balls of twine scattered on the floor. Rebirth, the season of Spring and our faith give us hope for mankind.
prompt #2 (from USCCB)
The word “Easter” comes from Old English, meaning simply the “East.” The sun which rises in the East, bringing light, warmth, and hope, is a symbol for the Christian of the rising Christ, who is the true Light of the world…. There are 50 days of Easter from the first Sunday to Pentecost. It is characterized, above all, by the joy of glorified life and the victory over death.
prompt #3 (from USCCB)
“What you sow is not brought to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel of wheat, perhaps, or of some other kind;…So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown corruptible; it is raised incorruptible. It is sown dishonorable; it is raised glorious. It is sown weak; it is raised powerful. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual one. So, too, it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being,” the last Adam a life-giving spirit. But the spiritual was not first; rather the natural and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, earthly; the second man, from heaven. As was the earthly one, so also are the earthly, and as is the heavenly one, so also are the heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthly one, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one.”
Prompt #4 (from Cross Walk)
The earliest Christians celebrated the resurrection on the fourteenth of Nisan (our March-April), the date of the Jewish Passover. Jewish days were reckoned from evening to evening, so Jesus celebrated His Last Supper on the evening of the Passover and was crucified on the day of the Passover. The origin of Easter started with early Christians celebrating the Passover and worshiping Jesus as the Paschal Lamb and Redeemer.
Prompt #5 (from Cross Walk)
The origin of the word easter isn’t certain. The Venerable Bede, an eighth-century monk and scholar, suggested that the word may have come from the Anglo-Saxon Eeostre or Eastre – a Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility. Recent scholars haven’t been able to find any reference to the goddess Bede mentioned and consider the theory discredited.
Prompt #6
From Phillips Brooks’ “Little Town of Bethlehem.” We intentionally removed the reference to Bethlehem so that AI wouldn’t be distracted by the Christmas overtones. Punctuation and vocabulary was lightly modified to assist with the AI language parsing.
How still we see thee lie. Above thy deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars go by Yet in thy dark streets shine the everlasting light. The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight. O morning stars together proclaim thy holy birth. And praises sing to God the King and peace to men on earth.
Prompt #1
On Easter Sunday, we pray for hope, renewal, peace, and forgiveness. Oddly, there are balls of twine scattered on the floor. Rebirth, the season of Spring and our faith give us hope for mankind.
prompt #2
The word “Easter” comes from Old English, meaning simply the “East.” The sun which rises in the East, bringing light, warmth, and hope, is a symbol for the Christian of the rising Christ, who is the true Light of the world…. There are 50 days of Easter from the first Sunday to Pentecost. It is characterized, above all, by the joy of glorified life and the victory over death.
USCCB
prompt #3
“What you sow is not brought to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel of wheat, perhaps, or of some other kind;…So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown corruptible; it is raised incorruptible. It is sown dishonorable; it is raised glorious. It is sown weak; it is raised powerful….”
USCCB
Prompt #4
The earliest Christians celebrated the resurrection on the fourteenth of Nisan (our March-April), the date of the Jewish Passover. Jewish days were reckoned from evening to evening, so Jesus celebrated His Last Supper on the evening of the Passover and was crucified on the day of the Passover. The origin of Easter started with early Christians celebrating the Passover and worshiping Jesus as the Paschal Lamb and Redeemer.
Cross Walk
Prompt #5
The origin of the word easter isn’t certain. The Venerable Bede, an eighth-century monk and scholar, suggested that the word may have come from the Anglo-Saxon Eeostre or Eastre – a Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility. Recent scholars haven’t been able to find any reference to the goddess Bede mentioned and consider the theory discredited.
Cross Walk
Prompt #6
From Phillips Brooks’ “Little Town of Bethlehem.”
Happy Easter from the WLBOTT IT Department!
From the WLBOTT Diversity Task Force
Greetings from our Nepotism New Hires
Shout out from the Call Center!
