I'm curious about Pagans who talk about 'winning'. I suspect they would elaborate by saying that they want Paganism to become the dominant religion. Dominant where? Nationally? Among their ethnic kin exclusively? Globally?
And which Paganism, exactly, should 'win'? Germanic? Celtic? Hellenistic? Should Icelandic Heathenry 'win', or should Anglo-Saxon? Mercian or Bernician?
It seems to me that to talk of Paganism 'winning' is to treat it like a political movement rather than an indigenous way of life. The aforementioned are merely questions; my real point is this...
Any 'winning' that comes by the indiscriminate use of technology is of the material kind. For a political movement, that might be okay. But for a religion/indigenous spirituality, equal (if not greater) consideration must be given to the spiritual, philosophical and cultural impact of technologies. Is it any wonder that critics accuse Folkish Paganism of being foremostly political when many Folkish Pagans act more like a political movement by prioritising material victory?
According to official history, in 2600-1500 BC, whilst the people of the Indus Valley were writing scriptures, the proto-Germanic people hadn't even discovered the runes. We were essentially illiterate until Christianity brought to us the technology of writing. Is that because we were so inferior, or did our ancestors choose not to adopt this technology?
Technological adoption can be beneficial, when the material benefits are weighed against the spiritual, cultural and physiological dangers. AI's proponents seem concerned solely with the material impact. That's not surprising in this godless modern age. But it is surprising when self-proclaimed religious people likewise pay no heed to the spiritual, cultural and physiological dangers.
So now you can produce visual propaganda in the blink of an eye. Meanwhile the hand withers, the mind atrophies, imagination fades, the exchange of energies (gift for a gift) principle is overlooked, the very purpose for which the gods gave us this life (to share in the act of creation, to nurture beauty, to forge powerful bonds of kinship, to exercise mind and body) is shunned. Worse still - those who adopt AI technology may be empowering Loki and the þursar (more on that in a future post).
