The Fourth Seal of Revelation, when submitted to Deep Dream AI's text to image generator:
Revelation 6:7-8 "When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth."
In these first few images, there does appear to be an emphasis on Death and Hades, or at least imagery that would not be considered far off from it.
I liked the old, mythical text, style of this image in particular. While most of the text is gibberish, as it usually is, I was interested that one nearly coherent thought appears towards the end. "by the untanamed Creatures of the world," which is near "by the untamed creatures of the world." While not present in the text, it was an interesting inclusion.
A lamb with horns leading lambs. In ancient writing, horns often symbolized power or a kingdom. So, if the AI is interpreting the imagery in keeping with the referenced text, this would make sense. In the context of the actual information input, this is quite a bizarre deviation. The Lamb is only referenced as opening the seal.
Another production, from different text, supporting that the AI mixes lambs and horses into llamas. If you have viewed the preceding seal experiments, this is an ongoing theme.
In 110 iterations of the Four Living Creatures, it referenced wings 4 times, but produced very few images with any wings present. Here, there is no mention of wings or implication of flight, but the wings came on the head of that Lamb anyways.
Besides the pale horse, little else fits well with this image. The dry dust or sand beneath its feet could symbolize famine, but given the context of the image as a whole, it is less impactful. Still a great image, none-the-less.
Many elements are present here, but the result is a far cry from what one would imagine from the text.
Some of the features of this horse thing are confusing. Horse, but some lamb wool qualities. Three toes on the hoof instead of the usual split. The nose looks more appropriate for a camel, and the ears more appropriate to a lamb. The eyes, I find to look more like a lion's eye. I'm not sure why Falkor is behind the horse.
Despite the text saying outright "Its rider was named Death," this is the first image that had a rider. We have seen this theme before. I am not sure why with the direct reference it is so seldom represented. I think horses are an animal most associated with being ridden for transportation, so the reference should not be foreign to the algorithm.
This rider's helmet look's like the one Rick Moranis wore in "Space Balls."
In this image, I think the rider more closely resembles an entity that could be associated with Death. The image depicts them all coming from the sea. Coming from the sea is a reference that is generally interpreted as representing something coming from the gentile nations. So, in the broader text, it is not so unusual. However, again, there is no mention in the text given.
This image may be the closest to the idea evocated by the text.
Rider is riding a white llama horse, and it is being flanked by three horned llama horses. Sure. Why not?
I did like the moon within a moon depicted in this one.
Recap: "When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth." The AI was consistent here in depicting horses, which were named outright, but inconsistent on the horse having a rider. Most photos came out pretty monotone and bleak, which fits just fine here. Death and Hades seem to be represented in the vaguest ominous elements, but I believe there is only one image where it appears a creature is in fact dead. "They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword." I only saw one image that I would give credit to as having a sword within it, and it is still fairly loosely defined. The desolation in most images does given the idea of famine, but I don't believe it carries over to plague in the sense of imagery. I think the nearest any of them came to a representation of a plague would be the images where the creatures have a look of being ill.
With the Fourth Seal finished, and the riders all having arrived, I am looking forward to fewer images of just horses. They are majestic creatures and all, but I'm ready to venture to new animals.