Revelation 8:1-5 "When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake." I enjoyed the method in the last part where I separated the text into parts to be evaluated and then ranking the photos based on how they fit that criteria. It is a simplified version of what I started out doing in the Locusts of Revelation. With the Seven Seals of Revelation, I have meandered a bit through different options to try and find some balance between a dry analytical approach and undirected commentary.
To start, let us set the criteria for evaluating the AI generated art based on Revelation 8:1-5
When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.
Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God's people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense
together with the prayers of God's people, went up before God from the angel's hand.
Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth;
and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning
and an earthquake.
I made the choice to separate 3 from 4 at the mid point of a sentence for two reasons. One, because I wanted more criteria to evaluate by, and two, because I would expect AI to interpret "incense smoke" and "prayers of God's people" distinctly, despite them being part of the same sentence. Regardless of how anyone would choose to interpret things in hermeneutics, I am evaluating the output of an AI algorithm, Deep Dream. The focus of the algorithm is to produce images, and I would not assume that symbolic interpretations, such as these, would be dissected by the AI.
I chose to separate 5 from 6 because the act of hurling the censer and the reaction caused by it are different visuals. I took 7 off on it's own because it seems most likely that a storm and an earthquake would be represented visually distinctly. To say the criteria of both is met if only one is present would seem odd.
2/7: 1, 2 At first glance, this image seemed a strong representation. Under review, it has been found to be lacking. I could see arguments where 3 or 4 could apply, but am comfortable in my decision to say they do not.
2/7: 1, 4
I do not think anything gives clear connection of imagery to angels in this one. Saints, perhaps. I do thing the smoke going up along with the blue "flames" from the two back saints is an acceptable representation of both incense and prayers going up. I gave both of the last two images credit for 1. While silence is hard to depict, in neither image does it appear that anyone's mouth is open, and those with trumpets do not have them to their mouths either.
3/7: 2, 3, 4
1/7: 2
The overall vibe is there, but the details just aren't. However... The most redeeming quality is the angel in the front right who appears to be holding some sort of amalgamation of a saxophone and a rifle.
3/7: 1, 3, 4
4/7: 1, 2, 3, 4
2/7: 3, 4
Criteria aside, this image is intense
3/7: 2, 3, 4
4/7: 1, 2, 3, 4
0/7:
A few of the images got a little weird, like this one. I'm struggling to find anything met other than a vague vibe of being on genre.
1.5/7: 2, 3?
2/7: 2, 3
This image came out in a style reminiscent of hindu imagery.
0/7:
Nope.
0/7:
Like the last image, besides altars being present and made of gold, not much aligns.
2/7: 1, 4
5/7: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
2/7: 2, 3
3/7: 2, 3, 4
3/7: 2, 3, 4
The previous image and this one look so similar, I thought I hade copied the same image when viewing the thumbnail.
4/7: 1, 2, 3, 4
1/7: 5
3/7: 2, 3, 4
3/7: 2, 3, 4
0/7:
0/7:
It is not surprising that so many would have a similar style and composition, based on the text. What was quite surprising was that there were several weird ones that while similar to each other, are not really near the text.
I did not notice anything representing the earthquake or really the thunder and lightning. Despite believing they would be represented distinctly, neither were represented at all, it would seem.
Thus concludes the Seven Seals of Revelation. The Seven Trumpets of Revelation will follow.