Category: History

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Xmas as information sharing

In modern theories and tests of the importance of information sharing, social learning in groups and the spreading of information in social networks are known to be powerful mechanisms. Hierarchies and survival might be at issue. In the animal model based on mice it the scent that is the byte of information. For humans thinking of information or narratives are probably more appropriate. The story of Xmas has been spread rapidly and the kings arriving to bring presents testify to this powerful mechanism of information sharing in social networks even before the so-called social media existed. Ever since, written accounts of the story were added in addition to regular meetings of persons who continued to share the story. Add music and theatre to the transmission of the story and the mechanism reaches even broader audiences, and maybe devoted believers. As behavioral flexibility might increase as well, more than one interpretation or ritual of the same narrative is likely to arise over time. In the animal model food is the major reward system. For humans the reward systems are more complex with forms of delayed gratification. Information sharing about the importance of delayed gratification takes us into new spheres of humanity versus rational choice. (M-P Brussels). 

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Good or bad

We have been taught by Shakespeare “to be or not to be, that is the question”. In political science we have pondered the question in a slightly augmented form. “to be good or bad, that is our question”. The basic image of women and men in society has been a subject throughout the history of ideas. For those who believe in the good nature of mankind, they tend to find reasons to believe that eventually mankind will find a way towards a peaceful cohabitation on our planet (there is no planet B yet for humans). On the other hand, each outbreak of violence and war are considered as a confirmation that mankind will always recur to some form of violence, even after extensive periods of peaceful cohabitation. According to the evidence presented by Meller, Michel, van Schaik, referring back to Kant, trade between people and nations is likely to prevent more violent relationships (p. 330). One of the major conclusions over the long term view of mankind is, that the periods of war have been far shorter and more rare than a focus on the last 3000 years seems to suggest. Maybe, “to be good or bad” is just a question of demographics of being too many at the same time in the same place.  Population growth and population density might be a powerful driver of “being good or bad”.  (Image: Delacroix, Last words of Marc Aurel)

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How could this have happened

The latest thorough reflection on how the Nazi-terror could have stopped or being prevented remains an important question in our time. The more we see countries descend into the authoritarian regime types, the more we have to know our lessons from previous historical experiences. Götz Aly made a great contribution to this literature. He points our attention to the collective euphoria the Nazis (NSDAP) managed to make people believe, by at the same time blaming others for the past crises. People just wanted to believe the fake narrative of a promising future (p. 175) for a society based on social exclusion. The pattern, unfortunately, seems to find its replication in other parts of the world nowadays. This is a very slippery road which often leads to disaster rather than relief. Easy or catchy answers are preferred by many people rather than the nuances of well-informed differentiated options. Patience in social development is a collective virtue, but often misunderstood as a form of conservatism, which is is something very different.

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Rilke’s Advice

One of the poems by Rainer Maria Rilke is entitled “You don’t have to understand life”.
And the first line of the first paragraph just repeats the programmatic sentence of the quite revolutionary romantic movement. Following a century of the enlightenment, which narrowly developed and focused on rationality and Kant’s “Critic of pure reasoning”, the authors of the romantic movement were eager to explore the world beyond reasoning again.
“Du mußt das Leben nicht verstehen,
dann wird es werden wie ein Fest.”
Rilke brings back the exuberant, Dionysian element into literature and captured the new spirit of his time. After a period of fast innovation in the sciences and applications of them in day-to-day life, Rilke revels in the innocent days and years during childhood, where youth is simply asking for more without hindsight. In doing so: “Life will be a like a feast”. So be it, we should like to add. (Rilke wrote a poem « Das Karussell » with subtitle Jardin du Luxembourg, Image below)

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Generation Hope

The whole of Europe has good reasons to take a careful look at the stunning protests organized by the young generation in Bulgaria (Le Monde, 2025-12-13). With spectacular repeated demonstrations in the center of Sophia, the young people attempted to stop a government that is likely to sink further into corruption. It is this generation of young people that have experienced and/or lived in other European countries or in other Western-style democracies around the globe that have enough of corruption in politics and social systems more generally. The well-educated Bulgarian youth has managed to overthrow a government that had been subject to pressure from corrupt forced. It is not easy to get rid of corrupt politicians and powerful business interests as a system based on merits rather than ability to pay remain fragile in the first few years of such a transition. It needs a sizable “Generation Hope” as I would like to call these young enthusiasts of democracies. The message reaches well beyond Bulgaria and gives hope to all those whose political systems deteriorate into authoritarianism across the globe. It took 20 years to build this “Generation Hope” and mobile youth that takes home the messages and learnings from other democracies. Based on statistics from Eurostat we know about the strong in-migration from Turkey and Russia into Bulgaria. Youth is particularly likely to leave authoritarian regimes to seek a better future in democracies, for example as part of the Generation Hope” in Bulgaria. (Image: Cour constitutionel Paris) 

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Jewish book art in Berlin

One of the treasures of books in the collection of the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin is the Hebraica collection. It is currently presented in the museum space of the library. The curators Martini and Eichhorst have succeeded in the task to present the sanctuaries in a form that a larger public can better understand the skills needed to produce these fine pieces of art and worship. Similarly, great care has been taken to explain the formidable task to preserve and sometimes restore these precious pieces. The exhibition explains in an accessible manner what place each piece has in the Jewish tradition and regional varieties. Examples of annotations to assist interpretation of the texts or graphical annotations complement the original documents and sacred texts. These exhibits allow a  for a starting point for a better understanding of the importance of the Hebrew Bible and the scrolls of the Book of Esther in the practice of Jewish rituals. A more permanent exhibition could greatly enhance inter religious understanding and respect of traditions. 

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Dancing School

Most of us know very little about what happens in a dancing school. This has intrigued artists for centuries. The Paris-based “Comédie francaise” has chosen the “L’école de danse” de Carlo Goldini as one of the pieces to enter its repertoire in 2025. Whereas modern dance celebrates the freedom of motion of humans, the early 18th century theatre piece by Goldini is a comedy in which the tyrannic ballet teacher attempts relentlessly to maximize profits based on the talents of the dancers either by placing them at a high reputation theaters or marrying them. Of course, each time a sizable commission has to be paid to the dealer of talents. Sounds familiar to what happens in other professions today, doesn’t it?
The borders between “dealing with love” and “dealing in love” become blurred in this comedy and Goldini shows his talent to play out intrigues on stage in an admirable way. It is a pleasure to experience the fun on stage with the manifold intrigues. (Image: actors of Comédie francaise in L’école de danse 2025-12).

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Europe x.0

There are many places to ponder, think or dream about Europe. The centre of Paris is certainly a great place for this. More precisely, the “Galerie Mazarin” invites us to pass the centuries looking and reading about artefacts that made Europe or all different versions of it across history and geographic spaces. The short extracts of chansons that we share and shared across Europe are presented in their original language, which highlights the multilingual heritage of the different versions of Europe. There are parts of the heritage, which have fallen into oblivion like the customary use of tobacco exposed with a “tabatière” and a poster advertising paper for your cigarettes. Of course, the “Robe noire portée par Edith Piaf” on a stage is another highlight of the visual and audio joint European heritage.
Where do we go from here? Image Europe with an emphasis on its shared culture. There is so much diversity to be found in each country and regions within countries, but a shared appreciation of the valuable contributions to the whole. This builds a shared European strength, which has proven to overcome several fierce wars. This is the future-oriented version of Europe xx.0. (Image: BNF Musée Europe en partage, 2025)

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mAga mEga mIga mOga mUga

Just take all the vowels of the Latin alphabet and the absurdity of the MAGA saga becomes evident. If other states would start to claim like the US under President Trump to make X great again, the world would soon fall into disaster. Let us go through the hypothetical cases like MEGA, make Europe, England or Ethiopia great again. Go back to colonial imperialism? Certainly not. How about make Israel, Indonesia or India great again? Well, that would alarm neighbors, just as much as make Osmania, Oman great again. With the potential of Russia getting its way to keep illegal possession of parts of Ukraine, make Ukraine great again spells continued trouble on the European continent. Once MAGA mania has been unleashed, it is difficult to get the spirit back into the bottle and close it firmly again. Return of brute force rather than diplomatic exchanges become the rule. A return to rule based international politics in a multilateral context needs to be reclaimed by the vast majority of states that have an interest in lasting peace without expansionist views.  (Image from: “The beast is dead”)

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Bulimia Capitalism

Each time a wave and speculative bubble in the economy is building up or even bursting there are thousands of people who become drawn into chaos. Let us quickly review: Oil bubbles in the 70s, financial crisis and  subprime lending in housing markets, 1st internet bubble and the year 2000 bugs, AI excesses in 2025. These boom and bust cycles resemble the medical and psychological patterns of a bulimia nervosa. The overly optimistic outlook for AI companies’ future profits and shifts in the size of office space needed for companies announce bulimic behavior when at the same time vomiting by the same companies occurs with regard to investments in nuclear energy plants even in the sites like Fukushima in Japan or Three Mile Island in the USA. Bulimia Capitalism seems to be eating its own children. The upcoming year 2026 will be full of revelations in this respect. (Image: collection of about a hundred barbies exposed on a flea market in Brussels on 5 levels).

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Headless Saint Dionysius

Denis of Paris stands for the Saint Dionysius, who is reported to have walked after being decapitated as martyr for his christian beliefs by the Romans in the 3rd century, all the way from Paris to St Denis in the suburb of Paris. We do not only find such a statue at Notre Dame in Paris, but also a medieval version in the Bode museum in Berlin. The cathedral of St Denis in Paris became subsequently the place for the coronation and burial of many French kings. The last king who lost his head through the guillotines was Louis XVI. It took almost another 200 years to abolish capital punishment altogether in France. Robert Badinter devoted his career to fight for this appeacement within the nation. (Image: Statue St Denis in Bode museum Berlin).  

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Freedom of art

Some depictions or statues of the 16th century quite expressive and average expressions of their time. An angel who is playing the lute in a rather extroverted way is amongst the remarkable artifacts we can discover in the Berlin Bode Museum. The Angel playing the lute is an oeuvre by Hans Brüggemann from 1520 in Husum. The angel certainly performed holy music with interesting postures, which resemble more rock stars of the 20th century or youth performing an act of “air guitar”. Artists always tested the limits of the freedom of art and expression. (Image from Brüggemann Angel playing the lute, Bode museum Berlin, 1520) 

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Reason for war

In his “Propositions on Happiness”, the French philosopher Émile-Auguste Chartie, called in short Alain (1925), takes issue with the strange predilection for war. In his proposition XLII Agir, he writes on war: “Je crois assez fort que ce qui plaît dans la guerre c’est qu’on la fait”. In later paragraph   XLVII on Aristotle, he takes up his recurrent concern to explain happiness with the importance of agency in one’s own life and actions. “Faire et non pas subir, tel est le fond de l’agréable“. In taking both quotes together, we understand that for Alain the reason for war consists primarily in the desire to demonstrate agency. In order words, the position of power, of being in charge, being in control of the political situation are the prime reasons to go to war. With the first quote stemming from 1911 Alain had already a sound understanding of what would happen decades later in the 1st and 2nd World War. Even Putin‘s war in Ukraine is probably a cynic demonstration of agency in a seemingly otherwise rather paralyzed country. With this in mind, Putin‘s wars in the 21st century appear as another chapter in the endless pursuit of cynic reasoning. (Sloterdijk, 1983). (Image: Throne Room at Fontainebleau since 17th century). 

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Classic Farces

Molière’s theatre pieces were popular pieces. Born with the name Jean-Baptiste Poquelin and son of a rich “tapissier” of the rue Saint-Honoré in Paris, he made a tough choice to devote his life to touring as a ”farceur” and comedian, having studied also law in Orléans before. Only after his first successful performances, farces and theatre plays, he could afford to buy the theâtre du Palais Royal, despite a bankruptcy about 20 years earlier with his own theatre. The much later title “Troupe du Roi” (of Louis XIV) and a pension by the King assured a financial and political independence rarely found in this period of classic theatre.
Molière’s “Les fourberies de Scapin” was written towards the end of his life and as a classic farce in the 17th century. The story is full of funny scenes and witty dialogues, which make it a great “intergenerational” theatre play even today. The plot about the institution of marriage addresses a cleaving social and legal construct “marriage”, which continues to excite all generations and across centuries.
(Source: Histoire de la littérature française XVII siècle. Robert Horville  in (Georges Décote series editor)

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Sociology in Theatre

Thanks to the inspiring direction by Denis Podalydès of Molière’s “Les fourberies de Scapin” we can experience the fruitful application of sociology to classical theatre production. This combination of thoughts has been performed at the “Comédie Française” for more than 7 years in 2025-11. The accompanying booklet of the performance mentioned the ample inspiration of Denis Podalydès by the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. Personalities in Molière’s theatre are represented as incarnations of the “habitus” each character stands for. Such an interpretation of the roles in the theatre play, raises awareness about the subtle differences between personalities. Even two rich men may differ in their habitus, because their fortunes are of different size or kind, yet they may share even more personality traits. Molière was a particularly crafted author, director and actor to stage such subtle differences, which are embedded into societies often across generations.  

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Codes of Emperors

Even in the 21st century we spot the ancient codes of emperors. In Brussels the statue of King Albert, who ruled until 1933 and celebrated the first centenary of the Kingdom of Belgium in 1930, shows the Emperor riding a horse without saddle. This iconic position was started as a symbol of a powerful leadership by Marc Aurel and continued by Napoleon’s reign as well as several other ones.
The position on the elevated podium of the emperor on the horse, which further raises him beyond the level of the people, all contribute to the idealized perception of the king above the people. Such a vertical or hierarchical perspective on society or even mankind, including the colonial approaches of the emperors, are the lasting attributes of those times.  According to Els Witte et al. who wrote on the political history of Belgium, King Albert I was also named King Knight by some.
The portrayal and self-portrayal played an important role already centuries ago. No surprise that democracy has brought about an avalanche of idealized self-portraits or “selfies”.

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Racine Andromaque

The representation of Jean Racine’s “Andromaque” in Brussels at the Theâtre des Martyrs in 2025 has been an interesting choice, because the revival of a 17th century tragedy dealing with the intricacies of the Greek and Trojan war (mostly remembered for the Trojan horse). Jean Racine turned French theatre back to tragedies with his Andromaque (Résumé and analysis in French!), rather than the comedies or tragi-comedies of previous great authors like Molière.
The literary analysis of Andromaque by Roland Barthes (“Sur Racine”, 1963) identified 3 separate locations: chamber, anti-chamber and exteriors. The real power seems to live in the chamber as the place of respect, but also terror. (Compare also Mithridate). The anti-chamber is the place of diplomacy and the place of exchange of ideas, information and strategies. The exterior world is mostly closed off through walls or balconies as views from above. For Barthes this “symbolizes” even the prison inside or the pure heroic life inside the walls.
Besides this 21th century interpretation of 17th century theatre, Racine is remembered for his tragic love stories where A loves B, but B loves C and, maybe C falls in love with A. (Compare Robert Horville, 1991) The Condorcet paradox (Science of it) described only formally in the 18th century enlightenment, many decades later, had proven mathematically that such combinations of personal preferences are impossible to resolve. Hence, these confusions are great stuff for tragedies to evolve live on stage.  

 

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Popular Sociology

Sociology, like other social science disciplines, has often difficulties in reaching bigger audiences. However, in combination with a museum which specializes in the history of a big city like Paris, the insights can suddenly become very popular. The “Musée Carnavalet of the history of Paris” has mounted an exhibition, which builds on the population censuses of 1926,1931 and 1936. The access to the complete original records of 3x about 2 millions of people has become a national treasure for social scientists and the public at large.
People flock to the exhibition. Some do it to learn about the past of their districts or streets. Others to learn about historical facts, which are sometimes linked to the family anecdotes and broader historical narratives. Out of this interest grows an understanding of macro- and micro-level social processes, which makes use of basic statistics.
People ask themselves: Is your (family) story unique or is it part of a more general pattern or social process like urbanization or social mobility.
(Image: original census recording sheet – Paris)

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Opera design

France celebrates 150 years of the National Opera Garnier in Paris. The exhibition in the splendid building traces the history of the building from the competition for the design to the legendary performances and celebrities attending. The stairs outside and even more so inside are built to enhance the glamour around operas and dance. The drawings by Garnier are a highlight as much as the videos about celebrities walking up the stairs of an Opera building.
Charles de Gaulle, as many French Presidents before, dressed and took the famous stairs to impress the official invitees. The image of de Gaulle together with Konrad Adenauer is another interesting example of opera politics showing the authentic friendship after the fierce fighting of the 2 WW, the Nazi-terror and Shoa.
The design of the Paris Opera 150 years ago made for an impressive ritual performance of state diplomacy enhancing international reputation.
(Images: 150 years of Opera Garnier Paris – 3 designs, winning design by Garnier on the right).

 

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Fighting the Beast

The earliest post 2nd WW cartoon stems from Calvo in France, published in its first edition in 1945. After the first part entitled “When the beast became unchained”, the second part could report on the happy ending “When the beast was overturned”. Amongst the admirable comprehensiveness to talk about the preparation of war, the battles and atrocities committed by the wolves, the allied forces of animals gained the upper hand. The role of women in the fight against the beast takes almost a whole page in the historically precise narrative of the 2 WW. With a fine sense of necessary historical detail, the reporting of British women (the female dogs in the cartoon) as essential part in the war effort to win the war against the beast(s). Women exercised professions were not previously allowed to enter. Gender awareness as early as the mid 1940s was rather advanced at the time.
Great topics to talk about with your children or grand-children.

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Deep reading

Rembrandt depicted in the 17th century not only the university professor Sylvius, but the reader and presenter based on his readings as well as professional experience. The combination of studies in medicine and philosophy have confronted the lifelong reader with lots of unresolved issues at that time. Nevertheless, he seems ready to argue with his profession, students public or the public. His hand is shown with an outreaching gesture. The scientist is not depicted in the reading pose next to lots of other books in the background or in a library. The image chosen by Rembrandt stresses the discourse and discussion as part of the scientific or research and teaching process. (Image BNF, 2025 exhibition “L’Europe partagé”). 

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Colette nature narratives

In the 21st century we know that posting images of cats and dogs yields thousands of likes on the digital social media. Long before today, writers have tried to make us understand our existence through the narratives among animals, also beyond cats and dogs.
Embedded in nature, stories unfolded through the interaction of these animals. Transfigurations and lessons were derived from such fables as well as the tales constructed around the interaction of nature, animals and humans. The commemoration of Colette in the park of the Palais Royal in Paris combines all those aspects.
She grew up in the countryside, wrote “La Chatte” and lived in an apartment at the Palais Royal with a splendid view of the park later in her life.
It is a tiny spot of cultivated nature in the heart of Paris, even a bit isolated from the busy surroundings. Certainly, these days in the centre of Paris you are more likely to meet “Aristocats”, maybe from the 5 star hotels around, rather than the ordinary cat passing by.
(Image, bench in park of Palais Royal, Paris: inscription is a citation from Colette 1925 letter)

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The Beast is dead

The BNF and the gallery Auguste Rondel celebrate the acquisition of the original drawings of “La bête est morte” by „Calvo“ at the fabulous Richelieu site. The appearance of the story and cartoon in 1945 was a landmark in artistic achievements for several reasons. (1) Calvo made it possible for whole families to talk about the horrors of war and the Shoa by use of text and images in an form of an animals’ world, well known in France. (2) Because all generations are familiar with the fables written by Jean de la Fontaine, the story set in the world of animals is both appealing and yet a bit more distant than drawing human faces on this traumatizing reality. (3) The cartoons managed to overcome the barriers to understand the beginning and ending of World War II and the geographical spread.
Uderzo, the well known cartoonist of “Asterix” did small services for Calvo when he was still an adolescent in 1945. Learning from the best of a field can give you a head start later on.  (Extract of Image  by Calvo 1945). 

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Colette Bewitched child

The English translation of the libretto written by Colette “L’enfant et les sortilèges” is translated to “the bewitched child”. The first representation was performed in Monte-Carlo in 1925 before it was represented in Paris at the Opéra Comique in January 1926.  The printed edition of Ravel’s orchestration classified the work as Fantaisie Lyrique based on a poem by Colette. This opus constitutes a forgotten forerunner of the much more popular musical “Cats” . In the end of Colettes narrative the animals call the child her “mama” and praise the good and wise child. It probably remains a forgotten 100’s anniversary, despite the fact that the topic of humans and animals, or nature in more general terms, have become more and more unbalanced over the last 100 years. 

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Colette Home

  1. The home of Colette, the French writer of the first half of the 20th century, is an interesting example of the high attributed value for her later creative career. The home and the gardens around, seemingly had a huge and lasting impact on her imagination.Her writings are firmly embedded into not just her home of childhood and adolescent years, but also the changoof homes and contexts literally made Colette. The documentation of this in the “Musée Colette”, which presents the different phases of her life course, allows to get a better understanding of the interconnected world of experiences and artistic work. It takes an especially broad set of influences to form such a polyartist. The libretto for an opera orchestrated by Maurice Ravel or a model for Matisse, stand for the openness to new experiences and take risks when she embarked on new creative endeavors. (Image Musée Collette catalog p. 6)  

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Polyartist Colette

It is a complex task to do justice to a polyartist like Colette. The curators of the exhibition “Les mondes de Colette” (BNF 2025) Bouvard, Dimerman, Le Bras do a great job to present the biography of Colette, the writer, journalist, dancer in music halls, model (for Matisse) and entrepreneur in all facets of her activities. The role model of an emancipated women as early as the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s. The struggle of women artists in the early years of the 20th century to make a living from art is well documented already. To make a living of writing has always been a challenge if you do cherish your independence and liberty of expression. Versatility in artistic production is one escape route. Colette made a strength of this in diving into different forms of art and professional activities close to the artistic and creative world. In a quite unique way, she became her own muse for her own artistic work; and a character and inspiration exploring many facets of live. The economic misfortune experienced her parents became a source and force of inspiration.
Contrary to the expectations of the market of arts and literature, she did not feel like sticking to just one activity. Her most lasting achievements, probably, were her literary accomplishments for most people, although Matisse immortalized her in his specific style of abstraction.
Polyartists just like Polymaths, make more comprehensive contributions to our experiences.
(Image:Lithographie by Henri Matisse of Colette, exhibition Colette at BNF 2025).

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Social Anthropology

Dina Dreyfus, married several years to Claude Lévi-Strauss, has shared with Claude the long anthropological expedition to Brazil in the 1930s. They jointly studied the social organization of indigenous people across Brazil. Their abundant notes of field studies have now been digitized and the BNF is making this accessible.
Additionally, an exhibition on these field studies reveals the close collaboration of both partners. Returning to France in 1939 meant that soon after the return due to their Jewish decent had to interrupt their academic careers in France and some notebooks were lost during the Nazi occupation of France. After the war both separated and Claude Lévi-Strauss embarked on the drafting of the structuralist theory, Dina became influential in the field of the philosophy of education and teaching philosophy herself.
Besides all these lasting achievements, the exhibition shows the typewriter which had accompanied them for many years. The German language layout is quite remarkable as this asked for an additional mental versatility in putting their thoughts and experiences into the form of a manuscript. According to Claude Lévi-Strauss the use of this technical device allowed him to detach himself emotionally from his analytical work.
(Image: Exhibit: typewriter Claude Lévi-Strauss, BNF 2025-10)

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Place of the Church

What is the place of the church(es) or religion in society? Some would answer that the answer depends very much on the historical period which you focus on. Social scientists would zoom in on the changes that have taken “place” and the reasons as well as major actors of these societal changes. Churches are highly symbolic places with exposed visibility and demonstrations of power. Therefore, it is interesting to follow the changes in the architecture of churches. Whereas biblical communities gained in wealth and power over the centuries, they moved from the backyards to the city centres and the market places for centuries.
In the early 20th century many cities have grown so rapidly that in newly built suburbs new churches were considered an obvious extension of the places where churches belonged as well. In several instances the planning of a city’s extension was still being organised around the idea that a church should be the (new) focal point. At the same time the ideas of democratisation entered into churches as well leading to the deviant choice of round shapes rather than the traditional linear structures. The hotel became visible from all angles and was positioned as the mid point and rayons or beams could be imagined to reach into the newly built suburban areas. Frequently the road traffic was organised accordingly. Saint Augustine church in Forêt Brussels is a prominent catholic architectural example of this.
Another example of a round shape church with a place defining architectural function is the evangelic Königin Luise Gedächtniskirche in Berlin. Much smaller in size and in the axes that originate from there, the “Place of the Church” aims to fulfil a similar function, a central place in the new suburbian area.

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Modernist Urban planning

Saint Augustin in Brussels is one of the lesser known defining architectures in Brussels. It is visible from far away much beyond the immediate surroundings. Situated on Altitude 100 it is on the highest hill in Brussels with a 58 meters high Campanile built out of concrete in 1933 in a predominantly art nouveau style. The order of the St. Augustines in the center of Brussels was terminated and at the outskirts of Brussels as a new city suburb was being built starting in the late 19th century An appropriate way to demonstrate continuity despite discontinuity was the placement of the church in the middle of a roundabout and a star-like organisation of roads des descending from the top. The form of an equal length (orthodox) cross is in the spirit of the unity of the Christian churches. Even despite the prominent and exposed situation, most people pass by with little concern for the innovative, architectural features of this edifice. (Image: View from capanile St Augustin Brussels). On a small scale this urban planning concept resembles the Paris of the « Arc de Triomphe » and the views and corridors which we designed and implemented.

 

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Deus ex machina

The term “deus ex machina” used to be applied more in its figurative meaning. With the rise of digital tools like chatbots, facilitated and enhanced through AI, God is speaking to us not only in multiple languages, but also from our pockets through our smartphones and headsets. This is a rather recent form of “deus ex machina”, which we did not expect some years ago. The bible as e-book or pdf-file has been around for some decades, but only more recently we can enter conversations with God through chatbots as another version of “deus ex machina “ about almost everything (and pay for it via digital credit card). Programming of such an AI-tool is easily achieved. AI will prepare a weekly or daily sermon or prayer for you, following your predilections of your favourite quotes of the bible. An interesting twist to the programming is to use authorized as well as unauthorized translations of the bible across several centuries.
Another interesting enlargement of the input data base is the inclusion of interpretations and discussions not only within your own religious community, but beyond. Maybe the discussion of several different religious chatbots with each other could prevent aggressions due to differences in basic beliefs. These “dei ex machina” might further our understanding of what makes us humans different from machines and machine-based solutions of human conflicts.
As genetic clones of ourselves have become already technically more feasible, our digital alter-egos (the comprehensive collection of traces in the internet and digital images, plus social scoring) help to empower those “dei ex machina”.
This kind of “Brave New World” asks us to be rather brave ourselves.
(Image: interior St Denis Basilique Cathedral Paris 2024)