AI-generated loop videos with soundscapes – Stable Diffusion, ControlNet, AnimateDiff – January 2024
I vividly remember my first thunderstorm as a child. It was late afternoon in our home, surrounded by farmland. The air hung heavy, oppressive. My grandparents were gazing at the horizon, but there was no relief to be found.
Then, distant flashes of lightning began to appear. Every creature fell silent, not a single insect made a sound. All awaited their deliverance.
I was captivated. I was afraid, yet I yearned for them to draw closer. Soon, I began to hear their cracks. Their ferocity sent shivers down my spine. A few drops fell, and a profound sense of release and tranquillity washed over me.
Little did I know then that this ebb and flow between tension and release would be such a significant part of adulthood.
Thunderstorms and intimacy are closely related. Their tension and ecstasy bear both destructive power and the genesis of life. They pose a threat, capable of obliterating life’s most ambitious endeavours, yet without them, life would not exist on earth.
Their shared stages—rising tension, clouded thoughts, fear, violence, and discharge—cannot be mere coincidence. They likely hold a disturbing truth. It’s amidst the turbulence of thunderstorms that we feel truly alive.
What pivotal role did these flashes of light play in the emergence of life within the primordial soup?
Could it have been beneath the illuminating brilliance of lightning that we first realised our own existence?
Similar to AI hallucinations, could these lightning-induced moments spark the genesis of a more enduring consciousness emerging from the chaos?