We Must Become Gods

The text traces a personal journey from childhood religious questioning to broader philosophical and political reflections on the relationship between God, human development, and power. The author reflects on the contradiction between the God of the Old Testament and the perceived reality of the New Testament, asking whether divine nature evolves with humanity. This line of inquiry is contextualized within Enlightenment thought, where the idea of human development mirroring historical progression was common. The text then shifts to philosophical influences, citing Hegel and Marx, which led to an exploration of Prometheanism—the idea that both humanity and nature are unfinished projects ripe for mastery through technological innovation. This excitement regarding mastery eventually encounters resistance from contemporary political realities, leading the author to observe a current political realignment where the ideal of limits is found on the left, and the impulse to expand is found in pockets of the right. The piece concludes by examining modern figures who invoke a mix of religious and secular confidence regarding mastering chaos, suggesting that faith may preserve a Promethean flame, prompting a final reflection on the necessity of following the path of "becoming."

The narrative operates as a trajectory from theological inquiry into political philosophy and contemporary cultural anxiety regarding mastery and progress. The core pattern involves an initial spiritual tension—the perceived contradiction between divine attributes and human experience—that is later mapped onto socio-political dynamics (Enlightenment faith in progress, Hegel/Marx's dialectic). This suggests that profound existential questions about responsibility versus dogma are often framed by the dominant cultural narrative of historical progression. The move from theological reflection to Prometheanism demonstrates a search for agency: whether human action is inherently a transgression or an unfolding destiny. The tension escalates when this aspiration meets contemporary political fragmentation, where different ideological poles—the backward pull toward limits and the hubristic impulse forward—are co-opted by specific groups claiming authority. The reliance on figures like Thiel and Vance indicates a current cultural appetite for narratives that synthesize transcendent confidence with secular technological ambition, suggesting an attempt to re-anchor modern striving within older metaphysical frameworks. The implication is that the struggle over what constitutes "mastery" (over nature, history, or the divine) remains central to understanding political alignment and individual agency. What perspectives are missing in this framing regarding the specific mechanism by which religious confidence translates into secular technological hubris? How does the perceived retreat from God function as a political strategy versus an actual change in ontology?