Against the Robots

Authority has lost its nobility along with humility. Authority has become synonymous with implacable order, unthinking force, and tyranny. What a reversal of values! Whereas, according to Antigone, authority prevented tyranny! Modern times have this impression of authority because it has been trampled underfoot by men who have used it; whereas one serves authority. But has authority been damaged by these disastrous experiences? A value cannot be damaged by a man. Fidelity unfolds above Saint Peter without his being capable of it. Fidelity unfolds above betrayal because it encompasses it. Fidelity affirms itself in betrayal. Betrayal carries within it no meaning other than its own satisfaction. Every value also speaks of the indecision and uncertainty within man. Every value is a guardian and a refuge. No need to choose; value adapts to our weakness since it precedes our uncertainties. The modern world conflates authority and power, making them bear the same wounds and the same suffering. God had to be removed from everything. Neither the ancients nor the moderns would understand, but that mattered little; they counted for nothing now. If God never left, he would have to be killed. The 20th century proclaimed itself the time of God's death. It will have killed only the death of his idea. Above all, it will have created a new anthropology based on suicide.