Industrial Revolution

During this stage, humans begin to take over the roles that the gods used to have in their existence; the Furies mentioned earlier become known as a conscience, the humans become the creators and destroyers. The internalising of the gods had come so far now that humans not only had their own conscience (no Furies to bother them, just a nagging feeling inside their heads) but had become the controllers of nature; humans are the creators and the destroyers, there was no longer a need for gods to do the creating and destroying. Massive factories were built to make things faster and cheaper than ever before. Huge, ancient forests were felled and rivers were dammed. The humans were answerable to no one, since there are no gods to make angry. Weapons were made in vast numbers which could kill more efficiently than ever before.

There was a very strong push away from any mystical 'beliefs' (or realities, depends of which end of the time line you look from) of the past; the Church first split into many different factions and then it's power waned. Democracy was reinvented; democracy is the people telling each other what to do, rather than some god/king figure giving commandments. This version was similar to the democracy of the ancient Greeks and Romans, except a much greater percentage of the population got to vote; there were no slaves (except in the US), although women still did not get a say.

The whole world had to be looked at anew; everything had to be measured and quantified; it you can't measure it then it doesn't exist, was the attitude. Maps were made of the whole world and even the middle of Africa was explored. There were very strong doubts about the existence and role of gods, since many natural events (formally the realm of the gods) were explained by science.

People are starting to realise their individuality and autonomy, starting to think for themselves and take responsibility for the results. The people are the gods; they have the right to create anything they like and to destroy anything; the state of the environment is a sure sign of this.

There is nothing above but sky, and money to be made.

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