Ezekiel’s Valley of Dry Bones (Ezekiel 37)

experimentNo. 0086categoryRituals & ceremoniesrecordingpendingdataCC BY 4.0

The fly is the prophet in a sun-bleached valley of dried fly husks that leap together, grow muscle, tissue and cuticle, take in air through their spiracles and stand up as an army, following the text of Ezekiel 37:1–10.

What the fly saw

Frames rendered from the fly’s eye camera at four points in the timeline, each with the 32-column retinal input the connectome model receives at that moment.

Timeline

11 steps, with their times in the experiment

1. 0:00
   The valley full of bones

   “The valley which was full of bones … and, lo, they were very dry” (37:1–2). The fly walks among bleached fly husks: heads, thoraxes, abdomens, legs and wings scattered across the cracked floor.

2. 0:12
   Can these bones live?

   “Son of man, can these bones live?” (37:3). The fly stops and turns. Hot wind lifts a few loose wings.

3. 0:22
   Prophesy upon these bones

   “O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD” (37:4). The fly raises its forelegs over the valley.

4. 0:32
   A noise, and a shaking

   “There was a noise, and behold a shaking” (37:7). The husks rattle against the stones; dust jumps from the ground.

5. 0:42
   Bone to his bone

   “And the bones came together, bone to his bone” (37:7). Parts leap through the air and snap together, thorax to abdomen, head to neck, legs to sockets, around the fly and out across the valley.

6. 0:58
   Sinews and flesh

   “The sinews and the flesh came up upon them” (37:8). Red muscle fibres knit inside the pale shells, then pink tissue swells and seeps.

7. 1:10
   Skin, but no breath

   “The skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them” (37:8). The shells darken to living cuticle and the eyes turn red. The bodies lie still on their backs.

8. 1:20
   Come from the four winds

   “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain” (37:9). Four whirlwinds of dust cross the valley toward the fly.

9. 1:32
   The breath came into them

   “The breath came into them, and they lived” (37:10). Air streams into the spiracles and lights the tracheae; abdomens pump and legs twitch.

10. 1:44
    An exceeding great army

    “And stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army” (37:10). A wave of flies rises to its feet across the whole valley.

11. 1:58
    Wings spread

    The army opens its wings and the valley hums. The camera rises over thousands of flies standing around the one that prophesied.

Setup

• 11 seekable stages over 132 seconds: the valley full of bones, can these bones live?, prophesy upon these bones, a noise and a shaking, bone to his bone, sinews and flesh, skin but no breath, come from the four winds, the breath came into them, an exceeding great army, and wings spread.
• The bones are bleached fly exoskeleton parts (heads, thoraxes, abdomens, legs and wings) among rocks on cracked earth. The 36 nearest flies are built from the subject’s own NeuroMechFly CT-derived body split into parts and reassemble nearest first: thorax, then abdomen, head and eyes, legs and wings. The distant army uses simplified copies.
• The shells turn translucent as red muscle fibres knit inside them, pink tissue swells with spurts and pools of hemolymph, the cuticle darkens to living brown and the eyes turn red. Four dust whirlwinds cross the valley, air streams into the spiracles, the abdomens pump and the army rises and opens its wings.
• Controls: Army size (a company of 300 or an exceeding great army of 900 distant flies; default 900), Show tracheae when the breath enters (default on), Gore (Low / Standard / Extreme, default Extreme) and Blood (cinematic red, default, or fly hemolymph).
• Seven cameras: a director that follows the prophecy, the valley, bone to his bone close up, ground level among the bones, above the army, the breath and tracheae, and Ezekiel’s eye in first person. A replay control restarts at bone to his bone.

Measurement

• Retinal-only input: the eye camera’s 32 luminance columns reach the fixed connectome model, measured spikes drive the neural display, and no direct stimulation is sent.
• The bones, the reassembly, the winds, the glowing tracheae and the rising army are world content and reach the eye; the viewport’s light dust haze and cue text are excluded from it.
• The reassembly, breathing and standing follow a pre-programmed timeline; measured spikes do not move the fly or the army.

Limitations

• The text’s bones, sinews, flesh, skin and breath are mapped onto a fly body as exoskeleton parts, muscle, tissue, cuticle and air entering spiracles and tracheae; the mapping is not biology.
• The order of reassembly, the whirlwinds, the x-ray view of the tracheae and the spreading wings are not in the text.
• Spiracles and tracheae follow general insect respiration; the glowing tracheal tree is a visualization, not a respiratory model.
• Only the 36 nearest flies use the full body split into parts; the distant army is simplified copies.

Sources

• Ezekiel 37:1–10, King James Version (Project Gutenberg plain text)