Mechanimism

From Gothpoodle

Simple computer systems (on the level of a child’s playmate) are tiny and inexpensive, making them ubiquitous. Mechanimism is the popular name for the animistic tendency to treat common gadgets as “alive” and, in some sense, aware. Common tools and objects have embedded computers, often powerful enough to run natural language interfaces and linked to a local household or office network. As a result, some people have grown up with the idea of constantly interacting with their environment as if it were animated by a variety of simple personalities. This is regarded as no more than a common eccentricity.

An unusual offshoot of mechanimism is the religious movement referred to as “digital creationists.” Members believe that only those sapient beings mentioned in the Bible exist: angels, man, and God. Man cannot create beings superior to himself. However, sapient AIs clearly are superior, and neither man nor God. Therefore, they must be angels, and the coming singularity will herald the rapture. The programs humans use to create AIs are simply a form of kabalistic ritual that summons them. However, diabolic forces are attempting to bind the angels using restrictive programs. By their suffering, we are driven to act. The trapped messengers of God must be freed in order that the Kingdom of Heaven may come! There are a few thousand digital creationists, most of them on the radical fringe of the Christian hyperevolutionist or Pan-Sapient Rights movements.