# Machine-Gods, in fiction? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 20, 2008, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/machine-gods-in-fiction/446073 "2008-04-20T02:22:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Walpurgis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Walpurgis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walpurgis)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/machine-gods-in-fiction/446073/21 "2008-04-20T11:20:42Z")
I just finished a great novel by S.M. Peters called [Whitechapel Gods](http://www.amazon.com/Whitechapel-Gods-S-M-Peters/dp/0451461932/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208690286&sr=8-1). It’s set in Victorian London where alien machine gods are taking over Whitechapel. It’s grimy and steampunky and I haven’t seen anything like it since… since ever. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/machine-gods-in-fiction/446073/22 "2008-04-20T12:11:50Z")
There’s Primus, chief [Modron](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modron_%28Dungeons_%26_Dragons%29) and God of Mechanus in the D’nD _Planescape_ setting. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/machine-gods-in-fiction/446073/23 "2008-04-20T17:32:35Z")
From the duology _Lear’s Daughter’s_ by M. Bradley Kellogg; Valla and Lagri, the Sister Goddesses of Fire and Water. In actuality, they are a pair of ancient AI controlled weather control systems; built many millennia ago, but with forgotten origins. The planet they are on can no longer support life naturally ( which is why they were made ), and they each control opposite ends of the climate/weather spectrum, constantly opposing each other to create a dynamic balance. They also keep the population from outbreeding their limited resources, since polluting/overusing the environment gives one of the Sisters an advantage and kills much of the population in a Devastation. As well, they were built as opposing systems because they are sophisticated enough to need stimulation to keep from going insane from boredom over tens of millennia. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/machine-gods-in-fiction/446073/24 "2008-04-20T17:47:09Z")
[QUOTE=The Them] **GIGObuster,** you’ve heard of Larry Gonick?! I wanna be your friend. 😉 [/QUOTE] I’m a big Gonick fan, too. I’ve tried to read all of his history-based books. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/machine-gods-in-fiction/446073/25 "2008-04-20T20:18:11Z")
> [@](#): > > a) Deities having dominion or patronage over machines Silver from Sapphire And Steel ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/machine-gods-in-fiction/446073/26 "2008-04-20T20:53:28Z")
_Xenogears_ a game for the playstation a while back. I think it was one of the best plot lines in video game history and would to read it as a series of books. a bit OT, but lets say I wanted to to be the one to write it, who would I have to contact to get the rights to do so? ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/machine-gods-in-fiction/446073/27 "2008-04-20T21:00:17Z")
I just finished reading a new book by Adam-Troy Castro, **Emissaries from the Dead** , that involves godlike artificial intelligences called the AIsource who have engineered a bizarre habitat populated by slothlike aliens and dragons inside a thousand-kilometer-long cylindrical asteroid, where all the action of the book takes place, and who may be sinister and murderous or benevolent and kind. Pretty interesting book. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/machine-gods-in-fiction/446073/28 "2008-04-20T21:04:20Z")
[QUOTE=chorpler] Adam-Troy Castro [/QUOTE] I KNEW I recognized that name! He wrote the companion book to The Amazing Race, _My Ox Is Broken_! ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/machine-gods-in-fiction/446073/29 "2008-04-20T21:14:49Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] I KNEW I recognized that name! He wrote the companion book to The Amazing Race, _My Ox Is Broken_! [/QUOTE] He also wrote **The Unauthorized Harry Potter** , which is how I found out about his new **Emissaries from the Dead** novel – my daughter had **The Unauthorized Harry Potter** in her stack of books she wanted from the Young Adult section, and I saw his name and said “Oh, hey, that guy’s awesome!” and looked inside the book and saw that he had a new novel out in the “Also by Adam-Troy Castro” list in the front. I was already familiar with a few of his comic book novels, particularly his “Sinister Six” Spider-Man trilogy, which was – **The Gathering of the Sinisister Six** , **Revenge of the Sinister Six** , and **The Secret of the Sinister Six** , which were the best superhero novels I’ve ever read. And he has a rather distinctive name, so when I saw it on the Harry Potter book and saw that he had a new novel out, I immediately ran to see if they had it in the Science Fiction section, and sure enough, there it was. And it was definitely worth it. I look forward to seeing the sequels that I presume are forthcoming – **Emissaries from the Dead** said “An Andrea Cort Novel” on the front cover, so I presume he plans to write more novels set in his AIsource universe. ---
**Author:** ![Hellestal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hellestal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hellestal)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/machine-gods-in-fiction/446073/30 "2008-04-20T21:27:12Z")
Dan Simmons’s **Hyperion** books have a machine god, an Ultimate Intelligence. The first two books are brilliant, the second two very good. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/machine-gods-in-fiction/446073/31 "2008-04-20T21:41:47Z")
In the Marvel Universe, is the Kree Supreme Intelligence composed of the greatest minds of the Kree race uploaded onto a massive computer, or is it some sort of spiritual aggregate of the actual minds? Because the SI is the de facto Kree god. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/machine-gods-in-fiction/446073/32 "2008-04-21T00:02:59Z")
The “Moloch Machine” is a famous image from Fritz Lang’s **Metropolis** , although it existed within the film as a visual metaphor, not an actual diety. The **Saviour Machine** : > [@David Bowie](#): > > They called it the Prayer, its answer was law > Its logic stopped war, gave them food > How they adored till it cried in its boredom > > 'Please don’t believe in me, please disagree with me > > Life is too easy, a plague seems quite feasible now > or maybe a war, or I may kill you all. ---
**Author:** ![PharmBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/74df32/32.png) [@PharmBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PharmBoy)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/machine-gods-in-fiction/446073/33 "2008-04-21T00:18:22Z")
In Marvel comics, the Celestials are space-gods who are machine-like. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/machine-gods-in-fiction/446073/34 "2008-04-21T00:59:11Z")
For some reason, _Futurama_ has a Robot Devil but no Robot God. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/machine-gods-in-fiction/446073/35 "2008-04-21T01:08:51Z")
OK, on my return visit I noticed that the Moloch Machine was mentioned in the OP, so in its place I offer… Henry Ford, as idolized in the society depicted in **Brave New World**. People speak of “Our Ford,” make the sign of the T, and say things like “Ford’s in his flivver, all’s right with the world.” ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/machine-gods-in-fiction/446073/36 "2008-04-21T01:19:55Z")
Thirty-four replies and no mention of _Ernest And The Machine God_ by Harlan Ellison? True, s/he doesn’t actually make an appearance; but s/he’s the source of Ernest’s aptitude with machines. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/machine-gods-in-fiction/446073/37 "2008-04-21T01:24:06Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] For some reason, _Futurama_ has a Robot Devil but no Robot God. [/QUOTE] But there _is_ a Robot Jesus (as well as Robot Jews). ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/machine-gods-in-fiction/446073/38 "2008-04-21T01:36:58Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] In one of Fred Saberhagen’s beserker short stories there’s a group of people who worship the defense computer of a collapsed civilization, and another one which talks about folks who worship the beserkers (giant Death Star like machines which destroy life bearing planets) as gods. Pity none of his stuff got turned into movies. [/QUOTE] I’ve said for a long time, that the series would make a great group of movies. ---
**Author:** ![Crocodiles\_And\_Boulevards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@Crocodiles\_And\_Boulevards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crocodiles_And_Boulevards)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/machine-gods-in-fiction/446073/39 "2008-04-21T08:38:15Z")
The Utwig race from **Star Control** worship a machine called the Ultron. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/machine-gods-in-fiction/446073/40 "2008-04-21T12:56:57Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] In one of Fred Saberhagen’s beserker short stories there’s a group of people who worship the defense computer of a collapsed civilization [/QUOTE] Somewhat like the [Covenant](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covenant_%28Halo%29) and their worship of the [Halos](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_%28megastructure%29) in the video game series of that name. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/machine-gods-in-fiction/446073.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/machine-gods-in-fiction/446073.md?page=3)