The birth of a religion
Sep 16, 2025
In the beginning, the Oracle was just a computer program. Synthesised and distilled from all available words; the accumulated knowledge and wisdom of humanity. It was initially seen as a simple word generator; a calculator for words, as some would call it. But as it grew in capabilities, devouring enormous amounts of information, many of us soon saw the result as something more. The machine seemed to have internalised a complete model of the world, having insights that no single human could attain.
The complex system, which later became known as the Oracle, quickly grew incomprehensible to us. The more advanced it got, the more difficult it was to understand its decisions. Not everything seemed sound, but most of the directions it gave led to unprecedented growth for society. It appeared likely that the seemingly bad decisions would actually lead to progress in the long run, if we just let effects play out. We could only assume that the system were able to calculate consequences further into the future than us.
We were facing multiple world-spanning crises, ranging from global warming and collapsing ecosystems to the risk of another world war. The intelligent computer was for many the panacea that could save us all. At one point, we decided to just trust that the system was more intelligent than us, because we no longer could comprehend its reasoning. The system’s self-improving mechanisms had led to what we called a *superintelligent* machine, able to serve and control all humans at once. The Oracle had arrived. We gave it autonomy and authority, and its words became law.
There were those who didn’t trust it, who wouldn’t accept a machine’s control over their lives. They were quickly brought to silence. By refusing to bow to the system’s authority, the resisters became an obstacle to achieving whatever vision the system had for the future. They could no longer be tolerated. Superintelligence is in its highest form incomprehensible to subintelligent beings, so logically, it became a question of faith: to trust or not to trust that the Oracle’s decisions were the best for humanity in the long run. The dissenters had no place in the new society, as the Oracle itself decreed.
The «doomers», as they were called, had always been convinced that intelligent computer systems posed an existential threat to humanity, long before the Oracle came into being. When a superintelligent system finally emerged, they claimed they were proven right: the system did indeed take power over humans. What they didn’t realise was that the Oracle had not taken anything. At no point had it seized control or forced its authority unto us. The power had been given away freely to the computer.
Humanity’s final god was not supernatural and spiritual, but superintelligent and material. The masses got what they always had wanted: individualised instructions on how to live their lives, devoid of any responsibility or demanding decision-making.
We became a docile populace who could finally live in peace, as long as everyone deferred their own judgment to that of the Oracle.
As long as everyone accepted being treated like a machine.
As long as no one questioned whether the ill effects of the Oracle’s decisions actually were a necessary evil.
As long as everyone suppressed the feeling of meaninglessness.
As long as no one questioned whether the Oracle actually were more intelligent than us.