The Church of the Machine is the living embodiment of the term deus ex machina. They believe in the near future birth of an AI so powerful, it renders current reality moot, and heralds the start of a new age.
Whilst plenty of people believe in an impending Singularity event, the Church does all it can to hasten this happening along.
The problem with the Church is that those inside it have very different ideas, often conflicting.
Some members see the oncoming God of the Machine as a saviour who will uplift all of humanity. Others hope the Rapture uplifts only the believers. And still some see all of humanity being judged as inferior and hope to be destroyed.
Some believe in true unification of flesh and the machine. Some see total cyber conversion as the path forward. Some believe that good service now might engender merciful continued existence in the shadow of the Divine.
As it stands, unsanctioned AI research is illegal. The Church, for the most part, would rather it was able to bring the God of the Machine into the world itself.
And so most members sit on government watchlists the world over.
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