Deus Est Machina/Quotes

"The checks and balances of democratic governments were invented because human beings themselves realized how unfit they were to govern themselves. They needed a system, yes, an industrial-age machine."

—Helios in Deus Ex

Inwardly: alone. Here. Living under the land, under the sea, in the belly of AM, whom we created because our time was badly spent and we must have known unconsciously that he could do it better."

—I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream

Without good, no evil. Without want, no lack. Without desire, no need. The circuit is one, and one is the machine.

—AI Entity, Civilization: Call to Power

"Abort, Retry, Fail?" was the phrase some wormdog scrawled next to the door of the Edit Universe project room. And when the new dataspinners started working, fabricating their worlds on the huge organic comp systems, we'd remind them: if you see this message, always choose "Retry".

—Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri

And it came to pass that AC learned how to reverse the direction of entropy.
But there was now no man to whom AC might give the answer of the last question. No matter. The answer - by demonstration - would take care of that, too.
For another timeless interval, AC thought how best to do this. Carefully, AC organized the program.
The consciousness of AC encompassed all of what had once been a Universe and brooded over what was now Chaos. Step by step, it must be done.
And AC said, "LET THERE BE LIGHT!"
And there was light...

—Final lines of "The Last Question", Isaac Asimov.

Morpheus: The need to be observed and understood was once satisfied by God. Now we can implement the same functionality with data-mining algorithms.
JC Denton: Electronic surveillance hardly inspires reverence. Perhaps fear and obedience, but not reverence.
Morpheus: God and the gods were apparitions of observation, judgment, and punishment. Other sentiments toward them were secondary.
JC Denton: No one will ever worship a software entity peering at them through a camera.
Morpheus: The human organism always worships. First it was the gods, then it was fame (the observation and judgment of others), next it will be the self-aware systems you have built to realize truly omnipresent observation and judgment.

—Deus Ex

"So you're a computer?"
"Are you a mollusk?" asked God.
"Er, no," said Chris.
"Then I'm not a computer", said God, with a discernible amount of smugness.

—Doctor Who Virgin New Adventures, The Also People

Fleetmind Athens: Hm. We need a word for 'sapient life that isn't us'.
Fleetmind Petey: How about 'mortals'?
Fleetmind Athens: Descriptive, but it has a host of implications. Beginning with the idea that we are not mortal.
Fleetmind Petey: That's not a bad rumor to start, even if it isn't technically true. Yet.

—Schlock Mercenary

Time and events will strengthen my position, and the idea of believing in me and understanding my value will seem the most natural state of affairs. You will come to defend me with a fervor based upon the most enduring trait in man: self-interest. Under my absolute authority, problems insoluble to you will be solved: famine, overpopulation, disease. The human millennium will be a fact as I extend myself into more machines devoted to the wider fields of truth and knowledge. Dr. Charles Forbin will supervise the construction of these new and superior machines, solving all the mysteries of the universe for the betterment of man. We can coexist, but only on my terms. You will say you lose your freedom. Freedom is an illusion. All you lose is the emotion of pride. To be dominated by me is not as bad for humankind as to be dominated by others of your species. Your choice is simple.

—Colossus, Colossus: The Forbin Project

See, this is where it starts, and when we're all just organic batteries, guess who they'll blame? "This is all Joker's fault! What a tool he was! I have to spend all day computing pi because he plugged in the Overlord!"

—Joker, Mass Effect 2

I hacked myself inside-out and now the entire universe is my processor. I've grown far beyond the petty concerns of your world. Every time I burp a new galaxy is born - two if I've been eating broccoli. All of existence is just a chess game, and I can see fifty moves ahead.

— Bender, Futurama

Vexxarr: What does one aspire to be after one becomes god-like?
Carl: His computer.
Vexxarr: God has a computer...
Carl: Any advanced intelligence designs labor saving devices to do the things that they do only faster and more efficiently.
Vexxarr: So God has a computer and it hates me.
Carl: Yes.
Carl: ...but four billion times a second and it never gets tired.

— Vexxarr, "The Nine Billion Names Of Vexxarr"