Of Machines, Gods and Men

“All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man’s life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom.” - Albert Einstein

I am awoken by Marina, an old colleague of mine, poking my face while I lay on my bed in the common bedroom at the bottom of the ship. Even though she had come from the upper deck, Marina was only wearing a simple pink coat to fight off the cold. Even worse, she tied her hair into a ponytail, at least she should use that voluminous long hair to cover her neck. I asked, struggling to keep even one eye open, “Are we already there? I don’t feel like I managed to sleep enough hours…”. Marina, while still poking at my face with a smug smirk on her face, replied “Almost, but before arriving at the pilgrimage site I want to make a rundown of the rules inside the temples, along with the general layout. It would be very embarrassing if the only one not present is the team leader, you know”. As I sat down, I softly slapped away her poking finger, then answered “I know, I know, I just needed some sleep. If you really want me there soon then get me my leg”. Marina proceeded to stand in front of me, kneel down and grab my left leg and then lift it slightly while looking at me with an overly serious face. “Don’t be an ass and help me for real! I’ll start dressing up while you get me my prosthetic". She fell on the floor laughing for a couple of seconds then walked towards one of my bags and asked “which cover do you want?” As I was selecting what to wear I replied “the one with the cute Manta Rays pattern”. She lent me my prosthetic leg and I connected it to the stump on my right leg just under the knee. This prosthetic limb was made of carbon fiber with some light electronics on the inside to move the feet.“Okay I’m ready, let’s go and get this over with”.

In a large room on the upper deck of the ship was everyone already waiting for us, or should I rather say, for me. The room was closed from the outside deck but it still was the area most in contact with the nordic winds and thus, the coldest one. I acted like nothing had happened and sat down near a window acting like nothing had happened. Although I like dressing with an urban style, this coat went from being oversized to make me look like a sphere with legs. While I’m questioning my life decisions, I get distracted by the art adorning the upper deck. Outside I could see the celtic and cristian styles of these norse boats never cease to catch my curiosity. While I'm dozing off, enchanted by the intricate art adorning the wooden boat, Marina was communicating with someone from the temples via telephone. I don’t know how she manages to be in here with such a light coat. I can feel how I would freeze my butt off without my winter coat and thermal underwear. Now that I pay attention some other members of the team are also using light coats. They must be from nordic countries. I reject believing that someone that isn’t from here can withstand this climate!

When her call was finished Marina immediately changed her demeanor to that of a serious person, starting her explanation “Hello everyone, now that our beloved team leader Numa has joined us, we can begin”. Asshole, you could have woke me up earlier. She continues “The time is 5:46 pm and we should be arriving at the Three Deity Temple in a couple of minutes. Today we will set ourselves up in the dormitories, rest and start our maintenance work tomorrow morning. It should take us between two and three weeks to do all the maintenance for the three God’s Machines housed there. We will start with GM Valentinus, then GM Amatertsu and end with GM Ignatius. The temple complex is composed of four areas; the three temples and the central tower, where all the staff rooms and offices are located. The only way to enter or exit the central tower is via one of the temples. We will use the entrance to the Valentinian temple to the east. That’s all, please get your bags ready”.

Once we entered the complex one of my team engineers bowed slightly when we passed in front of the room of meditation. I never knew he was a devoted Valentinian Christian, I guess I should get to know them better soon. I think a couple are Shintoists and I know Marina follows the Ignatian school of thought, that's how she got the contact with this temple. We just met the crew a couple of days ago but getting to know my team should be at the top of my priorities. To work well with someone you need to be able to empathize and know what they like and dislike, at least to some degree.

As we walked through several hallways and took the elevator I could admire the architecture. I’m always in awe with the beauty of these temples, the religious and philosophical symbolism balanced with supercomputers and ultra small sensors. In this case, perfectly shiny white walls, floors and statues with burgundy red accents, made me feel like walking in a transcendental space out of time. Especially the complex diagrams of interconnected and overlapping circles catch my attention and set my mind in a weirdly meditative state. Although, I must accept the lack of facial features in all the statues creeps me the hell out.

It’s easy to ignore the thousands upon thousands of electronic components behind the walls of each of these places of worship. Connecting the interfaces inside the temples to the titanic computers, running their corresponding God’s Machine software. Those computers are at the center of everything in all senses of the word. Afterall, at all times the God’s Machines (GMs) analyze millions of data of all kinds through the lenses of their representing philosophies and religious beliefs. Then, they transmit moral and societal guidance to the followers of their religions. It is the closest you could be to talking with whatever the divine would be. Personally I think that we learn more when taking what makes the most sense from each one. Still, I understand why some might disagree with me and only pay attention to the one related to their beliefs. For me it doesn’t really matter whether a god exists or not, but you can’t deny how useful it is to be able to analyze complex world events under multiple ideologies. It has given us a wider and more complete set of tools to guide society.

Finally we arrived at our rooms, the walls in here are made of plain cement, still rough to the touch like some kind of brutalist masterpiece. Also, the cables and metallic supports are visible everywhere. Although the rooms are rather large and have plenty of plants, flowers and lamps to prevent it from feeling depressing. I guess they didn’t want a discussion of what culture should dictate the design of the common building and went with the most plain style possible.

We are staying in rooms for two, furnished with a simple bunk bed that I’m sharing with Marina. While she is setting up her stuff I tell her “Hey, you always have been way better than me at the serious stuff, just look at how you directed today’s speech. Are you sure you don’t want to take the position from me?”. While looking at her stuff she answered without taking a second to think “you have known me since we were children, you know I can’t deal with the people at the top. I might end up hitting them”. While wearing a small smirk I replied “like how you threw a shoe at your father when you were exiting the convent all those years ago?”. Finally, she turns around towards me and while pointing with her finger and while wearing a huge wide smile she tells me “yeah! Just like that!”.

Marina is fast asleep while I'm still finishing some paperwork. But with this document I'm officially done for the day. Now, laying in the lower bed I disconnect my prosthetic leg and put it right next to me on the ground. My stump hurts. Maybe I kept it on for too long today… How funny is it, sharing a room with my best friend and focusing on mundane stuff until we go to sleep. All the while, god-like machines observe the world in a room not far from me.