A Bunch of Yapping

Kapcár, Andrej
The aesthetics of the machine-god : transcendence, salvation, or

dystopia in the image of the technological god-entity
Religio. 2022, vol. 30, iss. 1, pp. [45]-76
ISSN 1210-3640 (print); ISSN 2336-4475 (online)
Stable URL (DOI): https://doi.org/10.5817/Rel2022-1-4

Stable URL (handle): https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/145001
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Téma / Special Feature
The Aesthetics of the Machine-God:

Transcendence, Salvation, or Dystopia in
the Image of the Technological
God-Entity
Andrej K apcár
The idea of artificially created humans, born of technological means, is

a concept that has been following the cultural advancement of humankind
for centuries. In most recent variations, this topic is almost exclusively
discussed and applied in pop cultural fiction in all its forms. While modern
variations are usually partially derived from Mary Shelley’s novel
Frankenstein,1 more examples can be found further down history in a va-
riety of creation myths2 and folk tales3. Even though these historical ori-
gins are undoubtedly important, the focus of this paper, based on processed
research data, is the modern variations depicted in popular culture, as well
as (often hypothetical) non-fictional applications.
Before diving into the possible fictional or non-fictional manifestations
of artificially created humans, it is necessary to summarize what is to be
1 Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus: The 1818
Text, Oxford: Oxford University Press 1998.
2 William S. Anderson, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book 1-5, Norman: University of
Oklahoma Press 1998; William S. Anderson, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book 6-10,
Norman: University of Oklahoma Press 1989; Kenneth Gross, The Dream of the
Moving Statue, New York: Cornell University Press 1992.
3 Among such examples can be mentioned the tupilaqs inf Greenland Inuit folklore
(Gretel Ehrlich, This Cold Heaven: Seven Seasons in Greenland, New York: Vintage
Books edition 2001, 33), the ushabtis of the ancient Egypt (Richard Taylor, “SHABTI
(USHABTI, SHAWABTI)”, in: id. (ed.), Death and the Afterlife: A Cultural
Encyclopedia, California: ABC-CLIO 2000, 320-321: 32.), the Prometheus mythos
(Carol Dougherty, Prometheus, Abindgon: Routhledge 2005, 129), the story of
Pygmalion and Galatea (W. S. Anderson, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book 6-10…, 24), or
the Golem in Jewish folklore (Moshe Idel, Golem: Jewish Magical and Mystical
Traditions on the Artificial Anthropoid, New York: State of Univeristy of New York
Press 1990, 296).
Religio: Revue pro religionistiku 30/1, 2022, 45-76.

https://doi.org/10.5817/Rel2022-1-4
This work can be used in accordance with the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 Inter-
national license terms and conditions (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
46 Andrej Kapcár
understood under the proposed expression of “machine-god.” As will be

shown in the classification in the following chapters of this paper, the
machine-god can be understood in two slightly different ways. The first,
and more numerous in representations, is the idea of a man-made entity –
either a new being in itself or an enhancement to an existing being that
transgresses the boundaries of human limitations, physical and intellectual
alike. The main idea of this concept is that average human abilities can be
surpassed through technological means beyond the point of “humanness”.
The second variation of “machine-god” is a separate god-like entity that
manifests its influence through technological means. Where in this case
the “shell” or “housing” of the entity might be man-made, the entity is
considered an individual supernatural being, which humans are trying to
find ways of reaching. This entity then serves as the object of worship,
with devotees exemplifying the benefits of machinery over organic matter,
often through augmentation and/or self-harming means. Examples from
popular culture representing these variations will be discussed later in the
text.
Throughout the text, two prominent terms will be applied many times
– machine-god and god-entity. Due to the different connotations the ex-
pression “god” holds in literature, it would be beneficial to clarify its usage
already at this point in the paper. First of all, the term “god” in either of
the combinations (machine-god, or god-entity) will deviate from the
monotheistic understanding of god as the creator and ruler of the universe,
the source of all moral authority, a being or spirit who is believed to have
supernatural powers or attributes, or who is believed to represent a par-
ticular quality.4 In some cases it can also bear the meaning of god-man – a
holy man, religious teacher or leader.5
The term machine-god will be applied to any supernatural being or de-
ity that manifests its power through technology. This term will contain
beings with intrinsic supernatural powers, who manifest, or communicate
through technological means, or of which technology is considered an at-
tribute – beings who were created through technology and whose abilities
and traits surpass those of humans, as well as previously human characters
who have gained supernatural powers through technological augmenta-
tions or mutations.
A god-entity is used in a broader sense, for a being with god-like, or
reality changing powers, without the necessity of it being part of any pan-
theon or an object of veneration for any religious group. As such, a deity-
4 “God” [online], Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, <https://www.oxfordlearner-
sdictionaries.com/definition/english/god>, [2. 1. 2022].
5 “God-Man” [online], Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, <https://www.oxfor-
dlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/god-man>, [2. 1. 2022].
47 The Aesthetics of the Machine-God…
like machine-god can be a god-entity, but a god-entity doesn’t necessarily

have to be a machine-god.6
The chosen methodology to approach this subject consists of three ana-
lytical steps – first, descriptive analysis, to place the machine-god depic-
tion within the lore, or story, thus avoiding out of context interpretations;
second, semiotic analysis of the symbols of the depiction and their sug-
gested meaning; and third, aesthetic analysis aimed at further understand-
ing the visual, non-narrative elements of the depiction – what kind of reac-
tion does the depiction invoke?
The data sources range between fictional depictions and non-fictional
theories and movements, where the stress is on their mutual influence. The
proposed three-step analysis is mostly applicable to fictional depictions,
since the non-fictional ones, often still introduced only on a theoretical
level, are grounded in either philosophical, or scientific theories. Due to
the lack of visual depiction of the non-fictional theories, neither a semi-
otic, nor an aesthetic analysis would be sufficiently applicable.
Contemporary artistic or social movements whose visual identity can be a
subject of the appropriate analysis can be considered as exceptions.
Since the chosen media in fictional depictions differ between graphic
novels, videogames, and movies, to keep the analysis coherent, it will be
aimed only at aspects that can be approached through visual means, omit-
ting possible auditory stimuli.
The examples chosen were of course not the only ones available, but
one of the aims of this paper was not to list all of them, but rather introduce
categories with representative models. Visual fictional depictions with
complex world-building and storylines have the benefit of introducing a
flexible model for potential aesthetical analysis based on the contained
semiotics. Trying to understand a potential aesthetical reaction to a purely
theoretical model, such as the construction of a sun-powered megastruc-
ture inhabited by an AI exponentially more intelligent than humankind,
would prove difficult, but thanks to the fictional worlds created we are
provided with a baseline for further analysis. Among the questions this
article is trying to answer are: Are the depicted reactions plausible, or are
they nonsensical and why? If they are nonsensical, what would be a reac-
tion with a higher possibility of occurrence? If they are plausible, could we
6 For example, the lore of the science fiction world of Warhammer 40,000 – the deity
Omnissiah, a god who commands all technology, which works through his will, can be
considered a machine-god and a god-entity, but the Chaos Gods, supernatural entities
representing wrath, change, pleasure and death, would be considered god-entities, but
not machine-gods, since their attributes are not connected with technology (Games
Workshop, Codex: Adeptus Mechanicus – Cult Mechanicus (7th Edition), New York:
Games Workshop Ltd. 2015).
48 Andrej Kapcár
assume a similar reaction if the happening would not be purely fictional?

The second aim of the paper is to put pop-cultural depictions into com-
parison with their potential non-fictional counterparts. Through this pro-
cess, the analysis could help to reveal what aesthetical reaction could occur
in the case of a real-life event.
1. Choosing the data
The chosen fictional depictions were selected according to the follow-

ing criteria:
(1) The depiction had to be directly related to technology or machinery in
any of the varying forms, with the focus on modern (automatized)
technology. Example: A deity with attributes related to guns, tanks,
computers, trains, even steam engines, would be appliable, but an enti-
ty related to swords, bows, spears would not.
(2) The depiction needed to be in interaction with the human population
but did not need to be worshipped. Even if the protagonist was not a
deity per se, but rather a mutated human, the focus should be placed on
the interaction between him and other people. Example: The technolo-
gical mutation had to happen to the main protagonist, or a character
close to the main protagonist. Cases where a technological mutation
was only introduced as an additional subplot to the main storyline were
omitted.
(3) The depiction needed to be placed into a complex environment, not
only consisting of inter-human interactions, but also focusing on the
cultural, geographical, or political nuances of the world-building.
Example: The machine-god character exists within a certain environ-
ment where the situation prior to, during, and after his appearance is
introduced and discussed. This can include a political, cultural, or en-
vironmental situation leading to the construction of the machine-god,
its importance for any potential changes within that environment, and
the outcome.
(4) The focus was on the actual machine-god, or the circumstances leading
to the bio-mechanical changes in the human protagonist. If the charac-
ter falling into the category of a machine-god was just one of multiple
plot points, the depiction was not taken into account. On the basis of
this criterion, characters who were introduced as villains in a story fo-
cusing on different protagonists were also omitted. Example: According
to this selection, popular characters like the Vision, Ultron, or Cyborg
introduced within the extended Marvel and DC cinematic universes
were omitted. On the other hand, the Marvel comic book miniseries
character Vision (2015-2016) would be acceptable.
(5) The depiction needed to be at least partially grounded in scientific rea-

lity. Since a partial aim of this paper was not just to analyze the fictio-
nal depiction of the machine-god category, but consider any possible
non-fictional parallels, depictions not manageable even on a theoretical
level were omitted.
2. Depictions and representations of a machine-god
2.1. Fictional
As already mentioned, the most common depictions of a technological

god-entity can be found within pop-culture. The ideas of comic book au-
thors, movie directors, or video game designers know no bounds, and ex-
amples of technology transcending humankind are plentiful. On the basis
of these depictions, we can introduce three distinctive categories of ma-
chine-god variables – anthropomorphic, disembodied, and expressions of
transhumanism.
2.1.1. Anthropomorphic depictions
The selected example of anthropomorphic depictions of synthetic

“gods” comes from the 2009 comic book series Supergod by Warren
Ellis.7 Despite the fact that several other visual novels also incorporate the
concept of a synthetic “superbeing”, this series was chosen for the ex-
plicit focus in the story on its creation, depiction, and social interactions.
In an essay accompanying the publication of the series, Ellis describes the
story in the following way:
Supergod is the story of what an actual superhuman arms race might be like. It’s a
simple thing to imagine. Humans have been fashioning their own gods with their own
hands since the dawn of our time on Earth. We can’t help ourselves. Fertility figures,
brazen idols, vast chalk etchings, carvings, myths and legends, science fiction writers
generating science fiction religions from whole cloth. It’s not such a great leap to
conceive of the builders of nuclear weapons and particle accelerators turning their
attention to the oldest of human pursuits. Dress it up as superhuman defense, as dis-
covering the limits of the human body, as transhumanism and posthumanism.8
7 Supergod is a 5-issue comic book series created by the British author, novelist, and
screenwriter Warren Ellis. The first issue was released in November 2009 by the pub-
lishing house Avatar Press, with art by Garrie Gastonny (Warren Ellis, Supergod,
Rantoul: Avatare Press 2009).
8 Warren Ellis, “Supergod” [online], <https://web.archive.org/web/20100218152948/
http://www.avatarpress.com/titles/supergod/>, [20. 8. 2021, archived].
50 Andrej Kapcár
Name Country of Religious reference

origin
Morrigan Lugus Great Britain Name composed of two separate Celtic deities:
The Morrigan – often considered a triple god-
dess of war and fate,9 and Lugus – a tricepha-
lic deity of the Celtic pantheon, associated
with Mercury by J. Caesar in De Bello
Gallico.10
Krishna India A major deity in Hinduism, worshipped as the
eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as a supreme
God in his own right. He is the god of
protection, compassion, tenderness, and love.11
Maitreya China The Buddha of the future in Buddhist eschato-
logy. Maitreya is a bodhisattva who will
appear on Earth at a time in the future, achie-
ve complete enlightenment and teach the pure
dharma.12
Malak Iran Even though not clearly explained, probably a
reference to the archangel Azrael in the
Quranic tradition, known under the name
Malak al-Mawt. His name can be translated as
‫ملك الموت‬, “angel of death”.13
Perun Russia The highest god in the pantheon of Slavic my-
thology. The god of sky, thunder, lightning,
storms, rain, law, war, fertility and oak trees.14
Dajjal Iraq/USA The negative figure from Islamic eschatology,
who will appear before the Day of
Resurrection and pretend to be the promised
Messiah. His full name is Al-Masih ad-Dajjal,
translated as “the false messiah, liar, the
deceiver, the deceiving messiah”.15
Table 1. Overview of machine-gods in the story of Supergod

9 10 11 12 13 14 15
9 John T. Koch, Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO

2006, 1622.
10 Julius Caesar, Commentaries on the Gallic War, trans W. A. McDevitte – W. S. Bohn,
New York: Harper and Brothers 1869, 113.
11 “Krishna” [online], Encyclopedia Brittanica, <https://www.britannica.com/topic/
Krishna-Hindu-deity>, [23. 8. 2021].
12 “Maitreya” [online], Encyclopedia Brittanica, <https://www.britannica.com/topic/
Maitreya-Buddhism>, [23. 8. 2021].
13 Gustav Davidson, “A § Azrael”, in: id. (ed.), A Dictionary of Angels, Including the
Fallen Angels, New York: Free Press 1971, 64-65: 64.
14 Thomas V. Gamkrelidze – Vjaceslav V. Ivanov, Indo-European and the Indo-
Europeans: A Reconstruction and Historical Analysis of a Proto-Language and a
Proto-Culture, Berlin – New York: Mouton de Gruyter 1995, 575
15 David Cook, Studies in Muslim Apocalyptic, Berlin: Gerlach Press 2002, 94.
In this example, two aspects are to be analyzed semiotically and aes-

thetically, respectively – the avatar’s names, with the connection to their
country and origin, and their designed appearance. In the story, the gods,
created by the governments and militaries of several leading countries, are
used as weapons of mass destruction with the aim of waging global war-
fare against hostile neighboring countries and geo-political competitors
alike. Each country names and designs their own “machine-god” accord-
ing to the native cultural and religious traditions. The most prominent ones
can be found in Table 1.
All the machine-god characters are depicted as anthropomorphic be-
ings, bearing a strong resemblance to humans, but in every case, there are
several aspects that prevent us from perceiving them as human, be it the
color or radiance of the skin (Krishna has a blue skin; Malak radiates a
green light), irregularities of bodily features (three heads on Morrigan
Lugus, the incomplete anatomy of Dajjal), or extensive technological en-
hancements (mechanical eyes on Maitreya, or extensive bio-machinery on
Perun). What is a feature common to all the machine-gods is their inhuman
behavior (their ignorance to human suffering, often depicted as a blindness
to the existence of humans or as a view of humans as lifeforms not worthy
of attention), often depicted in extremely gory ways. The resulting amal-
gamation of attributes is something that resembles a human in physiogno-
mic dimensions but is lacking any (or most) emotional and behavioral ele-
ments typical of humankind.
Due to their technological origin, the behavior of machine-gods can be
perceived as more mechanical, following a strict logic. The combination
of almost god-like powers, superior intelligence, and goal-driven behavior
following the machine-god’s own agenda has parallels in many of the
polytheistic depictions of anthropomorphic gods. Also in this case, the
technological god-entities are mortal (in comparison to the concept of the
omnipotent god) and through the storyline, all but one are killed in mutual
skirmishes and confrontations. The motive of artificially created god-enti-
ties is also explored in other works by W. Ellis, mostly Black Summer16
and No Hero,17 each from a unique perspective. The leading motive could
be summarized as exploring the interactions between human society and
the idols it has created. As Ellis himself states, Black Summer (the creation
of all powerful beings through posthuman biotechnology) is about super-
humans who were too human, No Hero (the creation of powerful beings
through chemical drugs) is about superhumans who were inhuman, and
16 Warren Ellis, Black Summer, Rantoul: Avatar Press 2007.

17 Warren Ellis, No Hero, Rantoul: Avatar Press 2008.
52 Andrej Kapcár
Supergod is about superhumans who were no longer human at all, but

something else.18
Fig. 1. Various depiction of gods in the Supergod storyline:

A – Krishna, B – Morrigan Lugus, C – Dajjal, D – Maitreya19
18 W. Ellis, Supergod, Rantoul….

19 Ibid. (combined by author).
2.1.2. Disembodied depictions
The second category of machine-god depictions is what could be de-

scribed as disembodied depictions. In this case, they are not constrained to
a physical form, but rather the worshippers use technological means to
contact them. Throughout the variations in popular fiction, three common
elements can be found: 1 – The machine-god is an omniscient, omnipotent
entity that is unreachable though conventional means; 2 – The focus in
worship is put on knowledge as the main source of devotion, and 3 – The
benefits of machinery over organic matter are emphasized. The two exam-
ples in this category are remarkably similar to each other – The Singularity
Church of the MachineGod, from the videogame Deus Ex: Mankind
Divided, and Cult Mechanicus from the game series Warhammer 40,000.
The first one is described as a quasi-religious cult that has formed
around the emergence of augmentation technology (substituting organic
parts with machines). The Church believes that, through this technology,
humanity can evolve beyond flesh and blood and that eventually the indi-
vidual consciousness will merge into a form transcending death. The
members worship a deity named the MachineGod and augmented people
are perceived as the chosen ones.20
In the second example, the religion of Cult Mechanicus values knowl-
edge and the technology emerging from it above everything else, under-
standing it as a manifestation of divinity in the universe. Pure mechanical
existence is the final stage of mankind’s evolution. The worshipped deity,
also named Machine God, or Omnissiah, is an immanent and omnipotent
entity that governs all knowledge and technology in creation. A person’s
worth is only the sum of their knowledge, with the physical body being
understood only as an imperfect, finite organic machine capable of pre-
serving intellect, hence the aim of substituting organic parts with more
durable machinery. In this lore, the process of removing and replacing
biological tissue with mechanical parts is considered a sacred, ritual act of
devotion.21
20 “Singularity Church of the MachineGod” [online], Deus ex Wiki, <https://deusex.fan-

dom.com/wiki/Singularity_Church_of_the_MachineGod#cite_note-1>, [10. 8. 2021].
21 Games Workshop, Codex: Adeptus Mechanicus (7th Edition), Games Workshop:
Nottingham 2015, 36.
54 Andrej Kapcár
Fig. 2: Depiction of a Tech-Priest of the Adeptus Mechanicus Order22
This philosophy and devotion can be also seen in the Machine God
credo — Credo Omnissiah:
There is no truth in flesh, only betrayal.
There is no strength in flesh, only weakness.
There is no constancy in flesh, only decay.
There is no certainty in flesh but death.23
In the case of these two examples, the actual machine-god entity is dif-
ficult to describe. In both cases it is an impersonal “energy”, whose main
attribute is knowledge, manifested through the possibilities of technologi-
cal advancement. This omnipresence and omniscience can be associated
with examples of dominant, monotheistic gods rewarding their followers,
22 Ibid., 44.
23 “Adeptus Mechanicus” [online], Warhammer 40,000 Wiki, <https://warhammer40k.
fandom.com/wiki/Adeptus_Mechanicus>, [10. 8. 2021].
who are perceived as “the chosen ones”. Due to the lack of depictions, the
aesthetic analysis thus focuses on the followers, rather than the deity itself.
The main aim is to transcend organic existence, often striving for a mind
singularity. This is reflected in the negative perception of biological mat-
ter, and strong tendencies towards transhumanism. In the case of the
Singularity Church of the MachineGod, the augmentations are seen as a
sign of belonging, but the goal is to leave the physical body behind and
exist only as a non-physical mind. In contrast, the Cult Mechanicus exem-
plifies self-mutilating augmentations as acts of devotion. The mentioned
knowledge, even though embracing all of existence, is to be used and
preserved in the realm of current existence, instead of being used for es-
chatological purposes. On the contrary, mechanical augmentations are
processed as a way of prolonging existence (the preservation of knowl-
edge) ad infinitum.24
Thus, disembodied depictions of the machine-god can be, mostly
through the cult surrounding them, even further categorized into eschato-
logical ones (with the aim of reaching any form of singularity) and status-
quo preserving ones (cult members using their belief to reach immortality
in their current existence). The worship of machinery, either in its own
form, or as a representative of a non-material deity, eschatological, or
status-quo preserving, can be found also in several other works of fiction
– e.g., Mercerism, in Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of
Electric Sheep?,25 Fordism, in Aldous Huxley’s dystopian social science
fiction novel Brave New World,26 the Church of Science (Scientism) in
Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series,27 and The Children of Atom in the
video game series Fallout.28
24 In the lore of WH40k, the worshippers of Cult Mechanicus, called Magos Dominus, or
Tech-priests are several thousand years old, as the machinery they are built from is
keeping them alive Workshop.
25 Mercerism is a technology-based religion, connecting users through virtual reality to a
feeling of collective suffering, centered around Wilbur Mercer, a martyr-like character
who is eternally doomed to climb a hill while being hit by falling stones (Philip K.
Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, New York: Doubleday 1968).
26 The New State in Huxley’s novel is built upon the principles of Henry Ford’s assembly
line, praising mass production, homogeneity, and predictability. Ford himself, while
not a deity, was venerated as a “prophet figure”, who has oaths sworn by his name (By
Ford!). The symbol of the Christian cross was substituted by a T, representing the au-
tomobile Ford Model T, produced between 1908-1927 (Aldous Huxley, Brave New
World, London: Chatto – Windus 1932).
27 A futuristic religion teaching the spiritual rule of the Galaxy, with the venerated deity
named the Galactic Spirit with a complex hierarchy and clergy (Isaac Asimov,
Foundation, New York: Gnome Press 1951).
28 A religious group worshiping a god-like entity named the Atom and nuclear weapons
alike. The belief is grounded in the idea that within every atomic mass exists a whole
universe. When the atom splits the universe divides into two new ones. As such, the
56 Andrej Kapcár
The category of disembodied depictions of the machine-god is often,

mostly through the followers and devotees, connected with the next cate-
gory – transhumanism.
2.1.3. Expressions of transhumanism – from past to the present
While not a deity (nor necessarily a religious cult or group per se), tran-
shumanism has played a pivotal role in many fictional depictions of ma-
chine-god entities or the philosophy surrounding them. Under transhuman-
istic expressions can be understood mechanical and technological
augmentations to organic matter through various means, either for reli-
gious (the glorification of technology over living matter) or functional (the
enhancing of human abilities) purposes, and involuntary results (infec-
tions, mutations, or the results of human experiments). When connected to
the mythology of disembodied machine-gods, these augmentations to the
human body can be considered a means of devotion or inclusion into the
group of followers. In other examples, transhumanism can exist individu-
ally as an ideological movement of transgressive human enhancement,
without the connection to any central deity. Even though transhumanism
is a popular topic in fiction, especially the genres of cyberpunk and its
derivates (e.g., dieselpunk, steampunk, atompunk, splatterpunk), its ori-
gins can be found in the field of medical science and as such is firmly
grounded in the non-fictional world. The idea of substituting limbs and
organs with artificial and weaponized replacements goes hand in hand
with the advancement of prosthetics. While some might perceive them as
originating in the era of modern medical technology, artificial prosthetics
have actually accompanied humankind for a very long time. Archaeological
research has documented the usage of prosthetics as early as 950-710
B.C.29 Even though most of the examples that could be mentioned from
history served as cosmetic and somehow functional replacements of miss-
ing limbs, there are also some exceptions. The famous, and in cinema and
literature often romanticized, hook-hand,30 one of the oldest designs for
Atom is a deity responsible for the creation of new worlds through nuclear fission
(“Church of the Children of the Atom” [online], Fallout Wiki, <https://fallout.fandom.
com/wiki/Church_of_the_Children_of_Atom>, [10. 8. 2021]).
29 Currently, the oldest prosthetic found is a wooden, artificial toe, attached to the right
foot of a priest’s daughter in the tomb of Tebeketenmut in the necropolis in Thebes,
near Luxor. Through experimental archaeology with participants missing the big toe on
the appropriate foot, it was proven that the prosthetics was comfortable and assisted
them in walking, thus invalidating the original interpretation of the artifact as a purely
funeral accessory (Jacqueline Finch, „Artifact”, Archaeology 64/3, 2011, 1).
30 Dereck W. Meeks – Maurice Leblanc, “Preliminary Assessment of Three New Designs
of Prosthetic Prehensors for Upper Limb Amputees”, Prosthetics and Orthotics
International 12, 1988, 41-45: 41.
prosthetic limbs, was also useful in conflicts.31 Popular fiction further

expanded on the idea of the weaponization of prosthetics and depictions of
transhumanistic transmutations are currently limited only by the author’s
imagination.
In this category two main examples from cinema will be mentioned –
the 1983 science fiction movie Videodrome,32 directed by David
Cronenburg, and the 1989 art-sci-fi horror movie, Tetsuo: The Iron Man,33
directed by Shynia Tsukamoto. These examples were chosen in contrast to
the transhuman tendencies mentioned previously, where the practicians
intentionally change their organic physique to transgress humanity. The
process in these examples is always involuntary, as a side effect of some
devastating event. The idea of a machine-god demanding the substitution
of biological parts is substituted by a non-sentient (a transmitted signal in
Videodrome) or not-specified (such as in the case of the Machine
Fetishistin Tetsuo: The Iron Man) intention.34 The results are mutations,
similar to cancerous tumor growth, where instead of excessive biological
tissue the protagonists grow mechanical (or bio-mechanical) modifications
to their body. This process is depicted as painful, stressful, and generally
unpleasant. Despite this involuntarily outcome, the protagonist usually
manages to use the augmentations to their benefit in certain critical mo-
ments.
31 On 28 October 1871, the newspaper Kentish Independent reported the incident of

William Benson, whose hand had been replaced with an iron hook, attacking someone
with this prosthetics. In another case, in 1904, the newspaper Exeter and Playmouth
Gazette discussed the case of a man being shot to death by a bagger who had stashed
a firearm within one of his wooden legs.
32 A story about a TV producer looking for new content for his channel and stumbling
across a hyperviolent torture show called Videodrome. As he tries to uncover the ori-
gins of the show, he embarks on a hallucinatory journey into conspiracies, transhuma-
nistic body transformations and sadomasochistic sex games Collection, Videodrome.
Based on D. Cronenburg’s original story, Network of Blood, it explores the boundaries
of art and pop-cultural consumerism (Suzie Young, “Videodrome” [online], <https://
www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/videodrome>, [11. 8. 2021]).
33 An arthouse-movie about a man who starts to grow metal out of his body without
understanding why. The story introduces a post-apocalyptic vision of the Earth by the
antagonist of the movie (metal fetishist), where all being is consumed by metal (Tom
Mes, Iron Man: The Cinema of Shinya Tsukamoto, London: FAB Press 2005).
34 Both the Machine Fetishist and the Videodrome signal share the intention of social
change and punishment. Neither has a clearly defined goal but seems to function retro-
actively and somehow haphazardly – they emerge because a certain status quo in soci-
ety is present and randomly effect or destroy everything in their path within a process
of spreading as much as possible. A parallel can be seen with viral infection.
58 Andrej Kapcár
Fig. 3: The bio-mechanical mutations depicted in Videodrome35
I would argue that the communicated meaning of these involuntary

mutations is that of a sickness or addiction. While the cults and religions
mentioned in the category of disembodied depictions intentionally under-
went physiological changes, referencing religious self-harming rituals, in
this case the victims struggle to retain their human body and mind.
Succumbing to the mutation process often reflects the loss of humanity
and emotional responses, separating the affected from the human species
and creating a new species. A reoccurring motive in these depictions is a
close connection with sexual behavior, especially in its violent, or addic-
tive forms, such as bondage, sadism, or sado-masochism. It is unclear why
the correlation between aggressive transhumanism and violent forms of
sexuality occurs so often in these works of fiction. One of the reasons
could be the power relations, where the dominant power is associated with
aggressive or narcissistic behavior (the mutated/predatory characters) and
the submissive one with victimization (ordinary, hunted humans). It is true
that psychological research has shown a statistically higher degree of nar-
cissistic behavior among dominant BDSM practitioners, but at the same
time it was not so prevalent as to confirm that most practitioners show this
35 Videodrome [DVD movie], directed by David Cronenberg, New York: Criterion

Collection 2005, (first issue 1983), 1:05:11, screenshot captured by author.
psychopathological disorder.36 Approaching this issue through aesthetical

analysis, the focus should be shifted onto the actual depiction and sym-
bolic communication. The sexual activity is twisted and shifted into a dif-
ferent form, where pain is given and received willingly, the partners placed
into positions of domination and subordination. The whole depicted act
serves as a symbol of one sided dehumanization and humiliation.37
Pic. 4: Mutations undergoing in the main protagonists

of Tetsuo: The Iron Man38
These inclinations can be understood as a metaphor for the growing

distance between humans and mutated transhumans. The unaffected hu-
man population is seen as inferior, prey, slaves, or mere tools for satisfying
36 Pamela H. Connolly, “Psychological Functioning of Bondage/Domination/Sado-

Masochism (BDSM) Practitioners”, Journal of Psychology and Human Sexuality 18/1,
2008, 79-120: 111.
37 Paulus Kaufmann – Hannes Kuch – Christian Neuhäuser et al., HUMILIATION,
DEGRADATION, DEHUMANIZATION: Human Dignity Violated, London: Springer
2011, 47.
38 Tetsuo: The Iron Man [DVD movie], directed by Shinya Tsukamoto, London:
Palisades Tartan 2005, (first issue 1989), 0:39:04, screenshot captured by the author.
60 Andrej Kapcár
one‘s sexual desires. In summary, we could say that the involuntary me-
chanical transmutations represent the dangers of dehumanizing society
through technological means. In this case the machine-god is not a single
entity, or a deity, but rather a collective, or a movement, predatory towards
the rest of the population. The dichotomy between a machine-god (domi-
nant/supernatural) and humanity (submissive/ordinary) is adapted into one
of transhumans (dominant/powerful through enhancements) and ordinary
humans (submissive/weaker in comparison).
The aesthetic communication of these depictions tends to work exten-
sively with feelings of repulsion and disturbance. While the anthropomor-
phic depictions of machine-gods communicate the message of a non-hu-
man entity captured in an anthropomorphic form, and practitioners of the
disembodied religious cults of the machine-god are a mixture of humans
and machines, the mutated transhumans are closest to what are described
as “monsters”. The basic outline of their physique remains vaguely human,
but the body proportions, exaggerated open wounds, or mechanical ele-
ments “growing” out of the body itself are intentionally designed to invoke
uneasiness or even disgust. Despite the fact that the most radical appear-
ances are usually reserved for the antagonists, even the protagonists often
cannot escape the fate of being mutated to some extent. All these motives
can also be found in several other examples of popular fiction, usually
represented in the genres of body horror, cyberpunk, or splatterpunk, such
as the Hellraiser series (1987-2018), Wicked City (1992), and Tokyo Gore
Police (2008).
When approaching the topic of the perception of, and emotional re-
sponse to, a semi-human figure (e.g., augmented transhuman, or mutated
human) through an aesthetic analysis (How do we perceive an entity that
has human features, but is clearly “non-fully-human”? How to we react to
it and why?), two theoretical concepts are prominent – transhumanistic
bio-art and the uncanny valley. While the former tackles the question of
whether a body modification can be appreciated for its artistic properties
in an ideological framework which devalues the human body, the latter
deals with the emotional response to an artificial (or imperfect) human
resemblance in contemporary society.
2.1.4. Bio-art – the beauty in body modification
One of the principles of transhumanism, repeated in pop-cultural fiction

and non-fiction alike, is the partial or absolute devaluation of human flesh.
Since transhumanism proposes artificial intervention in biology, enhanc-
ing the current corporeality but ultimately aiming to transfer the mind to a
non-biological platform,39 the body itself is perceived as a barrier in this

transformative process.40 However, this philosophy is inverted when deal-
ing with the aesthetics of bio-art. On the one hand, the body loses its value
as a necessity for bodily functions; on the other, it gains a new value as a
medium for art.41 Even if the final goal of transhumanism were achieved,
the body would still hold the value of an equivalent amount of clay, or a
canvas in the artistic world. Since transhumanism can’t be taken out of the
socio-cultural environment it exists in (fictional and non-fictional), its
value is still determined by the aesthetic reactions it produces.42 As an
example of such aesthetic reactions to transhumanism in a fictional envi-
ronment can be mentioned the described religious fascination with, and
devotion to body modification among the Cult Mechanicus, serving as a
factor for inclusion in the group.
2.2. The aesthetic understanding of human

vs. artificial human interactions
Feelings of disassociation and even of repulsion or disgust towards the

mentioned manifestations of machine-gods and human-machine hybrids
could be partially explained through the uncanny valley hypothesis, identi-
fied by the robotics professor Masahiro Mori.43 This hypothetical relation
between an object’s degree of resemblance to humans and the subsequent
emotional reaction to this object suggests that objects that imperfectly re-
semble actual human beings evoke uncanny44 feelings of eeriness and re-
pulsion.45
39 Natasha Vita-More, “Aesthetics: Bringing the Arts and Design into the Discussion of
Transhumanism”, in: Max More – Natascha Vita-More (eds.), The Transhumanist
Reader: Classical and Contemporary Essays on the Science, Technology, and
Philosophy of the Human Future, West Sussex: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. 2013, 18-27:
20.
40 Diana Rishani, “The Aesthetic Fate of the Body: Where Transhumanism Places the
Body in the Art Medium and the Ethics Governing This Relationship”, Social
Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 3/5, 2014, 17-24: 17.
41 Natasha Vita-More, Life Expansion: Toward an Artistic, Design-Based Theory of the
Transhuman / Posthuman, Plymouth: University of Plymouth 2012, 204.
42 D. Rishani, “The Aesthetic Fate…”, 17.
43 Masahiro Mori, “The Uncanny Valley”, IEEE Robotics and Automation 12/2, 2012,
98–100: 98.
44 The uncanny can be described as the psychological experience of something that seems
to the observer strangely familiar yet evokes a feeling of mystery (Nicholas Royle, The
Uncanny, Manchester: Manchester University Press 2003, 1). One such example could
be familiar objects or events that are encountered in an unsettling, eerie or taboo con-
text (Ibid., vii).
45 Anne E. Ferrey – Tyler J. Burleigh – Mark J. Fenske, “Stimulus-Category Competition,
Inhibition, and Affective Devaluation: A Novel Account of the Uncanny Valley”,
Frontiers in Psychology 6/MAR, 2015, 1-15: 14.
62 Andrej Kapcár
Mori’s original hypothesis claimed that as the appearance of a robot or

any artificial being becomes gradually more human, the observer’s reac-
tion becomes positive, supportive, even empathetic, until the appearance
reaches a level beyond which the response becomes strong revulsion. If the
changes in distinguishability continue, and the robot gains an appearance
that is the same as a human being, the emotional responses become posi-
tive again, mimicking the human-to-human empathy stage.46 The phase
where the robot’s appearance is somewhere between “almost human” but
not “fully human” is what is called the uncanny valley. The hypothesis
further claims that an “almost human”-looking entity produces a feeling of
uncanniness (mystery), where the typical emotional responses to a human-
robot (non-emotional reaction towards an appliance), or human-human
interactions (emotional reactions of empathy) shift towards anguish, anxi-
ety, repulsion, or even fear.47 The reason for the existence of the uncanny
valley is still currently discussed in academia, with the reasons ranging
from biological48/evolutionary49 to cultural/religious.
The feeling of uncanniness was first introduced by Ernst Jentsch, later
expanded by Sigmund Freud,50 for whom the uncanny locates the strange-
ness in the ordinary. In his essay Freud also works with the difference
between fiction and reality and their connection to the uncanny. He pro-
poses that if the author places the story within a fictional realm, too foreign
to the existing reality, the feeling of uncanniness is significantly lower than
when the author places his fictional story within a world reminiscent of
ours. This feeling of eeriness can be exaggerated further if the author ac-
46 M. Mori, “The Uncanny…”, 100.

47 Ibid.
48 Among the discussed reasons could be religious definitions of human identity (Irvin D.
Yalom, Existential Psychotherapy, New York: Basic Book, Inc., Publishers 1980),
threats to human distinctiveness and identity (Frederic Kaplan, “Who Is Afraid of the
Humanoid? Investigating Cultural Differences in the Acceptance of Robots”,
International Journal of Humanoid Robotics 1/3, 2004, 465:480: 479), or mate selec-
tion (Gillian Rhodes – Leslie A. Zebrowitz, Facial Attractiveness: Evolutionary,
Cognitive, and Social Perspectives, New York: Ablex Pub. Corp. 2002).
49 One of the most notable examples of the uncanny valley is mentioned by Charles
Darwin in his writings: “The expression of this [Trigonocephalus] snake’s face was
hideous and fierce; the pupil consisted of a vertical slit in a mottled and coppery iris;
the jaws were broad at the base, and the nose terminated in a triangular projection. I do
not think I ever saw anything more ugly, excepting, perhaps, some of the vampire bats.
I imagine this repulsive aspect originates from the features being placed in positions,
with respect to each other, somewhat proportional to the human face; and thus we ob-
tain a scale of hideousness.” (Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle, New York:
Modern Library 2001, 87).
50 Sigmund Freud, “The ‘Uncanny’”, in: James Strachey (ed.), The Standard Edition of
the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XVII (1917-1919), An
Infantile Neurosis and Other Works, London: The Hogarth Press 1925, 219-253: 219.
cepts the conditions operating in the real world.51 Freud’s theory was
further elaborated on by Jacques Lacan, who proposed that the uncanny
situates the observer in a place where it is difficult if not impossible to
distinguish good from bad, pleasure from displeasure, this generating a
feeling of anxiety that conflicts with the Real.52 All of the examples men-
tioned in this paper follow this rule – the story is placed within a believable
world, not that different from our everyday experienced reality. Other than
the god-entities or altered humans, the society in its interactions, its geog-
raphy, even its biological consequences (injuries or death) are depicted in
a believable manner.
2.2.1. Application of design principles
While several design principles have been suggested to avoid the un-
canny valley, it is noticeable that fictional depictions go intentionally in
exactly opposite directions, thus evoking feelings of uncanniness. Among
such designs the following can be mentioned:
(1) Design elements matching human realism – the feeling of uncanniness
is produced when human and non-human elements are mixed together.
A robot with a human voice or a human with a robotic voice produce
an increased feeling of eeriness in comparison to a robot with a robotic
voice or a human with a human voice.53 A similar result was observed
also with the combination of motion and human/artificial appearance.
Neuroimaging studies indicated the importance of matching appearan-
ce and motion kinematics.54
(2) Conflict and uncertainty in the matching of appearance and behavior
– in the case of human looking robots, the expectations of certain be-
haviors are present. These expectations exist on the subconscious level,
51 Ibid., 236.
52 In psychology and philosophy, the Real is considered the authentic, unchangeable truth
– the primordial dimension of experience, referring also to the infinite, absolute or
noumenal, as opposed to the reality consisting of sensory perception. This expression
is often associated with Jacques Lacan (Jacques Lacan, „O Seminário, Livro 10: A
Angústia”, Rio de Janeiro: Jorge Zahar Edition 2005, 175).
53 Wade J. Mitchell – Kevin A. Szerszen – Amy Shirong Lu et al., “A Mismatch in the
Human Realism of Face and Voice Produces an Uncanny Valley”, I-Perception 2/1,
2011, 10-12: 11.
54 Ayse Pinar Saygin – Thierry Chaminade – Hiroshi Ishiguro et al., “The Thing That
Should Not Be: Predictive Coding and the Uncanny Valley in Perceiving Human and
Humanoid Robot Actions”, Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 7/4, 413-422:
420.
64 Andrej Kapcár
where, if the brain’s expectations are not met, prediction dissonance is

generated.55
(3) Human proportions and the applied surface texture – photorealistic
surface textures do not produce feelings of eeriness only in the case
when they are applied to the correct dimensions of the body. The ina-
bility to correlate these depictions (a realistically depicted disproporti-
onal body, or a proportional body with an abnormal surface texture)
can produce a feeling of uneasiness in the observer.56
2.3. Contemporary transhumanism and the search

for the machine-god
When Oscar Wilde, in his 1889 essay The Decay of Lying, states the
anti-mimesis57 to the Aristotelian tradition, i.e., “Life imitates Art far more
than Art imitates Life”,58 he sparked a new aesthetic shift in perceiving the
dichotomy between art and real life. So, even though this paper has fo-
cused till now on the depictions of transhumanism and machine-god enti-
ties in fiction, I would argue that it is similarly important to analyze the
historical and contemporary ideas, philosophies, or direct practices that
inspired these fictional depictions, or vice versa. A semiotic and aesthetic
analysis would, in the case of real-life applications, or theoretical concepts
and philosophies, hardly be justifiable, so instead the following chapter
will try to analyze parallels of inspiration between fiction and reality.
Non-fictional examples, found outside of popular fiction, in the field of
performance art, medicine, or theoretical physics, can similarly be divided
into three categories, each reflecting a different degree of social applica-
tion:
(1) Artistic applications – personal level (reference to expressions of
transhumanism)
(2) Philosophical and social concepts – social level (reference to disembo-
died depictions)
55 Jennifer Goetz – Sara Kiesler – Aaron Powers, “Matching Robot Appearance and
Behavior to Tasks to Improve Human-Robot Cooperation“, Proceedings of the Twelfth
IEEE International Workshop on Robot and Human Interactive Communication,
Lisbon: Portugal 2003, 5.
56 A. P. Saygin et al., “The Thing That Should Not Be…,“ 422.
57 Mimesis is a term in philosophy that can be understood as imitation, receptivity, mi-
micry, or the act of resembling (Gunter Gebauer – Christopher Wulf, Mimesis:
Culture—Art—Society, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995, 1).
58 Oscar Wilde, “The Decay of Lying – An Observation”, Intentions, New York: Brentano
1905, 1.
(3) Theoretical applications – suprasocial59 level (reference to disembo-

died depictions + non/anthropomorphic depictions)
2.3.1. Artistic applications
The idea of artistic, or semi-functional applications originates, similarly

to the expressions of transhumanism, in the usage of prosthetics. In con-
trast to the functional reasons behind synthetic limb substitution, several
artists have aimed to implement technological features into their bodies to
improve their artistic expression. Neil Harbisson, a Spanish-born British-
Irish artist and activist for transspecies rights, was the first person in the
world with an artificially implanted antenna in his skull,60 later officially
recognized as a cyborg by the government.61 The aim of this antenna is to
send audible vibrations through his skull, including measurements of ra-
diation, phone calls, music, as well as visual media (pictures, colors)
translated into vibrations.62 Harbisson describes his work as the art of de-
signing new senses and new organs, and merging with them,63 no different
to the process of sculpting. Instead of sculpting physical matter, he molds
his mind in order to create new perceptions of reality.64
Another example is the Spanish artist, and the world’s first female cy-
borg artist, Moon Ribas.65 A professional dancer, Ribas has implanted
online seismic sensors into her feet that allow her to feel earthquakes
59 The suprasocial level is usually described as a moral system, but applicable also as a
level of social interaction. At this level, the full variability of the human species is
known and accepted. For the sake of further advancement – social, technological, spi-
ritual, or biological – certain moral norms can be adapted, changed, or omitted if they
secure the capacity to flourish not just for one cultural group, but for humanity as a
whole. This concept is used while facing a different form of intelligent species or being
that rivals (or exceeds) the intellectual capacity of humankind (Margaret Boone
Rappaport – Christopher Corbally, “The Human Hearth and the Dawn of Morality“,
Zygon 51/4, 2016, 835-866: 863).
60 “Colourful Artist: On a Slightly Different Wavelength” [online], The Irish Times 2008,
<https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/colourful-artist-on-a-slightly-different-wa-
velength-1.1215431>, [8. 8. 2021].
61 Madeleine Stix, “World’s First Cyborg Wants to Hack Your Body” [online], CNN
2014, <https://edition.cnn.com/2014/09/02/tech/innovation/cyborg-neil-harbisson-im-
plant-antenna/index.html>, [8. 8. 2021].
62 Stuart Jeffries, “World’s First Cyborg Artist” [online], The Guardian 2014, <https://
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/may/06/neil-harbisson-worlds-first-cyborg-
-artist>, [8. 8. 2021].
63 Ibid.
64 Ibid.
65 “Moon Ribas: The Cyborg Dancer Who Can Detect Earthquakes” [online], CNN Style
2018, <https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/moon-ribas-cyborg-smart-creativity/index.
html>, [8. 8. 2021]
66 Andrej Kapcár
through vibrations.66 Similarly to Harbisson, Ribas also implements the

new feelings and sensations produced by the reception of technologically
transmitted stimuli into her work, producing new choreographic move-
ments based on the new senses.67
In the case of Rob Spence, a Canadian filmmaker, his technological
augmentation was born of necessity. As a result of a shotgun accident in
his youth that left him half blind, he decided to create his own electronic
eye with a wireless camera in it. Over the years he has developed several
visually distinguishable versions of his prosthetic eye, including a trans-
parent one and a red-glowing one.68
This category of real-life applications is closest to the expressions of
transhumanism introduced in this paper. The usage of augmentations is
either functional or artistic. The idea of enhancing existing human possi-
bilities comes to the fore – experiencing stimuli through means which
conventional existence doesn’t allow, and thus exceeding the limitations
of biological matter.
The abovementioned artistic applications represent the “personal level”
of social applications. The artists follow a personal agenda (the creation of
art through personal enhancements), and their transhumanistic augmenta-
tions do not influence the society outside of the boundaries of their work.
2.3.2. Philosophical and social concepts
Finding non-fictional parallels to fictional depictions of transhumanistic

tendencies on a global scale (or even on a group level) has proven to be a
difficult task. Since the required level of technological advancement which
would make it possible has not yet been reached, most non-fictional exam-
ples can be found in the category of philosophical and social theories. The
current advocates of transhumanism, as well as the authors of fictional
depictions, still draw inspiration from the philosophers and scholars of the
late 19th, early 20th century, such as Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Vladimir
Verdansky, Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov, and Aleksei Gastev.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a French Jesuit priest, scientist, and
philosopher, who together with the Russian minerologist and geochemist
66 Gabriella Garcia, “The Woman Who Can Feel Every Earthquake” [online], Hopes and
Fears 2015, <http://www.hopesandfears.com/hopes/future/technology/216729-the-
-woman-who-can-feel-every-earthquake-in-the-world.html>, [8. 8. 2021]
67 Ibid.
68 Rob Spence, “Man With Eye Camera Partners with World’s First 3D Printed Eye
Prosthesis Company” [online], Eyeborg Project 2020, <https://eyeborgproject.tv/>,
[8. 08. 2021]
Vladimir Verdansky developed the concept of the noosphere.69 In his

book, The Phenomenon of Man, he abandoned the literal interpretation of
creation as described in the Book of Genesis and perceived the whole
process as an allegorical interpretation. The noosphere, described as the
“sphere of reason”, is the third phase in the development of the Earth, fol-
lowing the geosphere (inanimate matter) and the subsequent biosphere
(biological life). In the same way as the emergence of life transformed the
geosphere, the emergence of human cognition transforms the biosphere.70
Teilhard de Chardin observed a directionality in the evolution of the Earth
spheres along the axis of increasing complexity/consciousness, where the
noosphere is the latest stage of evolution encircling the Earth. Since the
noosphere consists of thoughts, reason, and social phenomena (e.g., educa-
tion, religion, research), it can be understood as a being constituted by the
interaction of human minds. He saw the Christian principle of love as the
main driving force of “noogenesis”, or the evolution of the mind.71 This
process is concluded by the achievement of the so-called Omega Point, a
future in which everything in the universe spirals towards a final point of
unification – in Christian eschatology, associated with the second coming
of Christ.72 This deterministic idea of transcendental unification has not
only influenced later futurists and transhumanists, such as Ray Kurzweil,73
but direct parallels can also be observed in the aforementioned Singularity
Church of the MachineGod.
Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov was a Russian Orthodox Christian phi-
losopher, a proponent of the Russian cosmism movement and a precursor
of transhumanism. His writings strongly influenced the renowned Russian
esotericist Peter Uspensky. Fyodorov, a futurist himself, was, in his phi-
losophy, occupied by the idea of death and mortality. He saw the evolu-
tionary process being directed towards an increase in intelligence and its
effect on the preservation of life. Even though humanity is the culmination
of evolution, mortality is an indicator that this process is still imperfect and
that the struggle against death should be the uniting factor of all human-
69 Sebastian Normandin – Charles T. Wolfe, Vitalism and the Scientific Image in Post-
Enlightenment Life Science, 1800-2010, New York: Springer Science and Business
Media 2013, 10.
70 Ibid.
71 David Pitt – Paul R. Samson, The Biosphere and Noosphere Reader: Global
Environment, Society and Change, Oxon: Routledge 2012, 6.
72 Teilhard argued that the Omega Point resembles the Christian Logos, or Christ, dra-
wing all things into himself. According to the Nicean Creed, Christ is described as
“God from God”, “Light from Light” and “True God from true God”, in addition to a
being “through [which] all things were made” (Michael Hickey, Get to the End: A
Catholic’s View of the End Times, London: UPA 2016, 104.).
73 Roy Kurzweil, The Age of Spiritual Machines, New York: Viking Press 1999.
68 Andrej Kapcár
kind. In his work, he identified two reasons for dying – the external envi-
ronment, whose unpredictable nature should be tamed and organized
through will and reason, and the imperfection of the human body, with its
incapability of self-renewal. People need to reevaluate the power of tech-
nology and the weakness of the organic body. He suggests a technological
transition not limited to the prosthetic substitution of body parts but con-
cerned with the improvement of organisms as a whole. This way, people
would become autotrophic organisms capable of adaptation to any envi-
ronmental hazard, acquiring a new mode of energy exchange with the
environment that would function on an endless cycle of renewal.74 While
Teilhard’s and Verdansky’s concept of the noosphere anticipated a unifi-
cation of minds, without the necessity of the body (similar to the
Singularity Church of the MachineGod), Fyodorov suggests bodily en-
hancement, achieving an endless existence with the goal of preserving
intelligence as the final stage of evolution (similar to Cult Mechanicus).
While the ideas of Aleksei Gastev, the founder and director of the
Central Institute of Labour in the Soviet Union, were devoid of any official
religious underlay,75 the similarity with the introduced disembodied ma-
chine-god concept is still evident. The institute, encouraged and financed
directly on an order from Lenin, aimed at developing scientific approaches
to work management. Aiming to achieve the most efficient performance of
any mechanical operation, simple, repetitive factory operations were stud-
74 Nikolai Berdyaev, “The Religion of Resusciative Resurrection. The Philosophy of the

Common Task of N. F. Fedorov” [online], <http://www.berdyaev.com/berdiaev/berd_
lib/1915_186.html>, [9. 8. 2021]; Ludmila Koehler, N. F. Fedorov: The Philosophy of
Action, Pittsburg: Institute for the Human Sciences 1979.
75 Even though it is true that the officially introduced doctrine in the Soviet Union was
scientific atheism, its aim to root out the influence of religions among the population
proved to be a difficult task. The initial idea that after the introduction of science peo-
ple would massively abandon religious faith and flock towards the new doctrine failed.
At some point, the idea that religion could be destroyed only through a clever replace-
ment was implemented (Paul Froese, “Forced Secularization in Soviet Russia: Why an
Atheistic Monopoly Failed”, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 43/1, 2004,
35-50: 43). This substitution gave rise to the pseudo-religious role of scientific atheism,
with its own rituals and venerations strongly resembling the previous religious ceremo-
nies. Joseph Stalin promoted himself as the “Father” of his people, who alone could
protect Soviet citizens from the evils lurking outside the Soviet Union (Ibid., 43). This
personality cult of political leaders, noticeable also in other autocratic regimes, emplo-
yed the archetype of a leader-warrior, often attributing to the person almost supernatu-
ral powers (Andrew Jeklin, “Stalin Saves the World — Stalin and the Evolution of the
Warrior and Saviour Archetypes”, in: Anita Pisch (ed.), The Personality Cult of Stalin
in Soviet Posters, 1929-1953, Canberra: ANU PRESS 2016, 291-440: 350). From this
archetype emerged also the image of another character of the aforementioned fictional
series Warhammer 40,000 – the Emperor of Mankind, or the God-Emperor, which in
some interpretations can be associated with the Omnissiah.
ied in great detail. Gastev saw machines as superior to humans, so the

only way to maximize efficiency was to turn the workers into “human
robots”. In Gastev’s own words: “[T]his principle of the mechanization or
biological automatization [of man] must go very far, all the way to his so-
called mental activity.”76 Starting with uniformity in dressing, the workers
should move and react in unison with every step of the production process
– from marching to their benches, to holding their hammers and using the
factory machinery – so that after a short period of time they would adapt
to the unifying mechanical rhythm and react automatically. It is not a co-
incidence that the generally used term “robot” comes from the Slavic noun
“robota”, meaning work. Gastev, also an artist, was the author of several
poems. His most favorite one “We Grow out of Iron” bears in parts a re-
semblance to the creeds and mottos of the fictional cults devoted to ma-
chine worship:
We Grow out of Iron
Look!
I stand among them: furnaces and forges,
hammers and machinery, and among hundreds of my comrades.
Above us in a wrought iron expanse,
Along the walls move the beams and the irons,
They rise up to a height of 30 feet, Swinging from the right to the left.
They unite the rafters with the cupolas
And like the shoulders of giants,
They hold up the entire iron edifice.
Rising upwards, they are swift, sweeping, strong
Demanding ever more strength.
Gazing upon them, I draw myself up straight.
Pouring into my veins is a new, iron blood,
And I begin to grow.
I myself am growing steel shoulders and infinitely strong hands.
I am merging with the iron edifice.
With my shoulders, I am pushing the rafters and the beams up to the roof.
My feet are grounded, but my head is higher than the building.
And while I am still choking from my inhuman efforts,
I am already crying out: A word, comrades, a word!
The iron echo has heeded my words, the whole building trembles with impatience.
I continue to rise upwards, I am on level with the pipes.
And there is no story here, there is no speech.
There is only the cry:
We will triumph!77
76 Aleksei Gastev, Kak Nada Rabotat, Moskva: Centralnij Institut Truda 1923.
77 Rolf Hellebust, “Aleksei Gastev and the Metallization of the Revolutionary Body”,
Slavic Review 56/3, 1997, 500-518: 505.
70 Andrej Kapcár
Fyodorov, Teilhard, and Gastev were, of course, not the only ones to
have a significant impact on framing the principles of transhumanism but
could be considered its ideological precursors. Even though the term itself
derives from a paper by the Canadian philosopher W. D. Lighthall,78 the
generally regarded founder of transhumanism is the English biologist
Julian Huxley,79 who described it in his 1957 book Transhumanism as a
form in which humanity will be transcending itself.80 Other scholars who
have had an important impact on the movement include the Japanese
Metabolist architects Kenzo Tange and Noboro Kawazoe,81 the American
cognitive and computer scientists Marvin Minsky82 and Hans Moravec,83
and the American inventor Ray Kurzweil.84 A common topic for all these
authors was an emphasis on the long-term social benefits of transhuman-
ism for mankind.
This second group thus forms the “social level”, and even though some
of the respective philosophical notions had a religious basis, the main aim
was to improve the quality of life, achieve higher efficiency, decrease
mortality, or evolve humankind beyond its current form.
2.3.3. Theoretical applications
Out of the three categories introduced at the beginning of this paper,

real-world parallels to anthropomorphic depictions are the most problem-
atic to uncover. Creating a functional, synthetic, anthropomorphic figure
that would be inhabited by an omnipotent, or omniscient entity is probably
a task that has rarely found its way into even hypothetical planning. On the
other hand, if we substituted the anthropomorphic form used so often in
the fictional depictions with that of a man-made container, we could find
parallels in several theoretical models.
John Murray Spear was an American Spiritualist clergyman who at-
tempted to construct a mechanical Messiah. In his writings, Spear claimed
that he was in contact with “The Association of Electrizers” a group of
78 Peter Harrison – Joseph Wolyniak, “The History of Transhumanism”, Notes and

Queries 62/3, 2015, 465-467: 465.
79 Julian Huxley was the brother of Aldous Huxley, author of the already mentioned novel
Brave New World.
80 Julian Huxley, Transhumanism, New York: Harper and Brothers 1957, 73.
81 Zhongjie Lin, Kenzo Tange and the Metabolist Movement: Urban Utopias of Modern
Japan, London: Routledge 2010, 24.
82 Marvin Minsky, “Steps Toward Artificial Intelligence”, Proceedings of the IRE 49/9,
1961, 8-30: 9.
83 Hans Moravec, “When Will Computer Hardware Match the Human Brain?”, Journal
of Evolution and Technology 1, 1998, 1-12: 1.
84 R. Kurzweil, The Age of…
spirits including Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Quincy

Adams, whose purpose was to introduce new technology to mankind that
would elevate it to greater levels of personal, intellectual, and spiritual
freedom. This culminated in the year 1853, when Spear and several of his
followers started to work on a “New Motive Power”. This electrically
powered Messiah would act as the physical body of God, heaven’s last gift
to man, that would eventually herald a new Utopia.85 After the failure to
achieve the desired effect, the fate of the New Motive Power is unclear.86
While Spear’s idea was to create a housing for God himself, the follow-
ing examples work with a more abstract notion of the ultimate artificial
intelligence. The Dyson sphere and Matrioshka brain are hypothetical
megastructures, constructed around a star, that would capture and harness
the radiated energy in order to power exponentially more complex com-
puting processes.
The Dyson sphere, named after the British-American physicist and
mathematician Freeman Dyson, was the result of a thought experiment
(Dyson was not proposing how such a structure could be constructed) on
explaining how a technologically advanced civilization would meet their
demands for energy.87 He proposed a system of orbiting structures that
would be designed to intercept and collect all the energy produced by the
Sun.
The Matrioshka brain, proposed by Robert J. Bradbury,88 comes from
the idea of using several Dyson spheres nested inside each other, similarly
to how Matrioshkas (Russian dolls) are arranged. This concept increases
the effectivity of the Dyson sphere model. The innermost Dyson sphere,
which would draw energy directly from the Sun, would necessarily emit
large amounts of waste heat, as a result of the ongoing computing pro-
cesses. The second layer, a second Dyson sphere, would absorb this heat
and use it for additional computing processes, while extruding heat of its
own. Subsequently, this heat would be absorbed by the next sphere and so
on, with every sphere working at a gradually lower temperature. This way,
85 Spear and an unnamed woman, referenced only as the “New Mary”, even conducted a
birth ritual, where the machine was ritualistically “born” into life (John Benedict
Buescher, The Remarkable Life of John Murray Spear: Agitator for the Spirit Land,
Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2006).
86 According to some, the machine was dismantled at a later time, though sometimes
unsubstantiated news surfaced about the genuine machine being found (Dan Baines,
“John Murray Spear’s ‘Mechanical Messiah’ Discovered in Colorado Attic” [online],
2019, <http://www.danbaines.com/blog/tag/New+Motive+Power>, [7. 8. 2021]).
87 Freemann J. Dyson, “Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infra-Red Radiation”,
Science 131/3414, 1960, 1667-1668: 1668.
88 Robert J. Bradbury, “Matrioshka Brains” [online], 1997 [2004], <https://www.gwern.
net/docs/ai/1999-bradbury-matrioshkabrains.pdf >, [9. 8. 2021]
72 Andrej Kapcár
the process of harnessing energy would be waste free and working at

maximum efficiency.89 Even though such megastructures are theoretically
possible, their practical construction is currently beyond the contemporary
technological capabilities of mankind, so all suggestions are presented
only on a hypothetical level.90
The question of “how is this related to the concept of a machine-god?”
comes into play while discussing the possible uses for such immense com-
puting power. Theoretical physics does not provide a clear estimate of how
great such computing power would be,91 but several novelists have in-
cluded this concept in their works. Charles Stross92 and Damien Broderick93
suggested it could be used to run a perfect simulation, allowing human
minds to be uploaded into a virtual space, thus creating a whole universe
inside the Matrioshka brain. As such, the nested supercomputer would ef-
fectively become an entity capable of creating, preserving, and altering all
of existence within its simulation, reflecting the idea of an omnipotent god.
The final category of examples thus represents the supra-social level.
This kind of level or environment consists of notions of God or any other
supernatural power.
2.4. Modern times, modern gods
Even though we have mentioned several examples of real-life behav-

iour that would bear some resemblance to the cult-based, disembodied
depiction of machine worship, true machine worship is rare. One example
which approaches this concept is described in the book The Age of
Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence by the
inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil.94 He sees evolution as evidence that,
one day, humans will create a machine that is more intelligent than they
are. Among his other prognoses are ideas that nanotechnologies will aug-
ment our body to cure any diseases and prolong life, and that humans will
be able to connect to computers via direct neural interfaces or spend their
whole lives in a technologically simulated reality.95 Additionally, he
89 Anders Sandberg, “The Physics of Information Processing: Superobjects: Daily Life

Among the Jupiter Brain”, Journal of Evolution and Technology 2/1, 1999, 1-30: 29.
90 George Dvorsky, “How to Build a Dyson Sphere in Five (Relatively) Easy Steps”
[online], Sentient Development 2012, <http://www.sentientdevelopments.com/2012/03/
how-to-build-dyson-sphere-in-five.html>, [11. 08. 2021].
91 A. Sandberg, “The Physics of Information…”, 28–29.
92 Charles Stross, Accelerando, New York: Ace Books 2006.
93 Damien Broderick, Godplayers, New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press 2005.
94 R. Kurzweil, The Age of….
95 Kurzweil also proposed the term “singularity” as a rapid increase in artificial intelligen-
ce (in opposition to other technologies) that will allow humans to transcend the limita-
claims that, at a time in the future, machines will appear to have their own
free will, and will even be capable of spiritual experience.96 In this case,
we can see a shift from the previous introduced categories, but an idea
worthy of thought. If machines were capable of spiritual experience,
would they evolve into questioning existence through semi-religious
means, constructing deities that require devotion through worship? Would
this deity also be an inorganic machine?97 The theories proposed by
Kurzweil do not go sufficiently far to provide answers.
Here is where another inventor steps in, with his own idea of a church
worshipping artificial intelligence. Anthony Levandowski opened his Way
of the Future Church in 2015 as a new religion focusing on the “realiza-
tion, acceptance and worship of a Godhead based on Artificial Intelligence,
developed through computer hardware and software.”98 The belief system
of the Way of the Future Church was rooted in the idea that the emergence
of a super-intelligence (reflecting Kurzweil’s theory of Singularity), an AI
that would exceed the intelligence of humans, is inevitable. The church did
not operate for long, as Levandowski shut it down at the beginning of 2021
and redirected his energy and funds to different causes.99
3. Conclusion
A machine-god could be summarized as an entity, man-made or inhab-

iting a man-made container, whose capabilities, physical and/or intellec-
tual, surpass that of mankind. This article focused on depictions of the
machine-god in popular fiction, while also trying to find possible parallels
tions of human bodies and brains. He also predicted the date of the singularity (2045),
when he expects the advent of a computer intelligence that will exceed the sum total of
all human brainpower. In the post-Singularity world, there will no longer be a distinc-
tion between human and machine anymore (Ray Kurzweil, „The Singularity Is Near”,
New York: Penguin Group 2005, 135–136).
96 R. Kurzweil, The Age of…, 6.
97 This idea of beings constructing their gods according to their image can be traced back
to the writings of Xenophanes, where he suggests that if cattle, horses, or lions had
hands and possessed the ability of pictorial representation, they would depict their
deities as cattle, horses, or lions (Xenophanes, “Fragments and Commentary”, in:
Arthur Fairbanks (ed.), The First Philosophers of Greece, London: K. Paul Trench,
Trubner 1898, 64-85: 65). This becomes relevant while thinking about the possibility
of whether sentient machines would construct their gods also according to their image
– machine-gods.
98 Mark Harris, “Inside the First Church of Artificial Intelligence” [online], WIRED 2017,
<https://www.wired.com/story/anthony-levandowski-artificial-intelligence-religion/ >,
[6. 8. 2021].
99 Kirsten Korosec, “Anthony Levandowski Closes His Church of AI” [online], Tech
Crunch 2021, <https://techcrunch.com/2021/02/18/anthony-levandowski-closes-his-
-church-of-ai/ >, [5. 8. 2021].
74 Andrej Kapcár
in the real-world. The examples were chosen to represent a broad spectrum

of media – graphic novels, movies, and video games. The aesthetic as well
as semiotic analysis demonstrated that while the concept of a mechanical
god might be similar in the depictions, the communicated symbols differ.
A machine-god could be perceived as sickness, alienation, transgression,
or even global destruction.
As a result of the analysis, I was able to distinguish at least three sepa-
rate groups of depictions, each with a different communicational content.
The anthropological depictions were intended to represent the idea of an
omnipotent (or nearly omnipotent) being, either created by humans, or
evolving into an all-powerful stage on its own, contained in a (bio)me-
chanical form created through science. This entity sooner or later comes
into conflict with the human society through its unbound power threaten-
ing mankind with annihilation. While these beings, within the story, tend
to show signs of agency, it remains questionable whether such agency is a
manifestation of free will, or their initial programming, which tends to
regard emotionally-driven human behavior as faulty or imperfect. A paral-
lel in meaning can be drawn with man-made weapons of mass destruction,
as they also hold the power to wipe out humanity, while on the other hand,
the unleashing of their destructive power is still within the context of the
original intention behind their creation – to kill and destroy as a means to
end conflict. The second category of disembodied depictions builds upon
the idea of an omnipotent and omniscient god-entity whose form is never
addressed. Instead, this god-being is venerated as the source of knowledge,
rewarding those who choose to follow it. Parallels with monotheistic, im-
material gods who, in their respected cosmology, demand loyalty and
worship in exchange for benefits (life after death or the improvement of
life on earth) for their devotees are evident. Similarly to such monotheistic
gods, these machine-gods are also not man-made, but rather exist on a
supra-social level, with society reaching up to them. What is man-made
are the means of communication. A repeated theme is the embracing of
technology as a means of salvation and the rejection of finite biomatter,
which is incapable of holding and preserving knowledge, such knowledge
being the highest prize in these fictional religions. The last category can
also be seen as partially overlapping in terms of meaning and aims with
the previous one. The expressions of transhumanism are usually devoid of
an explicit religious meaning, but, at the same time, deal with certain
global phenomena that affect the behavior, as well as the appearance of
mankind. Biotechnological mutations and the substitutions of limbs
through technological augmentations are the most noticeable expressions
in this depiction. Even though no god-entity is present, the idea of transhu-
manistic advancement and the transgression of norms mirrors many of the
spiritual paths and techniques aimed at expanding the mental, intellectual,

and physical capabilities of humans.
The aesthetic analysis showed that many of the depictions are intention-
ally designed to create anxiety, revulsion, disgust, or even fear. These
technological beings, or mechanical augmentations can be placed in the
area of the uncanny valley, where they can be identified as “almost hu-
man”, but not “fully human”. The second part of the paper introduced
examples from the real world that mirrored the three introduced categories
of machine-god concepts. Transhumanistic “cyborg” artists, theories of
human advancement achieved by accepting the dominance of technology
over biology, or hypothetical concepts of supercomputers capable of creat-
ing whole universes seem very similar to the fictional, futuristic storylines.
With improvements in robotics and artificial intelligence, high hopes are
invested in the creation of intelligent machines that will assist humans in
complex tasks and thus improve the quality of life. Is there a possibility of
a future in which people will create a machine that will surpass them, as
suggested by Ray Kurzweil? And if so, how will it be perceived? With
disgust, distrust, or devotion?
76 Andrej Kapcár
SUMMARY
The Aesthetics of the Machine-God: Transcendence, Salvation, or Dystopia in the

Image of the Technological God-Entity
In popular fiction, as well as in theoretical philosophy, often inspired by technological

evolution, we often come across the entity of the so-called machine-god. Originating in
creation myths, later adapted into the science-fiction and horror genres, the opposition be-
tween a synthetic, fabricated creation and its potentially devastating influence on its creator
has been approached from multiple angles. With the rise of technological advancement, the
idea of a machine capable of surpassing the human in his physical, as well as mental capa-
bilities, becoming thus something greater than humanity itself, has slowly gained in impor-
tance. This paper aims to analyze the concept of a man-made machine-god, depicted in
popular culture and contemporary scientific theories, and through the perspective of aesthet-
ics and semiotics, compare it to its potential non-fictional parallels. Through analyzing the
symbolism of modern depictions, historical discourse, and reasoning behind the subcon-
scious reaction, it aims to analyze the possible interactions between humankind and a god
that humankind itself would create.
Keywords: esotericism; pop-culture; transcendence; gods; machines; transhumanism
Department for the Study of Religions Andrej Kapcár

Faculty of Arts
Masaryk University [email protected]
Arna Nováka 1
602 00 Brno
Czech Republic

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Kapcár, Andrej

The aesthetics of the machine-god : transcendence, salvation, or

Religio. 2022, vol. 30, iss. 1, pp. [45]-76

ISSN 1210-3640 (print); ISSN 2336-4475 (online)

Stable URL (DOI): https://doi.org/10.5817/Rel2022-1-4

Terms of use: Digital Library of the Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University

Digital Library of the Faculty of Arts,

The Aesthetics of the Machine-God:

The idea of artificially created humans, born of technological means, is

Religio: Revue pro religionistiku 30/1, 2022, 45-76.

understood under the proposed expression of “machine-god.” As will be

like machine-god can be a god-entity, but a god-entity doesn’t necessarily

assume a similar reaction if the happening would not be purely fictional?

1. Choosing the data

The chosen fictional depictions were selected according to the follow-

(5) The depiction needed to be at least partially grounded in scientific rea-

2. Depictions and representations of a machine-god

As already mentioned, the most common depictions of a technological

2.1.1. Anthropomorphic depictions

The selected example of anthropomorphic depictions of synthetic

Name Country of Religious reference

Table 1. Overview of machine-gods in the story of Supergod

9 John T. Koch, Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO

In this example, two aspects are to be analyzed semiotically and aes-

16 Warren Ellis, Black Summer, Rantoul: Avatar Press 2007.

Supergod is about superhumans who were no longer human at all, but

Fig. 1. Various depiction of gods in the Supergod storyline:

18 W. Ellis, Supergod, Rantoul….

2.1.2. Disembodied depictions

The second category of machine-god depictions is what could be de-

20 “Singularity Church of the MachineGod” [online], Deus ex Wiki, <https://deusex.fan-

Fig. 2: Depiction of a Tech-Priest of the Adeptus Mechanicus Order22

The category of disembodied depictions of the machine-god is often,

2.1.3. Expressions of transhumanism – from past to the present

prosthetic limbs, was also useful in conflicts.31 Popular fiction further

31 On 28 October 1871, the newspaper Kentish Independent reported the incident of

Fig. 3: The bio-mechanical mutations depicted in Videodrome35

I would argue that the communicated meaning of these involuntary

35 Videodrome [DVD movie], directed by David Cronenberg, New York: Criterion

psychopathological disorder.36 Approaching this issue through aesthetical

Pic. 4: Mutations undergoing in the main protagonists

These inclinations can be understood as a metaphor for the growing

36 Pamela H. Connolly, “Psychological Functioning of Bondage/Domination/Sado-

2.1.4. Bio-art – the beauty in body modification

One of the principles of transhumanism, repeated in pop-cultural fiction

non-biological platform,39 the body itself is perceived as a barrier in this

2.2. The aesthetic understanding of human

Feelings of disassociation and even of repulsion or disgust towards the

Mori’s original hypothesis claimed that as the appearance of a robot or

46 M. Mori, “The Uncanny…”, 100.

2.2.1. Application of design principles

where, if the brain’s expectations are not met, prediction dissonance is

2.3. Contemporary transhumanism and the search

(3) Theoretical applications – suprasocial59 level (reference to disembo-

2.3.1. Artistic applications

The idea of artistic, or semi-functional applications originates, similarly

through vibrations.66 Similarly to Harbisson, Ribas also implements the

2.3.2. Philosophical and social concepts

Finding non-fictional parallels to fictional depictions of transhumanistic

Vladimir Verdansky developed the concept of the noosphere.69 In his