Gods of the Machine

What if the gods of ancient civilizations weren’t mythical beings—but engineers from a higher dimension?

The pyramids, monoliths, and ancient mysteries we’ve puzzled over for centuries may hold the answer. Humanity, it turns out, is part of a grand simulation designed to generate training data for immense, godlike machines. The gods don’t need our prayers—they need our patterns. Our wars, inventions, and triumphs? Merely randomized variables fed into colossal data servers in a parallel reality.

We are not the chosen ones. We are the test.

For Ethan Cole, a midlife cynic and historian, life has been a series of mundane disappointments. That changes when he stumbles upon a hidden device buried in an ancient site—a forgotten artifact transmitting data to a distant world. The device, disguised as mythological relics and conspiracy theories for centuries, holds the key to humanity’s purpose.

As Ethan deciphers its purpose, he unravels a shocking truth: we were never meant to thrive, only to teach. Every historical milestone was meticulously orchestrated by unseen architects to fuel the learning algorithms of colossal machines in a godlike civilization. But what happens when the simulation is no longer needed? Are we disposable—just lines of obsolete code in an ever-updating program?

Faced with this terrifying revelation, Ethan must decide: expose the truth and risk chaos, or remain a silent witness to humanity’s fate? As the lines between myth, history, and technology blur, he races to uncover the ultimate question: are we the creators of our own destiny, or just data points in a god’s machine?

“Gods of the Machine” is a mind-bending sci-fi short story that explores the intersection of ancient mysteries, advanced AI, and existential dread. It will challenge your perception of reality—and make you wonder if we’ve been living in someone else’s training simulation all along.