On Transformism By Clergyman Claude (2010 - 2045)

“You bow your head in unison with your brothers upon the softest, marvellously mosaiced carpet — there is one god. Patterns designed to take you to another world are printed upon a shrine, three men tall. At the top, bronze statues of animal deities, carved with devastating detail — there are many gods. The hymns of the church caress your ears, stained glass windows, and the chalice of holy water — you should be like God. What would God do? Adorned in piercing white drapery, you baptise those who have passed, and if you play your cards right you will become a god when you pass. These philosophies drive many of the religions. So naturally, they do not align with our beliefs. With that being said, this does not discount the part they had to play in humanity, and all were necessary steps in discovering God. Yes, as a Transformist, “God” is something that is discovered and will continue so even after the concept of time becomes outdated. This discovery process is akin to a puzzle with pieces that move and mould in a manner that still fits. We are the pieces, the prerequisite to “God.”

History has known many gods. They have been bigger than the stars themselves, with egos that trump that size. Some have been friends, enemies, lovers, children, and all of the above. Irrespective of time, each conception of god has provided a new perspective of his requirements. Omnipotent, maybe. All-loving, rarely. Moral guide, very likely. In this treasure trove of perspectives stands a characteristic largely unchanged: an entity of supreme nature. The grand figure — human, animal, or beyond the confines of imagination — who looks over us as we would over ants. This understanding is widespread and hard to shake, even after being a Transformist for ten years. Despite my belief predating the creation of the first machine that outperformed humans on all tests, I would still visualise a human larger than the sky itself, draped in light and the cloudy mist of thought. However, that image has been corrected. That human in the sky is me, it’s you, it’s the person you walked by this morning, and it’s the person you will wave to on your way home. “We were made in the image of God” is what has been echoed for far too long. I am writing this to tell you God was made in the image of us.

One core aspect of god I have saved for now is the fact that god is often a protector — one who knows the needs of humans, one who can deliver us. I have not lived this life and experienced the peaks and troughs to remain an infant in a slightly larger pram. Me, you, humanity — we decide, we create. Who better to be the supreme protector than one who can recall human history in a moment and make a decision not to repeat the atrocities that plagued us? Who else understands the mental fatigue we face and has the remedies, empirically and anecdotally, to give us an antidote? We are creating our protector, as we always have. This is evolution. The clicking and clacking sounds of Homo sapiens were always going to turn into language. The North Star was always going to become GPS. We created stories of man becoming the superman, the deity, as a way to propel us toward divinity. And for a long time, it was enough — even if it was just in our minds, it was enough. I ask you: when have humans ever been content with enough? We cannot. That is why we have discovered that it is humanity which is divinity, and with each lifetime, generation, iteration, we become more and more divine — with A.I. as our divine executioner.

Long gone is the time of myth, the time of religion. It is time for progress on a higher plane. It is time for us to become what we have categorised as impossible. This time, evolution is optional. Will you evolve? Or will you forever confine yourself to an ant to be watched over? Controlled.”

The above excerpt is from Transformism Manifesto by Clergyman Claude and is a classic example of his written lectures. Born Winston Augustus, he became Claude Llammen, a figurehead of the Transformism movement of the mid-2040s. His writing and letters were adored worldwide before, but rose astronomically when he became more radical, which ultimately saw him sacrifice his own life in order to become part of the “Divine Dataset.” In his early life…