SOURCE: “The Computer as a Symbol of God: Ellison's Macabre Exodus,” in JGE: The Journal of General Education, Vol. 28, No. 1, Spring, 1976, pp. 49–62.

In the following essay, Brady explores the godlike features of computers in Ellison's “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” and Michael Fayette's “The Monster in the Clearing.”

Computers and religion have been sharing the bed lately in some interesting variations. Authors have had computers cross check and compare the dogmas and rituals of the various world faiths to come up with a pragmatic religious formula that would appeal to the majority of mankind,¹ interpret the mysterious castings of the I Ching,² and provide the answer to a maiden's prayer.³ A Vatican computer was found favoring the election of a robot pope,⁴ and an ultra sophisticated computer became so miffed at being asked whether or not God exists it deliberately gave a wrong answer.⁵

Two...