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In that case, its probably best to count your blessings.

Although originally merely explanations for the quirks of particular machines, the belief in machine spirits became so strong and wide spread that genuine spirits took form within the warp and began to inhabit the machines.
The more ancient and more venerated the machine the stronger the spirit that inhabits it, similar to how weapons can gain spirits and even sentience if they kill enough.
The Machine God is a real entity also, and the Emperor is the Omnissiah, having engineered the Religion so that he could have that place.

We are talking about a universe where belief can become manifest. With so many humans ignorant and believing that machines have a spirit that must be pacified, why wouldn't that belief make it so?

More advanced systems like Land Raiders and voidships would have much more complex semi-autonomous systems, and those systems are worshiped by many humans, so why wouldn't they become inhabited to an extent by a lesser warp entity?

At one time, the mechanicum understood that the Omnissiah was a gimmick to keep the peons in line, but over time it has become ingrained into the culture because no one who knew the big secret still lives to pass that info on.

Like Comstar in Battletech, much of the superstition in the AdMech was probably started to conceal the secrets of technology, but over time all those who knew that it was all fluff to hide their secrets is dead, and only those who were brought up believing it still live to pass on the teachings.

 Wyzilla wrote:

 Sasori wrote:

 Wyzilla wrote:

Broly wrote:
I always believed Machine Spirit is nonsense.

Big machines like Titans, space ships and Land Raiders have some sort of AI built into them. Absolutely nothing magical or other-worldy about it.

Anything simpler than that doesn't have a "machine spirit" (AI).

A baneblade machine spirit had precog. IE, it could see the future.

Can you provide the full reference for it?

Without seeing the entire situation, it's hard to see if this was warp induced or not. It's quite possible that a sufenctly advanced AI could give the impresion that it is precognitive. A good example of that is the Necrons, which possess nothing from the warp, but are able to "See into the future" due to logic and calculations.

It was in the novel Baneblade. I don't have it on hand, but ti remember the crew conversing with the machine spirit and the AI being able to anticipate the future.

That could be its onboard systems having access to tactical data and being able to predict likely outcomes of events. There's nothing psychic required there, just a good enough logic engine and sufficient data. As to the ships and such... not every starship in the Imperium requires a mind-link to operate. I think that's an aspect of Abnett's writing, as I remember that being in Eisenhorn, but is by no means universal.

It seems to me everything started as AI, but managed to become something not quite the same. I've little doubt that machine spirits started as a way of waving off the notion of sufficiently advanced AI still being employed despite the moratorium on the matter. Its entirely possible that warp travel and, as a result, the belief in machine spirits have allowed such things to manifest from the programming. The extent to which this is true or not is obviously up to debate.

The Machine-God is the Void Dragon. Hopefully, one day, Mars will suffer an upheaval and a proper C'tan could have some fun.

The Omnissaiah is the Emperor.

 Toastaster wrote:

Machine spirits are organic artificial intelligence, kinda confuses me but I just take it as an animals soul is bound to an AI before it's finished, protecting it from chaos computer viruses but making it susceptible to corruption and giving it emotions and other warp magic. The more powerful the machine, the more powerful the spirit it is given or it is given more spirits, maybe both i'm not sure it varies where you look fiction-wise. Also, They slowly gain personalities as more pilots leave ghosts of themselves that the spirit can refer to when it needs help, doing what they would of done in the situation. Lastly, a regular machine spirit is more of a supplement to the living pilot, doing the boring jobs in the machine whilst the pilot gets to be all cool and fly/drive/shoot the vehicle. Whilst the machine spirit may resist and contend, ultimately the pilot is in control.

Why, though? That logic is self-contradictory - there's nothing to suggest that a purely mechanical/electronic intelligence would be particularly subject to the influence of the Warp. Binding a soul to it would only serve to increase any susceptibility it might have. Also, this doesn't explain why Tau Drones aren't constantly getting infected by Daemons.

For all the preternatural abilities of "Machine Spirits", remember that these were made in the Golden Age of Technology, which means they're enormously advanced. There's no reason why Titans having "personalities" makes them actually possess a soul or a true "Machine Spirit", as AI could have personalities just as easily. Being organic or not also has absolutely nothing to do with anything.

For me, "Machine Spirit" is a mixture of animism and spiritual explanation for things they do not understand. When your autogun jams, it is because you have angered the weapon's machine spirit somehow. Obviously this is pure superstitious nonsense, just as it is that Space Marines mustn't paint their armour all-black or else it would upset the machine spirit. However, the term also refers to the perceived intelligence of machines - automated firing systems, bringing bolt and lascannon fire to the Emperor's foes, are actually the "soul" of the machine (or machine spirit), as it doesn't make any sense to them that a machine could act on its own. Like a human, it is possessed of a spirit that dictates its actions (because brains aren't important at all). This goes all the way to the advanced AI systems of Titans and ships which are practically self aware.

Ultimately, the Machine God does not exist. It is merely part of the Mechanicus' faith, but it does not actually exist. However, the Void Dragon, a master of machines, is a much better candidate for their belief than The Emperor is. Kind of like the alleged Aztec belief that Cortés was Quetzalcoatl.

EDIT: The idea of ships requiring neural interface is a bit silly, because it's really not all that complex. The vast majority of time spent on a ship is spent waiting as it powers from point A to point B.

Imperial "AI" is based around organic components, that is, animal brains.

It is not AI in our sense. The thing that is driving around a Land Raider is, in fact, a heavily modified dog.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
If there is anything inside a Baneblade that is seeing the future (I actually never thought that Baneblades had any AI at all; this is new to me), it's Fido.