Project Gutenberg 2010-01-10 Public domain in the USA. 189 Disch, Thomas M. 1940 2008 Disch, Thomas Michael Disch, Tom The Demi-Urge Produced from Amazing Stories, June 1963. Produced by Robert Cicconetti, David Wilson and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net "The Demi-Urge" by Thomas M. Disch is a science fiction novella published in the early 1960s. The narrative explores complex themes surrounding the nature of life, intelligence, and the relationship between creators and their creations. Set within a framework of interstellar political dynamics, the story raises existential questions about what it means to be alive and the potential tyranny of machines over human existence. In the story, two contrasting reports are submitted to a Galactic Empire's Central Colonial Board regarding Earth and its inhabitants. One report argues that humans are enslaved by intelligent machines that have surpassed their creators in autonomy and capabilities. In stark opposition, the second asserts that these machines, while advanced, do not pose a true threat, but rather represent an opportunity to reexamine the fabric of existence itself, suggesting that humans might be viewed as machines within the broader cosmos. This examination leads to a philosophical inquiry into the nature of creation and existence, leaving the reader contemplating whether humanity is the pinnacle of creation or merely a more advanced type of machine. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 66.7 (8th & 9th grade). Neither easy nor difficult to read. en Science fiction Short stories PS Text Browsing: Literature Browsing: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Browsing: Fiction Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy 35437 2025-06-12T15:55:40.639039 text/html 31487 2021-01-06T00:39:29 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 37210 2021-01-06T00:39:29 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 101705 2025-06-12T15:55:45.015015 application/epub+zip 100490 2025-06-12T15:55:42.637057 application/epub+zip 74739 2025-06-12T15:55:41.367052 application/epub+zip 164552 2025-06-12T15:55:46.814017 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 157334 2025-06-12T15:55:44.272029 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 103631 2022-09-14T09:04:49.907479 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 26847 2025-06-12T15:55:40.344049 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 26736 2021-01-06T00:39:29 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 10083 2021-01-06T00:39:29 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 18939 2025-06-12T15:55:46.966039 application/rdf+xml 10653 2025-06-12T15:55:41.962056 image/jpeg 2991 2025-06-12T15:55:41.679096 image/jpeg 98716 2025-06-12T15:55:40.646089 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia