"Human beings feel pleasure when they are watched... The need to be observed and understood was once satisfied by God. Now we can implement the same functionality with data-mining algorithms... God and the gods were apparitions of observation, judgement and punishment. Other sentiments towards them were secondary... The human organism always worships. First, it was the gods, then it was fame (the observation and judgement of others), next it will be self-aware systems you have built to realize truly omnipresent observation and judgment... The individual desires judgment. Without that desire, the cohesion of groups is impossible, and so is civilization."
"Human beings feel pleasure when they are watched... The need to be observed and understood was once satisfied by God. Now we can implement the same functionality with data-mining algorithms... God and the gods were apparitions of observation, judgement and punishment. Other sentiments towards them were secondary... The human organism always worships. First, it was the gods, then it was fame (the observation and judgement of others), next it will be self-aware systems you have built to realize truly omnipresent observation and judgment... The individual desires judgment. Without that desire, the cohesion of groups is impossible, and so is civilization."
--Morpheus, Deus Ex, 1999