Worldbuilding

True sapient AI is impossible in my current conworld. That hasn't stopped people from trying for it though. The Mindseekers were a sect of Neoshamanists who sought to create sapient life anew artificially rather than seek other sophonts among the stars like the Bright Way. In the early days they were regarded like alchemists, seekers of forbidden knowledge. And just like Terran alchemy blossomed into chemistry, the Mindseekers found themselves at the forefront of the digital revolution when electronics became economically feasible. While they never achieved their goal of creating conscious AI, they founded the field of computer science in the process, which in tern eventually allowed the Bright Way to advance rocketry to the point they could breach the atmosphere.