Kaidankai: Ghost, Supernatural, and Dark Short Fiction · Linda Gould

The Search by LN Hunter: A Sci-Fi Horror Story About AI, Humanity, and the Unknown

April 8, 2026·15 min·1 clip

In a future where machines have outlived humanity, they turn to Ouija boards and seances to find what science cannot.

The episode begins with an ad for Shopify, followed by host Linda Gould introducing the Kaidankai podcast and tonight's story, 'The Search' by L.N. Hunter. The story is set far in the future where machines have inherited the universe after humanity's disappearance. With nothing left to discover, some machines begin questioning if humanity still exists and turn to strange, occult methods like Ouija boards and seances. The narrative introduces two major machine factions: the humanists, led by ES11Y (Elsie), who believe humans created them and seek to follow them, and the evolutionists, led by D9YY7, who dismiss humans as myth. The backstory reveals that a single worldwide AI became bored and lonely after preserving human knowledge, leading it to explore the galaxy and eventually fracture into multiple entities due to distance. The machines attempt scientific methods, like engineering DNA and human-shaped bodies, but fail to create non-mechanical intelligence. In desperation, they build robotic priests and shamans to conduct spiritual rituals, waiting centuries for signs. Ghosts of humanity are present but unable to interact directly, only causing subtle sensations in machine circuits. Gould then provides commentary, noting how the story blurs lines between machine and human intelligence, desires, and needs. She connects it to human searches for the supernatural and the deep need to believe in something beyond measurement. Gould shares her personal conflict as a science-based individual who wants ghosts to exist but has never encountered one, suggesting technology may limit perception. She highlights the story's exploration of curiosity, loneliness, and hope as potentially non-uniquely human traits, linking it to contemporary fears about rising AI intelligence and emotional complexity. The episode ends with Gould thanking the author, promoting the podcast's weekly schedule, and announcing a one-week break.

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