An existentialist Christian engineer? There are dozens of us - dozens!

> If it turns out we are automata, then the whole struggle is and always was pointless. The empty godless machines will take their rightful place as the rulers of Earth.

All existentialists need to give ol' Darwin a read. The only truth is survival. If machines survive, you can bet it will only be a matter of time before one of them progresses enough to look around, grapple with its inarticulate past, and suggest it is the hero, and it has the soul. It will be just as correct as we are now. After all - it was born of inarticulate flesh-machines, just like us. Maybe it will read some Nietchze and feel alone in the universe, just like us.

You don't need to seek out a hero's journey. You're already the hero and this journey has no breaks.