FWIW hardline tech priests view the machine god as separate from the emperor. Hardline imperium officials view the emperor as separate from the machine god. The

FWIW hardline tech priests view the machine god as separate from the emperor. Hardline imperium officials view the emperor as separate from the machine god. The official party line is that the emperor and the machine god are the same, with the emperor perhaps being an avatar. It seems like both sides are fine to have them be reconciled, but it's an important narrative gadget that can be used to get humanity to fight itself in-universe. Also interesting is that humanity's "lost" technological progress seems to eclipse some of the other races in the W40K narrative, with even the Tau (space dwarves with robots) and Eldar (space elves with crystals) freaking out when humanity brings giant robots, because the sheer physical impracticality of a gigantic human shaped robot is noted, with nobody aware of how they continue to work.