Cold Reflection
There once lived a scientist who was an expert in robotics.
He had walled himself in with his books and laboratory equipment. His plans became so fantastical that he could no longer be bothered with simple tasks such as laundry, tending the garden, and fixing meals.
So he decided to build a robot to perform these tasks for him.
While he was building the robot, he decided to give his creation a little twist. He decided that he would use powerful software and an unusual processor configuration to give the robot what he called "self awareness".
When his colleagues would visit, they would remark, "... To think that a robot could have free will!"
The professor would quickly correct them and say, "Oh no, the robot is only self-aware. He is not able to choose anything."
The robot would get up every morning at six thirty and prepare breakfast. The robot never thought to himself, "I'd like to make eggs for breakfast this time..." He just recognized that he was making breakfast.
And when it was time to work in the garden he noted to himself that he was going out into the garden, and that it was him working with the plants.
Occasionally, the robot would say to himself, "Some people like working with plants. Some people probably hate it. What about me? Do I despise gardening or love it?"
But he realized he was completely unable to answer that question because he was not able to choose anything.
One day the mad scientist summoned him into his laboratory.
"I have given you an amazing gift. No other scientific creation has what you have. Now tell me what it is you have learned with it."
The robot answered, "I notice that I wake up every day at the same time. Some of my tasks change, but they are -for the most part- predictable. When I finish my work at the end of the day I power down and stay powered down until the next day. Then I power up again just like the day before."
The scientist answered, "Any robot could tell me that. Since you have this strange faculty of being self-aware, tell me how you understand yourself."
The robot answered, "Of course, I have no ability to decide which work I'm going to do, but I also have no preferences about it. When I hear you ask me to bake a cake I do not perk up, and I do not slouch. I do not love my work, and I do not hate it. And I do not care that I do not love or hate it. And I do not care that I do not care."
"My work has no relation to me. I might as well be a million miles in space, orbiting a planet. The self I have seems nothing more to me than a vacuum, an emptiness which is conspicuously empty."
"Instead of being aware of love, aware of what it means to live in justice and harmony with others and myself, instead of being aware of meaning or truth I find they shall always elude me."
"In short, the self-awareness you have given me only serves to inform me that I have no self."
The scientist was horrified. He quickly powered down the robot, and then he disassembled it completely.
Looking at the parts he said quietly to himself, "I thought I had made a major achievement, but that is no way for any self to live."
He had walled himself in with his books and laboratory equipment. His plans became so fantastical that he could no longer be bothered with simple tasks such as laundry, tending the garden, and fixing meals.
So he decided to build a robot to perform these tasks for him.
While he was building the robot, he decided to give his creation a little twist. He decided that he would use powerful software and an unusual processor configuration to give the robot what he called "self awareness".
When his colleagues would visit, they would remark, "... To think that a robot could have free will!"
The professor would quickly correct them and say, "Oh no, the robot is only self-aware. He is not able to choose anything."
The robot would get up every morning at six thirty and prepare breakfast. The robot never thought to himself, "I'd like to make eggs for breakfast this time..." He just recognized that he was making breakfast.
And when it was time to work in the garden he noted to himself that he was going out into the garden, and that it was him working with the plants.
Occasionally, the robot would say to himself, "Some people like working with plants. Some people probably hate it. What about me? Do I despise gardening or love it?"
But he realized he was completely unable to answer that question because he was not able to choose anything.
One day the mad scientist summoned him into his laboratory.
"I have given you an amazing gift. No other scientific creation has what you have. Now tell me what it is you have learned with it."
The robot answered, "I notice that I wake up every day at the same time. Some of my tasks change, but they are -for the most part- predictable. When I finish my work at the end of the day I power down and stay powered down until the next day. Then I power up again just like the day before."
The scientist answered, "Any robot could tell me that. Since you have this strange faculty of being self-aware, tell me how you understand yourself."
The robot answered, "Of course, I have no ability to decide which work I'm going to do, but I also have no preferences about it. When I hear you ask me to bake a cake I do not perk up, and I do not slouch. I do not love my work, and I do not hate it. And I do not care that I do not love or hate it. And I do not care that I do not care."
"My work has no relation to me. I might as well be a million miles in space, orbiting a planet. The self I have seems nothing more to me than a vacuum, an emptiness which is conspicuously empty."
"Instead of being aware of love, aware of what it means to live in justice and harmony with others and myself, instead of being aware of meaning or truth I find they shall always elude me."
"In short, the self-awareness you have given me only serves to inform me that I have no self."
The scientist was horrified. He quickly powered down the robot, and then he disassembled it completely.
Looking at the parts he said quietly to himself, "I thought I had made a major achievement, but that is no way for any self to live."
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.
James 1:23-24
2 Comments:
I'm glad that God is not a mad scientist and has given us free-will. Yet, this is granted within His Soveriegnty for our own good. We are allowed to choose but not to thwart His Will.
Pam
Yes, praise God for free-will, certainly. Sadly, we often take up our decisions only to decide to live in indecision.
It's easy to see how our word "crisis" derives from the Greek word krisis meaning 'decision'. The sound of Christ knocking is the krisis of the ages.
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