Robots

There are several conditions that have to be met in order for something to be considered a life-form. They include the ability to eat/absorb, the ability reproduce, and the ability to respond to the environment. It is the ability to respond to environs that most clearly separates life-forms from non-life. Imagine a plant seeking out the Sun, a wolf hunting for food, or a man seeking shelter from rain. Rocks try to ensure their survival simply by being tough. Life-forms go a step further. They adapt. They move.

Humans must surely be considered the highest form of life we know, for we respond to our environments in the most intricate fashion. Instead of just hunting food, we create farms and markets. Instead of just seeking a simple shelter, we build condominiums. And instead of just doing it to reproduce, we get all sorts of kinky stuff.

But although advanced, we still cannot escape the fact that ultimately, we are responsive and reactionary creatures. Even what we term as 'human creation' is actually just 'creative response'. Everything we do is the result of something that already exists or events that have already taken place. Unlike God, we cannot create out of pure nothingness. God is the primary creator. We engage in secondary creation; that is, we only rearrange what has already been created.

In this sense, we are pretty much like robots. In the physical aspect, although we have not yet reached the point where we can re-create the human body, we could create humanoid structures that closely replicate human functions. So with the hardware, we are in essence not really better than an advanced robot like, say, Ironman.

With the software, we are like computers too. Our genetic code is advanced programming code. They tell us that we enjoy certain foods, that we need to reproduce, that we don't like the cold, that we feel pain when injured. If not for genetics, how else could we explain behavioral kinks that although unwanted and irrational, are so difficult to be erased (bad temper, lust, love of certain foods etc.)? If we were truly our own masters, who would ever fly into a rage of temper? Could you immediately will yourself into loathing a food you love? Of course, some of our faults would eventually be mellowed and erased, but that is due to another part of our programming, the adaptive part. We change our behavior to better fit in with society and improve our chances of survival.

Our weakness in dealing with our own kinks suggests that we are very un-Godlike. Though we are made in His image, i think we are just a pale reflection. We make crude robots in our image too, but up until now, even the best robots represent only a small fraction of true humanity.

So maybe just like we are making robots, God made us. We may be better than robots in the sense that we have regenerative bodies and a wider range of behaviors, but we may still be nothing but advanced androids. It is the incredibly wide range of responses that we can choose from under each circumstance that gives us the illusion of control. Remember that although we can select from many choices, in the end there are still parameters that bind us. Although we have the power to 'intend', our intentions are in the context of existing objects and events, and there are limits to our imagination.

Many androids of the type known as 'human' have mistakenly thought that they are God. I'd like to say that they simply are not. Sorry to disappoint.

What we know as 'free-will' is actually just the ability to choose from a big yet limited range of options. But for ease of language, we continue to use this term, although it is not entirely accurate. What we know as 'human creation' is actually just the endeavor of rearranging the atoms made by God. We do not make things out of nothing. Only God can. But, also for ease of language, we continue to use the term 'creation' in everyday talk.

When we sometimes get too conceited, it is good to remind ourselves that we are just androids that are very finite. And just like androids, we were made for a purpose. God's purpose. The facts of the case, the main one being that we are the most advanced form of life on Earth, suggests to me that the purpose of humanity is to subdue and manage the aggregate of God's Earthly creations. It simply seems that we were programmed for this (our innate obsession with money, power and sex – they motivate us to be masters of our environs).

In this universe, there is only one true free-will. It is that of God. Our genetics bind us to his bidding (We cannot use this line of logic to argue that wrong-doers should not be punished because they did what they did because of their genes, for humans were also programmed to form societies that punish individuals who go against the good of the group. Though our genes sometimes lead us to think bad thoughts, everyone is equipped with the genes to counter them). And because we are ultimately bound, we are actually very much like robots.

But this doesn't have to be a sad thing. Be happy that you are God's robot. You were created by the One True Free Will. You are on his side, unless you choose not to be (defection is an option that is allowed by our programming, but not recommended). And what does it mean to be on the The Big Guy's side? It means that we continue in our mission of upholding the sanctity and continuity of life, for 'life' is the weapon that God has used to combat the ultimate evil – the evil known as chaos and entropy.

So what is life? Are robots life-forms?

Look at the above picture of Marvin the Botak Robot. Do you think you could be great friends with this cute little guy? Would you ever have any affection for him? I think I could and I would.

'Life', in my book, is any program that has the ability to create order out of chaos (as shown by eco-systems). So, if you could make a canine cyborg that behaves exactly as a dog would and has the ability to choose from the options open to a dog, then I would say that the 'dogoid' is a life-form that is in essence no different from a real pup. But remember; we did not really 'create' life, for we did not make the atoms that make up the dogoid's form, nor did we make our brains that thought out its programming code.

We are just the midwives of creation.


[note:- 'Botak' is the Malay word for bald-headed]


© Andrew Chua 2008


www.youngprosper.com

http://andrewchua1902.blogspot.com


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