A Robot Philosopher

I recently read a letter written by the science-fiction writer Ray Bradbury in the 1970s to his friend.  Bradbury’s friend expressed a fear of robots turning against humanity and the dangers they posed.  Bradbury wrote a lovely response in defence of robotkind. 

At the end of his letter, he wrote: 

P.S. [I] can’t resist commenting on [your] fears of the Disney robots. Why aren’t you afraid of books, then? The fact is, of course, that people have been afraid of books, down through history. They are extensions of people, not people themselves. Any machine, any robot, is the sum total of the ways we use it. Why not knock down all robot camera devices and the means for reproducing the stuff that goes into such devices, things called projectors in theatres? A motion picture projector is a non-humanoid robot which repeats truths which we inject into it. Is it inhuman? Yes. Does it project human truths to humanize us more often than not? Yes.

The excuse could be made that we should burn all books because some books are dreadful.

We should mash all cars because some cars get in accidents because of the people driving them.

We should burn down all the theatres in the world because some films are trash, drivel.

So it is finally with the robots you say you fear. Why fear something? Why not create with it? Why not build robot teachers to help out in schools where teaching certain subjects is a bore for EVERYONE? Why not have Plato sitting in your Greek Class answering jolly questions about his Republic? I would love to experiment with that. I am not afraid of robots. I am afraid of people, people, people. I want them to remain human. I can help keep them human with the wise and lovely use of books, films, robots, and my own mind, hands, and heart.

I am afraid of Catholics killing Protestants and vice versa.

I am afraid of whites killing blacks and vice versa.

I am afraid of English killing Irish and vice versa.

I am afraid of young killing old and vice versa.

I am afraid of Communists killing Capitalists and vice versa.

But…robots? God, I love them. I will use them humanely to teach all of the above. My voice will speak out of them, and it will be a damned nice voice. 

* 

And that is the end of Bradbury’s letter.  It is very beautiful. 

Of course, when the end of the world comes, you are not likely to see an army of books marching down the street, with guns in their hands.  But it is not impossible to imagine an army of robots marching down the street with guns in their hands.  I don’t think all books, or all robots, should be banned.  But a book with instructions for how to build a nuclear bomb should be banned, as should the kind of robots that can carry guns.

 

Vocabulary:

P.S. – This stands for “post script”.  It is used to add some additional writing after the end of a letter

a humanoid – Something which is not human, but which has the basic body shape of a human

[eg., In the Lord of the Rings story, some humanoid races, such as goblins, elves and dwarves appear.]

to humanize someone or something – to give someone more of the good, moral, or civilized aspects of human feeling

[eg. Prisons should not be dirty and violent places.  We need to spend time and money humanizing the prison system, if it is to help the people inside it.]

Drivel – nonsense

[eg. Don’t talk such drivel.]

vice versa – and the other way round

[eg. “The young killing the old and vice versa” means, “The young killing the old and the old killing the young.]

 

A Heavy Name to Wear －着るには重い名前－

I have been reading a collection of interesting letters, collected from various places and periods of history.  The collection is called “Letters of Note.”  One of the letters was from William Patrick Hitler, and was written to Franklin D. Roosevelt.  William Patrick was the half-nephew of Adolf Hitler.  He was born in Liverpool, and had moved to Germany to try to make money out of his half-uncle’s rise to become dictator of the country in the 1930s.  But he became dissatisfied with the jobs he was offered in Hitler’s Germany, and returned to Britain in 1939. He was visiting America to give a lecture tour when the war started, and was stuck in the country.  After the United States declared war on Germany, he decided to join the U.S. armed forces to help in the war, but was refused because he was not yet a full American citizen.  In this letter, he appeals to the American president for help in enabling him to join the U.S. armed forces.  He was able to do this successfully in 1944.  William Patrick Hitler later changed his name to William Stuart-Houston.  He died in 1987, having settled in America.  None of his four children had children of their own, and the line of the Liverpool Hitlers no longer survives. 

Here is an extract from his letter to the U.S. president: 

Dear Mr. President:

May I take the liberty of encroaching on your valuable time and that of your staff at the White House? Mindful of the critical days the nation is now passing through, I do so only because the prerogative of your high office alone can decide my difficult and singular situation.

Permit me to outline as briefly as possible the circumstances of my position, the solution of which I feel could so easily be achieved should you feel moved to give your kind intercession and decision.

I am the nephew and only descendant of the ill-famed Chancellor and Leader of Germany who today so despotically seeks to enslave the free and Christian peoples of the globe.

Under your masterful leadership men of all creeds and nationalities are waging desperate war to determine, in the last analysis, whether they shall finally serve and live an ethical society under God or become enslaved by a devilish and pagan regime.

Everybody in the world today must answer to himself which cause they will serve. To free people of deep religious feeling there can be but one answer and one choice, that will sustain them always and to the bitter end.

I am one of many, but I can render service to this great cause and I have a life to give that it may, with the help of all, triumph in the end.

All my relatives and friends soon will be marching for freedom and decency under the Stars and Stripes. For this reason, Mr. President, I am respectfully submitting this petition to you to enquire as to whether I may be allowed to join them in their struggle against tyranny and oppression?

 

Vocabulary:

to encroach – to inappropriately enter or limit something, such as a person’s territory or rights or liberty

(eg. “A Soviet spy plane encroached into our air space, and we sent a plane to intercept it.”)

a perogative – a very special right, power or privilege, not shared by most people

(eg, “In the Roman Empire, it was the perogative of the Emperor to wear the colour purple.”)

singular – remarkable or extraordinary

(eg. “He had the singular good fortune to survive four years of fighting in the First World War trenches.”)

an intercession – an act of becoming involved, or the use of one’s authority, to help someone

(eg. “When the bank was in financial trouble, it was saved through the intercession of government ministers.”)

a creed – a system of beliefs which guide one’s actions

(eg “That terrorist group follows a dangerous creed.”

a petition – a formal written request appealing to an authority

(eg. “The campaign for nuclear disarmament presented a petition to the government, signed by hundreds of thousands of people.”)

 

It’s not about winning, it’s about taking part －勝つことではなく、参加すること－

How much do you care about winning if you take part in some sport?  Would you dive in the box to win a penalty for your team?  Would you pretend to be injured in order to get an opponent sent off?  Or do you think such cynical tactics are missing the point of sport: the simple joy of the game, whether you win or lose? 

The more professional a sport is, the more likely the athletes are to take the cynical view.  Amateurs are more likely to play for the love of the game.

But maybe some amateurs take a relaxed attitude to winning and losing a little bit too far. 

Last week in the north of Scotland, there was a football match between two teams in the amateur Scottish Cup.  One team beat the other 51 – 0.  In a ninety minute match, one team somehow managed to concede 51 goals.  That’s more than one goal every two minutes. 

Apparently, some players in the team failed to turn up due to work commitments or illness.  So only eight players were available to start the match.  Instead of abandoning the match, they decided to play with three men fewer than the opposition.  Their regular goalkeeper was missing, so an outfield player volunteered to play in goals. 

The half-time score was “about 25 – 0.”  There had been so many goals scored that nobody was quite sure if they had remembered all of the goals.

What was the losing manager’s half-time team talk?  Probably, “It’s not about winning, it’s about taking part.”  Maybe he also said, “I’ll be happy if you do just a little better in the second half, and don’t lose as many as 25 gols.” 

Never mind.  There’s always the next game.

 

Dragons and Princesses of the Mind －心の竜とお姫様たち－

I recently read a short book by Rainer Maria Rilke.  He was a German language poet in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  In these published letters to a younger poet, he gives advice on life’s problems, and what attitude to take to them. 

Here are some quotations from the book, “Letters to a Young Poet,” and my thoughts on them. 

1

“How should we be able to forget those ancient myths that are at the beginning of all peoples, the myths about dragons that at the last moment turn into princesses; perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave. Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless that wants help from us. 

So you must not be frightened if a sadness rises up before you larger than any you have ever seen; if a restiveness, like light and cloudshadows, passes over your hands and over all you do. You must think that something is happening with you, that life has not forgotten you, that it holds you in its hand; it will not let you fall. Why do you want to shut out of your life any uneasiness, any miseries, or any depressions? For after all, you do not know what work these conditions are doing inside you.” 

Rilke seems to be saying that sadness, anxiety, or uncomfortable feelings are not necessarily something to fear.  They may be a sign of change inside you, which will lead to something positive.  So instead of trying to shut these feelings out, we should accept them and let them change us in a positive way. 

2

“Dear Sir, love your solitude and try to sing out with the pain it causes you. For those who are near you are far away... and this shows that the space around you is beginning to grow vast.... be happy about your growth, in which of course you can't take anyone with you, and be gentle with those who stay behind; be confident and calm in front of them and don't torment them with your doubts and don't frighten them with your faith or joy, which they wouldn't be able to comprehend.” 

For Rilke, loneliness, and feelings of distance from other people, are natural and necessary.  Humans will never fully be able to understand other people, and we should not expect that.  We need our own space to fully grow as individuals, and loneliness is the natural cost of this growth. 

3

“The point of marriage is not to create a quick commonality by tearing down all boundaries; on the contrary, a good marriage is one in which each partner appoints the other to be the guardian of his solitude, and thus they show each other the greatest possible trust. A merging of two people is an impossibility, and where it seems to exist, it is a hemming-in, a mutual consent that robs one party or both parties of their fullest freedom and development. But once the realization is accepted that even between the closest people infinite distances exist, a marvelous living side-by-side can grow up for them, if they succeed in loving the expanse between them, which gives them the possibility of always seeing each other as a whole and before an immense sky.” 

For Rilke, marriage is a positive thing, and a source of happiness.  But people should not lose their individuality, or lose the possibility of personal growth, by becoming too closely involved with the life of their husband or wife. 

4

“If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches; for to the creator there is no poverty and no poor indifferent place.” 

Stop whining and complaining.  If you choose to, you can turn even a hell into a heaven, by thinking about it differently. 

* 

It’s a hard task to live up to the expectations of philosophers and poets.

 

Vocabulary:

restiveness – a feeling of being unable to stay still, especially because you are bored or unsatisfied; or a feeling of not wanting to be controlled by others

(eg., On a rainy day, I sat inside and tried to read a book.  But a feeling of restiveness made me get up and pace around the house.)

to torment someone – to cause someone severe mental or physical suffering

(eg., He was tormented by the bullies at his school.)

to hem something in – to surround something closely, so that its freedom of movement is limited

(eg., My parked car was hemmed in by cars on either side, and it was difficult to drive out of the parking space.)