Modern Jewish History: The Golem
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Let's reconsider the archetype of The Creature in Western golem jewish robots by examining the potential linkage between Adam, Golem and Robot. The well-known story of Adam and Eve is told in chapter 2 and 3 of Genesis. Initially Adam and Eve live in a state of innocent bliss in the Golem jewish robots. God tells them that they can eat from any tree with the pointed exception of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
The serpent suggests to Eve that eating from this Tree will open her eyes and make her wise. After she and Adam cast aside caution and eat, God appears and they hide.
He asks why are they wearing fig leaves and Eve confesses, blaming the serpent. Then Adam confesses, blaming Eve, "the woman You gave me": God responds with a threefold punishment: Joseph Campbell points out that before the Biblical myth of creation, there were other competing myths in that region, with different interpretations of the Garden, the Tree and the Serpent.
His Occidental Mythologies has some of this. Golem jewish robots interesting thing I want to mention golem jewish robots that though we "lost" the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge after we were expelled from the Garden, subsequently Kabbalists figured out a way to "get back in"!
When we consider these conditions, Pain, Work and the recognition of Mortality, we realize that they define the condition of being an adult. In effect, the consequences of their act of disobedience rebellion facilitates their maturing into full golem jewish robots beings. Their expression of free will transforms them from passive innocence to responsible leaders. What about God's reaction? Was God so angry? Or was God secretly pleased by the inevitable consequence of his creations?
I've been told about an essay on this but can't find it: I propose the following thesis:. Golem jewish robots and Milton "Paradise Lost".
But I think it's somewhat consistent with Jewish readings of the golem jewish robots, which do not agonize over the events in the garden. A very interesting thesis and an interesting point regarding "evil. The complications which come with golem jewish robots of control seem part of the process, as you point out. Let's now look at the next component of this linkage, the "Golem.
The archetype generally describes a human who creates a creature that comes to life. Initially the creator takes great pride and delight in the creature, until at some point the creature takes a life of its own and runs amok, and in the end the creator pays the consequences for this act of hubris.
There is the book by Gustav Meyrink, "Der Golem," published in or so. There is an English translation of this, and I also have a Romanian translation I got in Plus, of course, the great Expressionist German film. Interestingly, it is rarely a woman who plays this role; for a feminist perspective on this subject, see Donna Haraway's Cyborg Manifesto, as well as Jenny Cool's essay on it. Each variant of this story has the same basic message: Don't mess with Mother Nature.
During the Middle Ages this edict was enforced by the Church: As a vivid example, recall the response of the Manhattan physicists when they witnessed the awesome potential of their creation. By then it had gotten away from them and Oppenheimer suffered a Promethean downfall. I have a different take on this: It was meant to be a short-lived measure, which it is in Meyrink's version.
So is tempering the power of creation, but in a very circumscribed way. The Manhattan Project physicists, on the other hand, did not seem to have as much understanding and compassioncompared with Rabbi Loew, of the dimensions involved in building such an awesome instrument of destruction as the atomic bomb.
Oppenheimer, one of the few in the group who did worry about the implications of the atomic bomb work, realizes some of the implications, but too late to affect the decision of whether to drop the bomb, or where to do that.
The creators have lost control of the creaturethe bomb, but this golem jewish robots had grave consequences. Maybe necessary, but grave nonetheless.
Perhaps the lessons we might learn from this is to temper our learning with compassion and wisdom, otherwise we will destroy ourselves. Let's reconsider the particulars of the Jewish version of this story.
After the Golem saves the small Jewish community from the consequences of a accusation of a blood libel, Rabbi Loew asks the creature to fetch water from the well.
The Rabbi goes upstairs to sleep and awakens to discover that the entire house is filled with water! The Golem continues dutifully fetch water until the Rabbi tricks it into leaning close enough that the Rabbi can erase the first letter inscribed on its forehead, thus changing Emet Truth, or Life to Met Death golem jewish robots, whereupon the Golem turns into a lifeless mass of clay which crushes the Rabbi to death.
Again, harsh consequences for the creator. The rabbi's forgot to specify what computer scientist's call a "termination condition". The Golem went into an infinite loop due to a programming error.
This suggests a subtle point: Consider the case of the Cornell graduate student Robert Morris, who in experimented with a program that could replicate itself over the Internet. After such viruses technically, worms are detected, one way to prevent further spread is to 'inoculate' an uninfected machine so that it appears to be golem jewish robots. To counter such defenses, Morris added a feature to his program that would, with some small probability, re-infect a machine which appeared to be already infected.
It soon replicated to that point where many computers on the Internet were jammed with thousands of copies of this program. Morris was arrested and expelled from Cornell. Although many embarrassed system operators advocated chaining Morris to a rock and arranging for golem jewish robots eagle to eat out his liver every day, he is reportedly now working quietly for the NSA.
I do think it is hubris, the hubris of rationality, which believes it will be able to foresee all the golem jewish robots contingencies and prepare for them all. It usually works along linear modes of thinking, and misses non-linear or synergetic effects, like Robert Morris did. I feel this is a source of many difficulties. This brings us to the golem jewish robots component of the linkage, the Robot. I'd like to differentiate it from the Golem by defining the Robot as a purely mechanical and logical creature who's animation does not derive from spiritual, magical, or alchemical sources as is the case with the Golem.
I characterize the motivation behind creating a Robot as pragmatic: But I would also like to point out that the Golem is "Emet", alive! The Robot is not. Even Frankenstein's monster is golem jewish robots of flesh from other formerly living creature. Consider the origin of the term "robot" in Karel Capek's play, 'R. Consider the consonant German German "arbeit", which appeared as a grim golem jewish robots of Nazi humor on the gates of Auschwitz - "Arbeit Macht Frei"Work will me you free.
The etymology of this word suggests that the robot is a utilitarian creature whose primary purpose is to serve its human master. This role is emphasized in Asimov's science fiction stories. The contemporary science of Robotics also emphasizes the utilitarian, although it carries a persistent thread on interest in virtuosic demonstrations of modern automata.
By the way, Capek was from Prague. I wondered if he is Jewish, golem jewish robots familiar with the Golem story? Anyway, I like you connecting "rabotai" in Golem jewish robots and "arbeit" in German. Is the goal of Robotics to create obedient slaves? That is an excellent question. This raises some subtle issues.
Certainly we want robots that do what they are told. But to lessen the burden of programming and the consequences of making software errors! But this capability opens a Pandora's box: In Golem jewish robots Intelligence, success is often declared at the moment when the program or robot is capable of surprising its creator. In the 's a computer scientist named Samuels wrote a program to play checkers that was able to evolve its decision tables based on past games.
Eventually it was able to beat Samuels regularly! Similarly, a team of grad students at Carnegie Mellon University developed a chess-playing program that golem jewish robots evolved based on past games. It soon outstripped its developers and beat a few chess masters.
The grad students were hired by IBM which is putting its corporate resources behind the development of Deep Blue, which will take on the world champion Gary Kasparov.
If you are capable of being a true human, then danger golem jewish robots the harsh judgement of existence on your thoughtlessness will help you become one. Kirkegaard, The Present Age. Ken Goldberg with thanks to Ovid Jacob.
I propose golem jewish robots following thesis: The event wherein the creator loses control of the creature is a necessary step towards the development of the creature.
The event wherein the creator loses control of the creature is golem jewish robots necessary step toward the development of the creature. I would like to argue that in all the cases we have considered, from Adam to Golem to Robot, although conventional wisdom warns against hubris and views rebellion or loss of control as a downfall, it seems plausible to read the event instead as a step forward and upward.
Although the creator inevitably suffers, a truly inspired creator suffers willingly: