February 23, 1977
When
I was driving back to Arusha for provisions, an evangelical sermon came on the
car radio. I was about to press the
‘off’ switch when Raminothna stayed my hand.
“The African people are hearing this. We should know what is being said.”
One thing the preacher said was that to believe in evolution is evil. Another thing he said was, “Doing good work does not get you into heaven. Worshipping the Creator does.”
Later,
while driving back out towards the Serengeti, Raminothna asked me as if out of
the blue, “Who created this jeep?”
“The
Land Rover company.”
“To what species
does the Land Rover company belong?”
“The
species Homo sapiens, of course,” I said.
With Raminothna, I seem to say “of course” a lot. But I have to watch it, because usually,
right afterwards, the course would take a surprising turn.
“So, here is another
observation. Homo sapiens the creator
of machines.”
“That’s
nothing new. Everybody knows that.”
“Jeeps, ships,
planes, trains.”
“Phones, televisions, radios, firearms, nuclear weapons.”
“And?”
“Computers,
artificial intelligence, robots.”
“Ah,
Homo sapiens, the Creator of robots!”
“Yeah. So what?”
“Well, there
are creators and there are creators.
Take Leslie and Leslie, for example.”
“Two robot
creators. They are similar in all
respects, except this: Leslie A creates his/her robots to go far afield to
clean up the environment and to heal the sick, and Leslie B programs his/her
robots to fall on their knees in front of him/her ten times a day in front of
him/her, chanting ‘There is no creator than Leslie!’, ‘Praise Leslie!’ and
‘Leslie is great!’ Tell me, which
Leslie is the greater one?”
“Leslie A.”
“And whose
robots are the better ones?”
“Leslie A’s.”