‘WHO FATHERED THE FATHER ‘



A question drawn from a story of a Robot, willful and procreative on the origin of the Robot specie)





On our method of time reckoning, in the year Three Thousand Five Hundred and Forty seven, a willful and procreative Robot created another Robot, willful and procreative. This Robot, willful and procreative, was programmed to procreate another Robot, willful and procreative. And so it did. And so on it went.



The so-called ‘Free will’ of these Robots, willful and procreative, did not have many options. It could wander within the options programmed or in other words, boundaries ordained by the programming. Their life
histories too were not different, from the history of their ancestors. They knew their limitations and knew their sublimations and wondered how they came into existence.



It was a matter of chance that I happen to meet one of the descendants of this specie of Robots, sometime in the year Seven Thousand Two Hundred and Fifty four on our method of time reckoning. This representative Robot looked wise and seemed to be a good talker. As it happened to be, our talks drifted from the present time of life to the days of yore, ultimately suspending on the history of the origin of this specie of Robots.



“There are two schools of thoughts influencing the minds of Robot population, dividing them vertically on this subject. The entire Robot population either believed in one or believed in the other. Their disbelief in one automatically made them supports the other hypothesis.” It said illuminating me on the subject.



Our new Robot friend was one of the propounders and ardent supporter of the second school of thought, which proclaimed, that the Robots were the outcome of the evolutionary process. He belonged to a class, which was known as ‘Intellectuals’. It had written many articles it claimed,



“But how did the Omnipotent came into being” – I chuckled.



“That is what I wonder, you know.”-



His face lighted up. My harmless comment had succeeded in establishing a silent affinity between us.





“This Omnipotent, the so called Almighty, is the creation of these Robots, you know” – he continued – “They feel that such a ‘mechanical being’, as we are, cannot evolve by itself and so came the Omnipotent into being. But you know, when confronted by the question, you had just now posed, they look askance. They have no answer and you know, in order to avoid confronting the question, they have tabooed questions which question the existence of their so-called almighty. But this question remains still unanswered, I tell you. It’s a valid question and they must answer this.”



“But the propounders of this school have also come up with many valid arguments, shattering the logic put forth by the school, which believes in the evolutionary process”. I quipped in order to provoke him a bit further. I was enjoying his talks.



“Yes”- he reluctantly conceded-“but can’t you see, their arguments are full of holes. Their strongest point, as they claim to be, is that the parent organism and the offspring are homogeneous, of the same grain and they do not transmute.”



“yes, and they also claim, that the time disintegrates things if left to it, so how can things evolve on its own without a planner, a creator”- I added to his dismay.



Unperturbed he continued-“And their strongest and the most irrefutable argument as they claim to be, is, that none of their gadgetries and devices has evolved by itself. They cannot, as they say, be the result of ‘chance incidence’ or ‘mutation’. They are all subject to certain law abiding mechanism. Hence, all law abiding mechanism has to be an out come of creation” he seemed to be arguing from the point of view of the school propounding creation.



“Their arguments really have strength and they seem to be irrefutable”- I added furthering the argument-“How can an intricate mechanism evolve by itself when a simple mechanism cannot evolve by itself. Where a ‘chance-incidence’ has failed to produce a simple device, how come the creator of the simple device evolve by it self.”



“Yes, and so I ask,”- he continued from where I had finished-“how can an all surviving Omnipotent almighty come into being on its own when a robot cannot evolve by itself. My question is who fathered the father.”



“It’s tabooed”- I quipped. We both laughed at the sarcasm.



After a while or two, he continued with his arguments-“You see, they fail to understand that the present day Robots has not taken their shape just in no time. There is a visible chain linking undeveloped to the developing. It’s a long story in time and the mutation takes place slowly owing to the reasons external. If there will be no change in the externals, there wont be any change in the present day Robots, for generations to come.”



“Yes, I understand.”- I said agreeing. But don’t you feel that your specie is programmed with very little space to move. Don’t you feel that you are cursed to love and procreate and your programmer has mistrusted you in not providing you a free will in the matter of love and procreation. Don’t you think that the purpose of your
programmer was to ascertain that you are procreated, you procreate and then disintegrate.”



“But what can be his purpose in this purpose”- Uncertain, he asked.



“What else excluding Power, Pleasure and Meaning – a refined way of survival. A justification.”



“And our purpose” – He was still uncertain



“Well, I cannot see any purpose beyond his purpose”-

I told him in a matter of factly tone.





“So you believe that we are creation of the so called Omnipotent, the Almighty”- he seemed perplexed.



“No, I said, “we are creation of Robots.” And added- “But I still wonder .....
Who fathered the father?”



____________________________________________________________

01/07/2005

Author's Note: A question drawn from the story of a Robot, willful and procreative, on the origin of the Robot species. A Hypothesis other than the one, most commonly believed- evolution or creation??

Posted on 01/06/2005
Copyright © 2024 Ashok Sharda