The Year 2033… (Is it fiction?)

From the original manuscript by Mendek Rubin,
”In Quest of the Eternal Sunshine”

Computer technology has now reached a very advanced state of the arts and a high degree of sophistication. We don’t even do much thinking anymore — the computer does it for us, but so much better and faster. Enormous progress has been achieved in such diverse fields such as medicine, outer space, energy, politics, urban living, etc. We are approaching an average life span of 110 years. Unemployment, cancer, disease related to the heart have been by and large eliminated. The average workweek is 20 hours and the rest of the time is devoted to leisure and the pursuit of one’s own inclinations.

Yet all the “miracles” of science and technology, including this improvement of our standard of living does not reflect the human condition. Underneath the veneer of our life styles, cultures and sophistication, our lower and ignorant instinct of the past keeps on haunting us. Our life is, to our regret, still afflicted with greed, jealousy, loneliness, self-alienation, fear, ignorance, anger, etc. As a matter of fact, these problems now stand out like an eyesore in contrast to the technological and social advances everywhere. Too much leisure brings these afflictions to the fore. Sadly enough, we have not found a way to mitigate our inner disharmonies, alienation and ill will towards each other.

Concurrently, unforeseen developments bring new problems into focus. The threats are of an insidious nature because no one understands how and why all this could happen. The unfolding of this new phenomena threats to upset the apple cart, the status quo, our way of life as we know it. Our very identity as human beings on one hand and the great advances achieved worldwide in our physical well-being on the other hand shows danger of collapse. Already, the whole world is on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

The root of the upheaval goes back to the year 2027. It was then, when a 13-year-old girl from outer Mongolia, who was also deaf and mute, came upon the idea how to teach the computer to experience sensation and feelings. From this day on a metamorphosis in the field of technology is taking place. Instead of it being a mechanical instrument, in front of our eyes we see the computer now irrevocably changing into an emotional entity, not unlike a real human being. Now, it is no more outrageous or unusual for a computer to fall in love with another and on other occasions with a man or woman as well. Feelings like loneliness, jealousy, greed, humiliation, shyness, laziness, malice, ill will, etc. are common. More and more the computer is imitating people - is becoming moody and rebellious. Some of them are turning out to become “snobs,” and see themself as being “special” or better than the computers next door. This happens more often when its owner or its operator are of a like mentality. A major steel manufacturing company was forced to stop purchasing certain computers because the ones made in the U.S.A. refused to cooperate or share information with the ones made in Argentina.

More and more the computer develops a will of its own. It insists upon its survival and doesn’t appreciate its own mortality. It is getting from bad to worse. So much energy is being dissipated on the emotional struggle that, invariably, the effectiveness of the computer is being diminished daily. This instrument is slowly becoming a pathetic creature and learning the meaning of unhappiness.

For the first time in human history, people the world over are united. What unites them now is the common threat. It is the main topic of conversation, be it in the U.S.A., Russia, Singapore, or Johannesburg. In the high schools or colleges, the intellectuals, the uneducated, everyone has one thing on their mind, THE COMPUTER and what is the world coming to? The computer is now the backbone of everything, and our civilization depends on it. 

Ever since the dawn of history people accepted their foibles and irrational behaviors as endemic to the human species. It was always felt that wars, greed, lust for power and influence, hate, emotional dependency, and all kinds of irrational behavior are unavoidable. Thus we took our moods, actions, and behaviors for granted and developed a high degree of tolerance toward what we call, “human nature.” Yet, this very same tolerance is not being extended toward the computer. It is disconcerting.

An emotional and irrational instrument is an overwhelming embarrassment, as pest, to men and women. Only the children and the young like it. They find it amusing and get a kick out of it. But for the adults, an emotional and irrational computer is much more than an irritating nuisance, it is dangerous. A moody, complaining and a whining computer should be against the law.

There is a major identity crisis in the making. Man values highly the image of being of a special kind, separate and apart from all the other species that inhabit this earth. In this cherished belief of his, he raises himself to the lofty status that it is he, and he alone, that is created in God’s image. And why not? Who else on this earth has the gift of laughter, of knowing and appreciating art and beauty, of possessing reason and intelligence, etc. Indeed, only to have a mind and heart can be considered divine. There is a tremor piercing through the hearts and minds of people everywhere.

The advent of the emotional computer, its outspokenness, its bluntness, shakes up man’s cherished image of himself and his belief system. It touches his defense mechanism, something he always so desperately tries to avoid. It creates an identity crisis that he must learn to cope with. Man can no more exist side by side with the old values and world outlook he built for himself and clings to it with all his heart and soul. Evermore he is forced to realize that everything he holds dear, his very belief system, is nothing but castles of sand built on the seashore, vulnerable to being swept away by the ocean tides. So much that we value must be seen for what it is: a construct of the mind - an illusion. Our former gods are now our fallen idols. And since our value system can be taken for granted no more, the very fabric of civilization is in jeopardy.

If so much of what we perceive to be human can be learned and duplicated, then obviously we know very little about ourselves. Serious men and women are now questioning our views of what we perceive of as “reality”. Some things, perhaps a lot of things, must change before time runs out. Mankind is walking on a tightrope; our fate is at a crossroads, waiting to unfold. Will we make it?