One of the most fascinating developments of the technological age is the rise of robots and artificial intelligence.
With a complex combination of computer programs and mechanical attachments and electronic sensors, robots can mimic animal and even human movements and characteristics.
And lately robots have been in the news. Just a couple of weeks back, a Japanese electronics company unveiled a robot which weights 4 tons and is 4 meters tall.
This massive robot is called Kuratas and it can be fitted with futuristic weapons system and with guns that can fire 6000 rounds a minute.
So this monster can be like a heavily armed RoboCop, but when fitted with cleaning equipment, it can be like a RoboMop!
It cost US$1.5 million (without COE!) but it moves at a top speed of only 10kmh.
But when it comes to speeding robots, then we must be proud of our students in Singapore.
Because recently at the Federation of International Robotic Association’s Robo World Cup in Bristol, England, a robot created by our Nanyang Polytechnic team broke the world record for sprints with a time of 32 secs over 6 meters.
The BBC dubbed that Singapore robot the Usain Bolt of sprinting robots.
So you see, we now have robots that fight like soldiers, clean up like janitors, run like sprinters, and they are getting better and they are doing more.
But no matter how good they are and how much they can do, it all depends on one thing.
And that is that little chip called the “central processing unit” (CPU) and it runs the computer programs of the robot.
So robots and computers can’t choose to do whatever they like. They can only do what they are programmed to do, and you can’t tell them to do otherwise.
So there is no point shouting at your computer or calling it “stupid”. They are only following their programmed instructions and they will stick to it.
In a way we can call them “robots of habit” – they will just do what they have been programmed to do and they won’t ask why. They can’t.
In today’s gospel passage, we heard the Pharisees and scribes asking Jesus why His disciples do not wash their hands before eating, and hence not respecting the tradition of the elders.
Jesus called them hypocrites, because they were only interested in regulations and traditions.
Putting it in another way, the scribes and Pharisees are like “robots of rituals”.
They have been programmed by human regulations and human traditions which they follow meticulously.
And these “robots of rituals” can also talk – they criticize others for not following the programmed regulations and traditions.
And the quotation from the prophet Isaiah sums up the crux of the matter: These people honour me only with lip-service, while their hearts are far from me.
In other words, the scribes and Pharisees follow the regulations and traditions like “robots of rituals” and they can even talk.
But the heart is not there. Just like robots have no heart but only a CPU that runs the program.
While regulations and traditions have a useful purpose and rituals can help to sanctify, yet it must come from the heart.
Because it is the heart that gives life to regulations and traditions and rituals, and then they become expressions of love.
Without the heart, we become like “robots of rituals” that only give lip-service.
Talking about robots, I wonder if you have seen the animated movie “WALL-E”?
It is about a robot called WALL-E (which stands for Waste Allocator Load Lifter – Earth class). In simple terms, it means that it is a garbage collector.
In movie, WALL-E was the only robot left on earth to clean up the mountains of garbage due to decades of mass consumerism, while the earth’s population had migrated to another planet.
Yet the movie is not about the ecology or about environmental issues.
WALL-E continues faithfully its directive of cleaning up the earth even though it was a lonely and a thankless task.
Its only friend is a cockroach and the robot-cockroach relationship is amusingly human as well as humourous.
Then another more advanced robot EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Examiner) was sent to earth to assess the conditions of earth.
Initially EVE was task-oriented, cold and hostile, a true robot in every sense of the word.
But along the way, a love relationship slowly blossomed as EVE gradually softens and befriends WALL-E.
Maybe I shouldn’t tell you more so that you will get a copy of the movie and watch it with your family or with friends.
It may seem to be like a children’s movie, but actually it has many layers of reflections for adults.
Although the movie is about robots, yet strangely it is the robots that bring out the human characteristics and human emotions.
Among other things, it shows that we humans can be rather robotic in our lives.
We sink into monotony and routine and we become like “robots of habit” offering only lip-service.
We run our lives like a computer program that runs on a CPU.
But inside of us is not a CPU. We have a heart.
And our heart is “programmed” by God to run with love, peace, joy, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
When we put our heart into our relationships, into our traditions and even into our regulations, we become truly human and we will also become truly loving.
And like WALL-E, with hearts of love, we will be able to clean up this world of the garbage of sin and evil, and we will also help to turn robotic humans into persons of love.
