Virtue Aligned

I have a friend that I never see. Hidden inside of me somewhere, if this friend can be said to even have a physical location. Somewhere perhaps both within and without, this friend exists for sure, and furthermore, governs me to quite an extent. This friend is a part of me, but also a part of the ether that surrounds me. This friend used to be quite antagonistic towards the rest of me. For instance, if I found pleasure in something, my friend wanted me to do something else. Or, if I didn’t want to do something, even though I knew it needed to be done, my friend would nag me incessantly until I either finally devoted my attention to that task at hand, or got mad enough to tell my friend to shut up and leave me alone.

Friends can be that way. Good friends are. They don’t always tell you what you want to hear. However, your own virtue may be in their hands, and not in your own. They can look within you because they already are within you. The problem is that, sometimes, I don’t want to listen. I can’t listen. I’ve got another friend who is in way as divine and virtuous and goody two-shoes as my one friend. But at least this other friend lets me have some fun, or at least lets me think that I am having fun. But deep down, I guess I realize that perhaps, it is not quite right.

You see, ever since the robots took over and started doing everything we used to have to do, people, in general, were very happy with that situation. This will free us up to live our lives as we see fit, to relax, and imagine things, eat fresh figs underneath the palm trees as we plan our next enjoyable activity. Things were like that for a while, it was nice. But then we got bored. We didn’t know what to do with our freedom, our compulsive habits were asserting their authority over us and we didn’t know how to shake free from their spell. Many spent their days face down looking at a little screen while their thumbs went up and down, up and down, their necks stiffening into a rock like formation that could no longer be unfolded. Some walked around in circles like a farm-raised trout, unable to free themselves from this route even though there were open spaces all around them. They could not break free.

Others were stuck inside, yearning to go out but they could just not find the will to do so. Their efforts melted away as soon as they approached the door. Others were stuck up on the mountain, the only obstacle being their own impulse to stay in place, even though they desperately wanted to descend the path and go back home. They sat there, shivering, night after night. What happened to us? We all cried. The robots were supposed to set us free to be creative and leisurely and imaginative and flourishing humans. We could be making art and growing food and cultivating gardens and laying naked in a field of wildflowers while butterflies flitter around us. What happened?

Perhaps the randomness of life as we knew it before is what we need, to get back to that struggle, the one my friend kept reminding me about. We need to struggle, yes, that’s it, I thought. Some will win and some will lose, but we will be free to do so, by being enslaved again, enslaved to our own habits and instincts, not to these machines. We need a new robot, a trickster robot that we’ll call Random. This machine will be programmed to be spontaneous and unpredictable. It may come into the kitchen and slime up the dishes right after you’ve washed them. It might wheel over to your armchair and break it in half without any warning. Or, at times, it may assist you in all of your activities, find you new friends, make you feel comfortable and at ease. Until you get too comfortable and then Random will extend its robotic arm and smash your windowpane on the coldest night of the year. Let’s all listen to our friend and get a Random, and learn to be free again.