Incline your ear to wisdom

    & nbsp;  In the first frames of the film I, Robot the following Laws of Robotics are displayed:

1. A robot may not injure a human being, or through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
    


2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
   


3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

    & nbsp; These laws were formulated by Isaac Asimov, a brilliant author who wrote more than 500 books.  I have read some of his works including the book (it’s actually a collection of short stories) from which the film borrowed its title and some of the plots and characters.  The movie revolves around a robot, which for the first time in history (fictional history of course) had allegedly disobeyed the first law.  I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, from the very realistic graphical images; the witty dialogues, the exhilarating action scenes, up to the very emotional last scene.

     Anyway, as I was walking back to the parking lot, some nagging thoughts wouldn’t leave my mind:  Do we humans, like robots, have laws to obey?  If so, where can we find these laws?  Who gave them to us?  As it turned out, the answers were also in my bookshelves:

Yes we have laws to obey:

1. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind."
    


2. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”.
   


3. There are other laws but:  “On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

     Upon further reflection, I can’t help but notice some similarities between the two sets of laws.  One is that both were given by creators to their creations.  The laws of robotics were given by humans to robots.  While the great commandments were given by God to humans.  Another similarity is that the first law supercedes the other laws.  The fulfillment of all the other laws hinges on the fulfillment of the first one.  In other words, if you disobey the first one, then you disobeyed them all. 

    & nbsp;  I hope people will not misunderstand my motive on posting these messages.  I wrote them not to preach but to share some of my observations, some of my beliefs, a little bit of myself.  I certainly did not write them to offend people who do not believe in God or the Bible.  My only hope is that my writings will be a blessing for those who do.

     Or just plain old.

     I just witnessed yesterday my 14-year old nephew beat up an old lady and ran away with her purse (I think its called a mugging grandpa, I mean uncle).  And he did this right in front of my 2-year old daughter!  I was in complete shock.

    & nbsp; Oh I forgot to tell you, he was playing a newly released video game called Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.  In this game, you complete missions such as helping your friends (or as his character calls them, your homeys) do a drive by shooting or engage the opposing gang on a gunfight.  In order to complete these missions, you’ll need money, and where do you get it?  Why, mug some people of course and jack their cars, all by pressing a single button.  And if you have enough money, you can also have some ho’s (I think they’re called prostitutes during the last century, harlots during the first one).  And my good nephew did this too.  He just honked the horn of the car he stole, and the ho got on it.  They went into a secluded area and you know what happened next.  Bet you wouldn’t guess what happened after the service was acquired.  He beat up the prostitute and took her money!

     Oh man, I thought Bart Simpson was a bad influence.

     I must admit, I tried the game and liked the graphics and the ease of controls.  But despite this, I think I’ll stick to chess and Scrabble.