‘Christianity’s key lesson is that each human individual is valuable.’ Photo: by Emily Sea on Unsplash
Body and soul: Richard Seebohm on the human condition
‘Our emotions have no digital equivalent.’
One of my Quaker heroes is Geoffrey Hubbard, who, in 1981, forecast the future of computerisation and robotics. But there is one underlying issue that Hubbard didn’t pause to reflect on. Perhaps Hamlet expressed it best: ‘What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculties! In form and moving, how express and admirable! In action how like an angel! In apprehension how like a god…’
I would like to consider this in more detail. Humans have numerous frictionless joints, load-bearing in both compression and tension. We have a solid supporting structure, capable of self-repair. We have a flexible, waterproof – but not wholly impermeable – enclosing membrane, which also self-repairs. We have dispersed fuel cells, which turn chemical energy into motion or heat. We have a central chemical processing system that is capable, with the help of bacteria, of extracting and converting an unsorted and irregular burden of inputs into useful components. We can absorb and exhale gases. We have a network of tubular channels, some supported by a pump, for conveying fluid and gaseous inputs and outputs from place to place. We have a central processing unit, which can manipulate and store data as fast as any computer terminal, and it can move information and instructions to or from a myriad of receptors. Our sensory equipment can collectively detect and handle images, sounds, positional inputs and chemical identities more expeditiously than any manufactured device.
My mechanistic attempt to describe the workings of a human fails to cover one aspect of humanity that Shakespeare did perceive. He used the words ‘angel’ and ‘god’. He did so to demonstrate his appreciation for our ‘apprehension’. These descriptions do not necessarily imply the presence of faith, but we do have a capacity for spiritual understanding. Our emotions have no digital equivalent. We can be receptive to religious concepts and experiences, and these are often drawn from prophetic teachers, who may well explain them as revelatory gifts.
Among all these teachings is the Christian message – the source not only of our Quaker ethos, but also of what is sometimes called western culture. Its key lesson is that each human individual is valuable. We need to treasure this in all its doctrinal manifestations.
Most economic systems – certainly the ones we’ve seen implemented – rest on the assumption that individuals seek their own material benefit. But a maxim I have come to appreciate is that the leader of any project should subordinate their interests to the interests of the people they serve. Jesus did this. How, like a god, can we?
Comments
I’m sad that with my reference to Geoffrey Hubbard, The Friend didn’t include the footnote:
. It was in his Swarthmore Lecture ten years later (1991) that he added global warming to his catalogue of concerns.
By Richard Seebohm on 29th August 2023 - 21:25
Please login to add a comment
