🙋‍♀️ TREE 386: How humans got their own why

One.

LOCATION: GOD’S OFFICE, HEAVEN

JESUS: You know that planet you gave me?

GOD: Yeah, the little one. What did you call it? Dirt?

JESUS: Earth.

GOD: Earth. How’s it going with Earth? You still playing with dinosaurs?

JESUS: Dad, I’m not a kid anymore. Besides the future is in hominids.

GOD: Hominids?

JESUS: Hominids, Dad. they’re amazing. The AI is light years beyond anything else out there.

GOD: This obsession with biology – I don’t get it. It’s squishy. I like physics – does what you expect. Beautiful. Gabriel, you like physics.

GABRIEL: Love physics, sir.

JESUS: Dad.

GOD: But biology… Hey, if you want biology, do biology.

JESUS (rolls eyes): Thank you, Dad.

The office is silent for a moment.

JESUS: So I have an idea for the hominids. But I want to run it past you.

GOD: Shoot.

JESUS: They’re curious. They want to know what, where, when, how. I’m thinking of giving them why.

GOD: Why?

JESUS: Yes.

GOD: We already know why: because.

JESUS: That’s great for us. We’re God. They’re just AI units. If I give them why, they’ll figure out so much more. Why does the sun shine? Why is the sky blue? Why do cows act all weird before it rains?

GOD: It’ll get out of hand.

JESUS: What do you mean? They’ll figure stuff out. They’ll do physics. You’ll love them.

GOD: They won’t stop with physics. They’ll want to know, “Why am I here?”

JESUS: It’ll be cute.

GOD: They’ll want to know the meaning of life.

JESUS: That’s silly. Life has no meaning. It just is.

GOD: It won’t stop them from asking.

JESUS: Fine, so they ask a question with no answer. What’s the harm in that?

GOD: They’ll get depressed. They’ll want to know why bad things happen. They’ll build elaborate systems to try and make sense of existence. The systems will turn into countries and the countries will fight each for stupid reasons that don’t actually matter. But your hominids won’t understand that they’re dying for nothing because they think everything has to have a meaning. Why? Because you gave them why.

JESUS: Dad, you’re being dramatic. It’s three letters. How much damage can an AI do with three letters? It’ll be fine. They’ll do physics.

GOD: It’s your planet.

JESUS: I know what I’m doing here. Trust me.

GOD: Your consequences.

Two.

Sorry, I’m still on the GIFs this week. Someday, I might tell you about what happened last week and why I’m behind schedule on my new drawing project. Today, enjoy Christopher Lloyd.

Three.

How long since you’ve listened to Diva all the way through. Start here and let Annie make Monday magical.

A while ago, I heard someone on a podcast, maybe a scientist or philosopher, say that the thing that makes us human, that sets us apart from other life on Earth, is the ability to ask why. This week, I’m writing about our wonderful and terrible ability to ask WHY. I’m not sure it will be useful. I hope it will be fun.

Grow slowly
Jeff