Reality Retreat
“Now a human caught in an impossibility often responds by a retreat from reality: by entry into a world of delusion, or by taking to drink, going off into hysteria, or jumping off a bridge. It all comes to the same thing — a refusal or inability to face the situation squarely.” -Dr. Susan Calvin in ‘Escape!’ I, Robot by Isaac Asimov p. 177
I’ve been traveling a lot recently, and as a result of procrastination did not prepare ahead to be unable to post or to set aside time to prepare posts. But since I’m only doing this for me and no one else has read anything yet, playing catchup is fine by me, I’m the one making the rules after all. The upside of this that I got a chance to do a lot of reading. I tend to load up my iPad with videos and books to peruse while in the air, but I have a tough time with turbulence while flying (meaning can’t sleep or concentrate on heavy reading while airborne) and generally just watch videos or play some mindless game to get into a zone and have the time pass more “quickly.” But while sitting in airports and hotels etc. I like to have at least one physical book to pull out (also tends to be less conspicuous than expensive electronics). This trip’s book was I, Robot by Asimov a forward looking collection of stories that when considering it was published starting in the 1940’s and 50’s was amazingly advanced. Certainly the dates in his books, and the technology has transpired differently (hey it’s fiction), but he really nails some deep philosophical problems that have persisted well until today and continue to influence modern technology and robotics. No, I’m not referring to the Will Smith movie that has little to nothing to do with the book, although it is entertaining. But more the Three Laws of Robotics, and the insights into how technology works (thinks) in comparison to humans. For the uninitiated, these are outlined in ‘Runaround’ pp. 44–45 in my 1991 Bantam edition:
First Law — A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
Second Law — A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
Third Law — A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.
For convenience, the Wikipedia page: Three Laws of Robotics
I’m not going to delve too deep into the Laws of Robotics here. But it sufficeth to say that the stories in I, Robot detail creative ways in which the robots run into difficulties with the Laws, and how the humans react and also experience difficulties with the way the robots operate within the restrictions created by the Three Laws. The most relevant part for my and this endeavor was how the character Dr. Susan Calvin describes how humans deal with paradox or impossibilities as outlined in the quote above. When first breaking from the things Nietzsche https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nietzsche-moral-political/ rails most against, which most important for me at that stage were, religion, universal morals, and “truth” I admit I was pretty lost. I was caught in some impossibilities. Mostly because I was trying very hard to reconcile my newfound outlook on life and philosophy with my social and familial environment which were heavily religious. I had even come up with all the mental gymnastics to allow for such cognitive dissonance in a short period of time, and allowed my self to continue living a lie I didn’t believe in for a host of other reasons. The escape was so deep I even managed to embed myself deeper into religious studies. This all came to a head when I was confronted pretty terribly (a story for another day) on my actions that were clearly those of someone on his own program. The situation I was in required that I work pretty closely with someone else, and them thinking they could re-educate me, put me with a hardliner, and me thinking I was on to something decided to test that person’s faith.
This was a mistake. We got into philosophical and theological arguments, and I took him through my own process in a somewhat condensed form, slowly tearing away at all his core beliefs and replacing them with impossibilities, paradoxes and absurdity. It was a pretty memorable day for me when I finally worked through all this with him and had my own “final” enlightenment of this path. Or my dark night of the soul. Either way, in my journey, I had brought him along and his once stable foundation couldn’t handle it. At first he retreated into depression, which included some fits of anger and confusion, and then finally tried to jump. I prevented the worst, and quickly recalibrated to try and help him face the world through the new eyes, and for a time, with my support, he finally started to settle into something resembling acceptance of the absurd. Then he got transferred out of my section. This was a bit of a disaster. His attempts continued, and shortly after was sent to someone who could prescribe meds and that was that. While he certainly made his own decisions along the way, I certainly had to recognize my role, at least in accelerating his own doubts and fears. Most especially since he “blamed” me repeatedly for taking him down dark pathways of thought. I was young, and arrogant, and dealt with things in my own way, by leaving the religion and religious community far behind (again, another story for another day), and retreating in my own ways, both physically (I moved across the country and took to the drink a bit hard) and mentally (ceased any and all religious or philosophical debate).
This acceptance of paradox, impossibility, and the absurdity of it all is one of the most important steps for a person, especially an Absurdist. It’s also one of the hardest and not for everyone, even if we would wish it so. I think the community spawned by the internet has made this a bit easier however, but it can still come at great personal cost, and I know of more than a few people stuck in the limbo between enlightenment, acceptance, and the abyss. Teetering on the edge of all of them. I still find myself there far too often, but find solace and support in the words and images of others, and when I don’t think I can anymore, I take my dog for a walk, and it all seems a little better and helps me face things a little more squarely.
-DA
