Monday, Dec. 7, 2020 | 2 a.m.
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Recently, I watched a small, driverless floor-cleaning vehicle, with a swirling orange light on top, as it went up and down the aisles of a department store.
It reminded me of an old “Twilight Zone” episode from 1964 titled, “The Brain Center at Whipple’s,” in which a factory CEO named Mr. Whipple heartlessly fires thousands of workers and replaces them with machines. He viewed his human workers as nothing more than troublesome drains on the profit margin. He had no compassion for the people he put out of work until the stock holders fired him and replaced him with a robot.
Do you think a department store CEO cares for the people he puts out of work? Provided his position is secure? To paraphrase Rod Serling: This is a historical battle between flesh and steel, between the brain of man and the product of man’s brain. Too often man becomes clever, instead of becoming wise. He becomes inventive but not thoughtful, and sometimes he can create himself right out of existence.
Is the purpose of life to be more efficient and to make profit our new golden calf to worship? Is it profitable to watch the stock market but keep no vigil for our souls?
