Choosing Humanity
“The witness will please tell what he considers to be a lie,’’ said the judge.
‘‘Every new piece of scientific knowledge is a good thing for humanity,’’ said Paul.
‘‘Object!’’ said the prosecutor.
‘‘This is off the record — a test of the instrument,’’ said the judge.
‘‘Swung to the left, all righty,’’ said the engineer.
‘‘Now the truth,’’ said the judge.
‘‘The main business of humanity is to do a good job of being human beings,’’ said Paul, ‘‘not to serve as appendages to machines, institutions, and systems.’’
“Swung to T, Ok.”
This dialogue is taken from a trial scene from the debut dystopian novel of the American author Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (1922-2007)
This novel, the first out of fourteen which Vonnegut Jr. will eventually write, is called “Player Piano.” It was published in 1952, and is set in a near-future America where automation has replaced most human labor, and society has divided itself into a small class of engineers and managers who run the machines and a much larger population of people whose work has become unnecessary. Dr. Paul Proteus, a successful engineer who manages one of the country’s automated factories, becomes increasingly troubled by a society in which people have lost not only their jobs but their sense of purpose, dignity, and agency. He becomes involved with the underground “Ghost Shirt Society,” which seeks to resist a system that has allowed technology and efficiency to determine human value.
This 1952 dystopian novel feels very close to our reality today.
One of the most commented on verses in the Torah appears in this week’s portion, Nitzavim. It deals with human choice.
״הַעִדֹ֨תִי בָכֶ֣ם הַיּוֹם֮ אֶת־הַשָּׁמַ֣יִם וְאֶת־הָאָ֒רֶץ֒ הַחַיִּ֤ים וְהַמָּ֙וֶת֙ נָתַ֣תִּי לְפָנֶ֔יךָ הַבְּרָכָ֖ה וְהַקְּלָלָ֑ה וּבָֽחַרְתָּ֙ בַּחַיִּ֔ים לְמַ֥עַן תִּֽחְיֶ֖ה אַתָּ֥ה וְזַרְעֶֽךָ׃
‘‘I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today. I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore, choose life, so that you and your descendants may live,’’
Rashi comments that while God puts before us a choice, God tells us what to choose at the same time; “Here I give you life and death, blessings and curses… But choose life.” Rashi compares this to a father dividing up his inheritance and telling his child:
“Choose for yourself the good portion.” But the father puts his hand on the good portion and says: “Choose this.”
In other words, God gives us freedom—but God is also actively trying to influence our choice.
The Netziv of Volozhin has a different issue — he tries to solve the redundancy in “Choose life so you may live.” Of course, if you choose life that you will, of course, live, why is it written this way?
The Netziv suggests that God offers different paths to live your life. If you choose the right path, your life will be fulfilling. The Netziv brings the following parable from Midrash Sifrei on Devarim:
הוֹאִיל וְנָתַן הַמָּקוֹם לְפָנֵינוּ שְׁנֵי דְרָכִים, דֶּרֶךְ חַיִּים וְדֶרֶךְ מָוֶת, נֵלֵךְ בְּאֵיזוֹ מֵהֶם שֶׁנִּרְצֶה? תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר ״וּבָחַרְתָּ בַחַיִּים״!
מָשָׁל לְאֶחָד שֶׁהָיָה יוֹשֵׁב עַל פָּרָשַׁת דְּרָכִים וְהָיוּ לְפָנָיו שְׁנֵי שְׁבִילִים, אֶחָד שֶׁתְּחִלָּתוֹ מִישׁוֹר וְסוֹפוֹ קוֹצִים, וְאֶחָד שֶׁתְּחִלָּתוֹ קוֹצִים וְסוֹפוֹ מִישׁוֹר, וְהָיָה מוֹדִיעַ אֶת הָעוֹבְרִים וְאֶת הַשָּׁבִים וְאוֹמֵר לָהֶם: אַתֶּם רוֹאִים אֶת שְׁבִיל זֶה שֶׁתְּחִלָּתוֹ מִישׁוֹר? כִּשְׁתַּיִם וְשָׁלֹשׁ פְּסִיעוֹת אַתֶּם מְהַלְּכִים בַּמִּישׁוֹר וְסוֹפוֹ לָצֵאת לַקּוֹצִים! וְאַתֶּם רוֹאִים אֶת שְׁבִיל זֶה שֶׁתְּחִלָּתוֹ קוֹצִים? כִּשְׁתַּיִם וְשָׁלֹשׁ פְּסִיעוֹת אַתֶּם מְהַלְּכִים בַּקּוֹצִים וְסוֹפוֹ לָצֵאת לַמִּישׁוֹר!
“What if Israel should say: Since the All-Present has set before us two paths — the path of Life and the path of Death—let us take whichever we choose! The Teaching states: “Therefore, choose Life!” (Dt. 30:19).
An analogy: a certain fellow lived at a crossroad, and before him were two paths. One began smoothly, but ended in a thicket, and the other began in a thicket, but ended smoothly. So he would advise the travelers, saying: Do you see this path that begins smoothly? After only two or three steps on smooth ground, it ends in a thicket! Do you see this other path that begins in a thicket? After only two or three steps in a thicket, it ends on smooth ground!”
The Netziv brings this Midrash for a reason. It is not obvious or easy to choose life. The path which leads to life may not be immediately visible. As humans, we tend to choose paths which are easy for us to walk on, oftentimes not knowing that what seems to begin in an easy way, ends up causing us hardship, or worse.
The examples are endless. We may choose the wrong partner because of superficial seduction, choose the wrong career, favoring compensation over meaning, buying into instant solutions to enduring problems, and of course…. Rely on the convenience of artificial intelligence and handing over our agency in order to enjoy it.
In the dialogue above, the protagonist in Vonnegut Jr’s novel states: “The main business of humanity is to do a good job of being human beings.”
But that is an extremely hard task. In the novel, relying on machines to help us do a better job at being human beings took away what makes life worthwhile, life itself. This isn’t a redundancy; meaning, agency, contribution and creation are what makes life, life.
The end of the novel is not clear-cut either (spoiler). After the revolt succeeds in eliminating machines, chaos and confusion ensues. We understand that turning backwards may not be impossible anymore. The question remains, how, under these current conditions, can we still choose life?
Perhaps Rashi is right? Like the name of the novel suggests, our piano plays, but the choice of music was already made for us.
