fruitcake is off the gift list this year in my family!
my mom always sent a fruitcake, a really good one from some place in texas, to each of us kids. last year we sadly sent them to each other. this year we decided not to.
VOLUMES are written about gifts and gift giving! how can i even get a handle on the subject in a simple blog entry.
he gets her a roomba for xmas.
his thoughts...
he is clever and generous.
she will be happy not to have to vacuum.
it will be fun to set up and to watch it, see how the cat reacts!
he has solved a problem!
her thoughts...
he is stingy and overly practical.
he thinks of her as a housekeeper.
he just wants to play with this toy himself.
he isn't very romantic.
what the gift means to the giver can be completely different from the meaning understood by the receiver! the gift is a coded message and each side has a different decoder ring.
and of course...
everyone has way too much stuff anyway!
Showing posts with label roomba. Show all posts
Showing posts with label roomba. Show all posts
Sep 22, 2009
run on sentience
monday's post has disappeared! and so has my followers list.
it's not on TSMGO blog -- once i accidentally posted mine on there.
All i said on monday was that i am more interested in the question "is the roomba a sentient being?"
and not so much if we should wish it well.
who would not wish well to a roomba?
it's not on TSMGO blog -- once i accidentally posted mine on there.
All i said on monday was that i am more interested in the question "is the roomba a sentient being?"
and not so much if we should wish it well.
who would not wish well to a roomba?
Sep 20, 2009
may all beings be free from suffering and the root of suffering
Liz and i tell each other stories about our cats sometimes, and she also tells roomba stories.
machines are made smarter and more responsive and independent, until slowly, slowly, at some point they become robots, and then at some further point, robots are everywhere and no one noticed!
each generation accepts the level of them it finds itself born into, just as we now have 'cyberspace' immigrants (me) and natives (Liz).
rather than preparing me for this, my life of reading sci-fi only makes me alarmed.
and my life in buddhism adds this dimension: when i chant the aspiration that all sentient beings, or simply all beings, may they be happy and free from suffering, does that include Liz's roomba?
Wikepedia tells me: Sentient beings is a technical term in Buddhist discourse. Broadly speaking, it denotes beings with consciousness or sentience or, in some contexts, life itself.
another site says: Especially emphasized in Mahayana Buddhism, all sentient beings have Buddha Nature/ Essence. One can become a Buddha (a supreme enlightened being) in due course if one practises diligently and attains purity of mind (ie absolutely no delusions or afflictions).
does her roomba have delusions? will her roomba, that remembers the shape of her room and where her furniture is, and where it's docking station is, and when it hits an obstacle doesn't randomly bang against it, but uses its memory, and seeks it's docking station when its task is done...will it be reborn as a buddha?
machines are made smarter and more responsive and independent, until slowly, slowly, at some point they become robots, and then at some further point, robots are everywhere and no one noticed!
each generation accepts the level of them it finds itself born into, just as we now have 'cyberspace' immigrants (me) and natives (Liz).
rather than preparing me for this, my life of reading sci-fi only makes me alarmed.
and my life in buddhism adds this dimension: when i chant the aspiration that all sentient beings, or simply all beings, may they be happy and free from suffering, does that include Liz's roomba?
Wikepedia tells me: Sentient beings is a technical term in Buddhist discourse. Broadly speaking, it denotes beings with consciousness or sentience or, in some contexts, life itself.
another site says: Especially emphasized in Mahayana Buddhism, all sentient beings have Buddha Nature/ Essence. One can become a Buddha (a supreme enlightened being) in due course if one practises diligently and attains purity of mind (ie absolutely no delusions or afflictions).
does her roomba have delusions? will her roomba, that remembers the shape of her room and where her furniture is, and where it's docking station is, and when it hits an obstacle doesn't randomly bang against it, but uses its memory, and seeks it's docking station when its task is done...will it be reborn as a buddha?
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