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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 9290620" data-attributes="member: 58172">The equation between computers and golems is Jewish enough.There is even a story I heard that I am unsure how to confirm or disconfirm. The story as I remember it goes like this.Early on while people were still pioneering computers, there were three computer scientists who met up with each other, each who happen to descend from the Maharal of Prague, the renaissance rabbi reputed to have formed a golem. All of the three agreed that their own work on computers is a continuation of the golem of their ancestor. All three also had a private family tradition passed down from the Maharal for the kabala formula for how to create a golem. When they compared their formulas with each other, two out of the three were in agreement.For me, this legend (factual or not) is about the centrality of human imagination. If humans imagine something, humans can eventually make it happen. In this sense, imagination is as important as reality. Human imagination catalyzes and shapes reality.The golem tradition itself refers to the creation of Adam. The name Adam literally means "humanity", including male and female. The word golem means a "clump". (Like, if one grabs a handful of change, without knowing how many quarters, dimes, nickles, or pennies, it is a "clump" of coins.) We, humanity, are the first golem, shaped from a clump of wet clay. This first golem was given the breath of Divinity, genuine human consciousness and life. So far, humans can come close. But the golems created by humans still lack the Divine consciousness.The earlier golems lacked the capacity of speech. Soon the AI golem will have speech.</blockquote>

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