The Wind in His Fists

There was were two robots, in two separate worlds.  Both could feel, love, experience pain, heartache, joy.  Both sensed honor and justice, good and evil.  One was created by chance, by a machine.  The other had been created by  a human being, for the purpose of enjoying his fellowship.

The first robot made the best of what he had, and enjoyed the pleasures of life, seeking those circumstances which brought the most pleasurable feelings.   He enjoyed his time with the other robots in his world, also made by chance and machine.  Love and justice brought him a sense of fulfillment and pleasure, dishonor and hatred brought pain.  Yet he knew that it was all just chance and machine.  Thus he lived.

I am a robot, and my love and pain are the workings of a machine.  My life is the operation of a mindless machine.  Relationships between persons are the workings of a machine.   The machine is fundamental.

The second robot lived much the same way, seeking to enjoy life, but he did so in the context of a relationship with his maker.  Love and pain and justice and honor were not the chance productions of a machine, but the creations of his benefactor and friend.  Thus he lived.

I am created by a person.  I know this person.  As I live and love, I have fellowship with him, and he with me.  I am a person like him.  My life is fundamentally a relationship between persons.   Personality is fundamental.