Jack’s Winning Words 8/18/15
“In the 21st century, the robot will take the place which slave labor occupied in ancient civilization.”  (Nikola Tesla)  Tesla foresaw today’s world…robo this and robo that.  Factories, ATMs, gas stations, self check-outs.  Even the Tesla battery car is exploring a robo version.  Is robo preaching next?  Airlines are considering robo pilots.  Millennials are into robo investing.  You can probably think of more.  Time has a way of marching forward, ready or not…    ;-)  Jack

FROM FM IN WISCONSIN:  According to a study conducted by economist Carl Benedikt Frey and engineer Michael Osborne, 47 percent  of the jobs in the United States could soon be lost to computers, robots and other forms of technology.====JACK:  That seems high,  I guess I'll have to see if I can find out more information on that study.

FROM THE NY TIMES:  "Increasingly, bosses have an answer. A new generation of workplace technology is allowing white-collar jobs to be tracked, tweaked and managed in ways that were difficult even a few years ago." (David Streitfeld)

FROM RI IN BOSTON:  Another step in our march to de-personalization.  There are plenty of "robots" in our society already.  Some may believe that giving up our choice to do things ourselves is progress, but I think it's a ticket to oblivion.  For me, honest work is gratifying and the key to physical and spiritual health.====JACK:  I started with a t-square, compass, a set of triangles, a French curve, a sharp pencil and a gum eraser...then graduated to a drafting machine.  I don't think that I could get a job these days with those skills.

FROM TARMART REV:  Heard the other day, the time is coming when we can text on our cell phones all we want while making our way down the highway-- car will run by computers with no steering needed!!====JACK:  Is that news just getting to Willmar?  That's old stuff in Motown.  Some churches are now using video choirs and even video sermons by "great preachers."  It would be pretty hard to get a robot to make a pastoral call on a family with problems, wouldn't it?

FROM SHARIN' SHARON:  Actually, because scripture seems so timeless to me--that part where I think it is Paul, the tentmaker, who advises Christians to work with their hands and provide for their needs and also the ELCA's motto "God's Work, our hands" I wonder if the future actually holds a lot of work being done by robots but handiwork (which now is in some respect losing value because machines can do it so much faster), but if money and time weren't so tied together and robots actually could provide freedom from physical needs, and for everyone, not just the rich, then I wonder if gardening using hand tools, crafting furniture using hand tools, all the various textile crafts would seem more reasonable places for people to devote their time and energy and even spiritual and prayerful contemplation. If the Apostle Paul were here today, what would he advise?====JACK:  Paul said to the Thessalonians (3:10), "Even while we were with you, we gave you this command: "Those unwilling to work will not get to eat."  I also like the advice from Proverbs (6:6), "Go to the ant thou sluggard, and observe her ways."  The next time you're in your community garden, see if you can find an ant...and think of the verse from Proverbs.

FROM CS:  We certainly don't want robot preachers.    We need Very Human philosophers and spiritual leaders!====JACK:  ...and how about a robotic congregation?====CS:  That would certainly not be good.  We should all be intellectually active open-minded seekers!

FROM HR:  Robo congress. Oh wait. We have that now😊====JACK:  I've had disagreements with people about the role of Congress.  There are those who believe that those who are elected should vote "the will" of their constituents.  To me, the will of the constituents shows itself in the election process.  Let the one elected use his/her brain after listening to a discussion of the issues and cast a vote accordingly...not as some party leader or big donor says that the vote should be.  I guess that "I'm only a cockeyed optimist," as Mitzi Gaynor sang in South Pacific.

FROM BLAZING OAKS:  AMAZON, I BELIEVE USES ROBOTS AND EVEN DRONES; IT WAS IN THE NEWS THIS PAST WEEK.  YES, SO MANY PEOPLE, AND SO FEW JOBS IS A BIG PROBLEM, EVEN TODAY, MUCH LESS WILL BE, IN  THE FUTURE!  BUT WE'VE ALWAYS COME UP WITH ADAPTATION TO EXPERIENCES, SO HOPEFULLY WE WILL SURVIVE YET AGAIN!!====JACK:  Survivors are able to adapt and be willing to change.  That works in the marketplace, in life circumstances...often, it's way situations are perceived.

FROM FACEBOOK LIZ:  people need to be productive to have quality of life...====JACK:  Tell me what the word, productive, means!====LIZ:  doing something valued by society & by oneself. being a good parent is productive. writing winning words is productive.  every job (whether it pays or not) has value & gives a person self-worth. this is one reason for depression among elderly people, even those w/mental and/or physical handicaps.  the lady i am helping now has basically been sitting in a chair watching tv for a couple of years, altho she walks a mile on the treadmill each morning.  she has very early onset frontal lobe dementia... extremely rare. her husband is a psychologist.  we now listen to music on you tube. i have found songs she loves & still remembers somehow. i took a stab & found "guantanamera." she sang along. we also walk outside on nice afternoons. a lovely pre-thunderstorm walk today. her "job" is folding wash cloths & hand towels, which she does expertly & proudly.====JACK:  I'm used to your facebook-type answers.  Thanks for expanding your response and giving your view of quality of life.  If I look up "guantanamera", will that enhance my quality of life?  (I looked it up...and I will spend some time with Jose today).

 

FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  Robo preaching is okay if the sermon is under 15!  LOL====JACK:  Speaking of long sermons...What about poor Eutychus as he listened to Paul preach?  (Acts 20:7-12)
====JUDY:  The first thing I learned in my class on giving speeches was....don't talk too long or your audience might throw you out of the window.   Poor Eutychus.  At least Paul brought him back.  Wonder if he went to anymore speeches.====JACK:  One of my favorite pictures shows a pastor in preaching away.  Jesus is in the front pew.......asleep.