Journal of Sacred Work

Caregivers have superpowers! Radical Loving Care illuminates the divine truth that caregiving is not just a job. It is Sacred Work.

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Former President & CEO of multiple hospital systems and founding president & CEO of 20-hospital OhioHealth, best selling author, film artist, ordained minister, composer, published poet, syndicated T.V. host, trial attorney, federal prosecutor and Municipal Court Judge. Erie is internationally known as the founder of the Radical Loving Care(R)movement. He also heads Erie Chapman Foundation, Dane Dakota Productions, LLC, and Chapman Health International, Inc.

Recent Posts

About

Former President & CEO of multiple hospital systems and founding president & CEO of 20-hospital OhioHealth, best selling author, film artist, ordained minister, composer, published poet, syndicated T.V. host, trial attorney, federal prosecutor and Municipal Court Judge. Erie is internationally known as the founder of the Radical Loving Care(R)movement. He also heads Erie Chapman Foundation, Dane Dakota Productions, LLC, and Chapman Health International, Inc.

Days 72-76 – Is Apple The New Apple? Can Compassion Survive the Robot Age?

  Apple & hand #1 bw:color copyright erie chapman 2016   Robots can mimic kindness but not compassion because they cannot experience it. Are we arrogant to think they will never be able to?

   Herb Lin, chief computer guru at the National Academies of Science, writes, "Those areas in which human compassion is important will be less changed than those where compassion is less or not important." Note that he says "less changed," not unable to be changed.

   We are too quick to claim that computers can never be programed to be creative & compassionate. If not yet, can we say this will never happen across Future's long arc?

   Alternatively, we may, like an updated version of T.V.'s Six Million Dollar Man, so technologize our bodies that we become computers. No need for doctors. We robots would just fix each other.

   What about the greatest human power, love? Robots cannot form intention. A computer can tell you it loves you. But the robot cannot shape sincerity.   

   So what? Maybe we are so in need of love we will take its counterfeit. Does not everyone want a lover who is consistently kind, uncomplaining, smart & obedient?

   Compassion expresses love to those in pain. If we become pain-free robots why would we need it?

   Technology changes every day. Love endures. 

  God sent Jesus to remind us how to be Love's carriers. Could a computer become a "perfect" Christian? Is the computer the new apple dispatched to our Eden to seduce away our most precious gift?

   Hmmm. My laptop logo is an apple with one bite already taken. 

Reverend Erie Chapman

Photoart by erie

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4 responses to “Days 72-76 – Is Apple The New Apple? Can Compassion Survive the Robot Age?”

  1. Terry Chapman Avatar
    Terry Chapman

    This one made me think: what if all my “ills” were cured by computer-assisted medicine? And all my immediate needs: air, water, food, shelter, were also provided with sufficient computer assistance. And lastly, what if all my communications were monitored and restricted to 30 minutes each morning, to interact on email & Facebook?
    With no personal human bonding of any kind, would my loved ones, the stars, and the world, be anything like what we are blessed to experience right now: this morning?! My answer is “shouted” as far as my computer can send it: NO, NO, NO!

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  2. Todd Meador Avatar
    Todd Meador

    Erie, you pose interesting questions. Lots to ponder about.
    Will robots be able to deliver compassionate care in healthcare settings?
    The robot home health or hospice nurse for instance.
    They could be by the beside 24 hours a day. Listening, helping and observing. Will they be able to establish a connection? To be a friend? To convince the patient that they care?
    In many cases it would not be hard for them to do a better job then family members and in others it would be impossible to do a better job. Regardless, it is challenging for most families to be available 24 hours a day.
    The big question for me is – do we want to connect, be friends with and care about a robot?

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  3. ~liz Wessel Avatar
    ~liz Wessel

    Provocative post, Erie. There seems to be many advances on the uses of robots in patient care. I’ve heard of robots providing companionship to Alzheimer’s patients, assisting people with disabilities with rehab exercises, passing out meal trays out to patients in hospitals, reminding home care patients to take their meds etc.
    According to the Hasting Center on bioethics, on the horizon is a new gene editing technique that has radically simplified scientists ability to change genomes. It holds enormous potential for improving human health. Yet, this too raises profound questions as you suggest about core human values on love, compassion, acceptance, respect for those with disabilities, and humility.
    Our exploration and development of technology is certainly creating a brave new world. Each advancement brings wonderful potential as well as serious ethical issues and potential harm. It seems as though there is no turning back as innovations continue to explode exponentially. When we consider how plastic changed our way of life and led to a disposable society, we now see some of the devastation it is reeking on our environment and the need to reverse course.
    I would like to believe that nothing can substitute for human kindness, such as when one turning towards suffering with a listening heart or provides care with a loving intention, laughs with us and or cries with us. Often that kind of companioning goes way beyond mere words.

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  4. sbeng Avatar
    sbeng

    Interesting subject. Lately I had visited a computer store and browsed around to see what other latest devices they have on display. I spotted a cylindrical device which can give an answer verbally through the built in microphone to any questions a customer asked. I was intrigued. Emotional responses are expressed through human beings and members of the animal kingdom. We are wonderfully made by the Lord.

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