from Kurt Vonnegut, jrs The Sirens of Titan Once upon a time on Tralfamadorethere were creatures who werent anything like machines. They werent dependable. They werent efficient. They werent predictable. They werent durable. And these poor creatures were obsessed by the idea that everything that existed had to have a purpose, and that some purposes were higher than others. These creatures spent most of their time trying to find out what their purpose was. And every time they found out what seemed to be a purpose of themselves, the purpose seemed so low that the creatures were filled with disgust and shame. And, rather than serve such a low purpose, the creatures would make a machine to serve it. This left the creatures free to serve higher purposes. But whenever they found a higher purpose, the purpose still wasnt high enough. So machines were made to serve higher purposes, too. And the machines did everything so expertly that they were finally given the job of finding out what the higher purpose of the creatures could be. The machines reported in all honesty that the creatures couldnt really be said to have any purpose at all. The creatures thereupon began slaying each other, because they hated purposeless things above all else. And they discovered that they werent even very good at slaying. So they turned that job over to the machines, too. And the machines finished up the job in less time than it takes to say, Tralfamadore.
Posted on: Tue, 05 Nov 2013 02:08:54 +0000
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