"Like Adam, I was apparently united by no link to any other being in
existence, but his state was far different from mine in every other
respect. He had come forth from the hands of God a perfect creature,
happy and prosperous, guarded by the especial care of his creator, he
was allowed to converse with, and acquire knowledge from, beings of a
superior nature, but I was wretched, helpless, and alone. Many times I
considered Satan was the fitter emblem of my condition. For often, like
him, when I saw the bliss of my protectors, the bitter gall of envy
rose up within me. … Hateful day when I received life! …Accursed
creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you
turned from me in disgust?"
"When younger,…I believed myself destined for some great
enterprise. …I possessed a coolness of
judgment that fitted me for illustrious achievements. This sentiment of
the worth of my nature supported me when others would have been
oppressed; for I deemed it criminal to throw away in useless grief those
talents that might be useful to my fellow-creatures. When I reflected on
the work I had completed, no less a one than the creation of a sensitive
and rational animal, I could not rank myself with the herd of common
projectors. But this thought, which supported me in the commencement of
my career, now serves only to plunge me lower in the dust. All my
speculations and hopes are as nothing; and, like the archangel who
aspired to omnipotence, I am chained in an eternal hell. My imagination
was vivid, yet my powers of analysis and application were intense; by
the union of these qualities I conceived the idea and executed the
creation of a man. Even now I cannot recollect without passion my
reveries while the work was incomplete. I trod heaven in my thoughts,
now exulting in my powers, now burning with the idea of their effects.
From my infancy I was imbued with high hopes and a lofty ambition; but
how am I sunk! Oh! my friend, if you had known me as I once was you
would not recognise me in this state of degradation. Despondency rarely
visited my heart; a high destiny seemed to bear me on until I fell,
never, never again to rise."
"If we adhere to all these taboos, we may acquire a great reputation as
conservative and sound thinkers, but we shall contribute very little to
the further advance of knowledge. It is the part of the
scientist—of the intelligent man of letters and of the honest
clergyman as well—to entertain heretical and forbidden opinions
experimentally, even if he is finally to reject them."
(Wiener, Norbert
(1964),
God
and
Golem, Inc.: A Comment on Certain Points Where
Cybernetics Impinges on Religion (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press), p. 5.)
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