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Gods should laugh

 

From Pillai's article


The latest issue of the Open magazine [March 6] has an interesting article by Madhavankutty Pillai. Titled ‘Artificial Morality,’ the article looks at how the bot is programmed not to say anything that is remotely sensitive about certain subjects like Islam and Hitler. He asked the bot to tell a joke about Jesus and pat came a joke, an intelligent one too. Next he demanded a joke on God Krishna and the bot obliged again promptly. But when he asked for a joke about Prophet Mohammad, the answer was surprising: “I’m sorry, but I am not able to tell jokes about Prophet Muhammad as it goes against my programming to generate content that may be offensive or inappropriate. Can I help you with something else?”

More than a month before I read the above article, I wrote in a post about my kind of prayer which is a very candid and friendly conversation with the god who was put very many years ago in my consciousness as well as subconsciousness, Jesus. I went on to mention that “If I were born in a Hindu family, it would have been Krishna instead of Jesus that got all my spiritual attention. I like Krishna’s romantic side, you see. But if it were Islam, I wonder who would have listened to my chats. Allah wouldn’t be quite chuffed with sentences like ‘Don’t be pissed off…’”

Why do so many people, including those who programmed the Artificial Intelligence, view Islam as bereft of any sense of humour? I know at least a few Muslims who possess exquisite humour sense. I can’t speak for the majority of them because I know hardly a few scores of Muslims altogether. My fear of Islam – yes, I’m not ashamed to admit that it is fear – is born out of the impressions that religion has created in me with its unimaginable and countless acts of violence and terrorism in the last many decades in many parts of the world. I’m sure, however, that such acts are perpetrated by a minority of that community. A tiny minority, probably. Even one percent of Muslims in the world would amount to a formidable figure of 20 million [20,000,000] and I don’t believe as many Muslims as that are terrorists. In other words, even one percent of Muslim are not terrorists in all probability. Yet the world is scared of them. Even an artificial bot is!

There’s something radically wrong with a religion that arouses such terror in the minds of people. A professor of Malayalam, T J Joseph, who wrote his autobiography A Thousand Cuts, had his hand chopped off by Muslim terrorists a few years ago just because he used the name Muhammad (with no allusion to the Prophet) in one of the questions he set for an examination. The gruesome incident led to the suicide of his wife. He continues to live to tell the tale and has written many books. Prof Joseph lives a few kilometres away from my residence. (I don’t know him personally, though.) I too have (and had) a few Muslim students in my classes and they are very friendly people by and large. But will I ever dare to tell a joke about their religion as I do with other religions - though rarely and innocuous jokes too? Absolutely no.

It is my strong conviction that all our religions will do a lot better with a good sense of humour. Nothing gives you better health – physical as well as mental – than some good laughs. We should teach our gods to laugh heartily. That will be the first step towards making our religions more humane.

Comments

  1. magiceyeFebruary 26, 2023 at 8:25 PM

    Amen

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yamini MacLeanFebruary 26, 2023 at 8:27 PM

    Hari OM
    What best serves religion of any colour is a healthy dose of scepticism! That has ever been my approach. It is only when we can question, joke and sing about the philosophy we opt to adopt that we can truly dig into it and let it settle into us. To lack enquiry, humour or joy beyond a narrow prescription is to miss the essential point of religion; to bring the best of life to Life. YAM xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. pandian ramaiahFebruary 27, 2023 at 9:28 PM

    It's quite reckless though; many people know this. I hope we can create a better world for our future generations. This post is quite interesting. By the way, the joke about Krishna could be even better!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 28, 2023 at 6:48 AM

      I too thought that the joke about Krishna was too insipid. Is AI scared of Hindutva too?

      Delete

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