Noach: automata

Noach: Automata

Parshath (the chapter of) Noach is written in a disturbing voice. 

וַיַּ֧רְא אֱ  אֶת־הָאָ֖רֶץ וְהִנֵּ֣ה נִשְׁחָ֑תָה כִּֽי־הִשְׁחִ֧ית כׇּל־בָּשָׂ֛ר אֶת־דַּרְכּ֖וֹ עַל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃ {ס}     

Elo-im saw the earth and beheld that it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted its way on the earth. 

וַיֹּ֨אמֶר אֱ  לְנֹ֗חַ קֵ֤ץ כׇּל־בָּשָׂר֙ בָּ֣א לְפָנַ֔י כִּֽי־מָלְאָ֥ה הָאָ֛רֶץ חָמָ֖ס מִפְּנֵיהֶ֑ם וְהִנְנִ֥י מַשְׁחִיתָ֖ם אֶת־הָאָֽרֶץ׃ 

Elo-im said to Noach, The end of all flesh has come before Me. For the earth is filled with violent crime because of them, and so, I will destroy them with the earth.

The passive voice implies automaticity. The result of these circumstances were inevitable.  Gd invoked the hospice benefit, the suffering will end more promptly.

There are two automata here, reflected by the passive verbs. First, נִשְׁחָ֑תָה, it had become corrupt.  The relatively recently created world had taken a path, its inhabitants had made some decisions, the result was corruption. Corruption was not the intention. The deterioration was the result of actions for the sake of gain or lust (חָמָֽס, hamas [very similar to חָמָֽאסת, the military/political organization]), but the outcome was irreparable damage. The world was in a state that could no longer be corrected, the decay was too widespread and too severe.  Perhaps there was a danger that it would spread to the last righteous person/family: Noah. 

There are mathematical models that correspond to such inevitable patterns. One can imagine a situation in which one player (or company) has a sufficient advantage over the others  that when a process is sufficiently repeated, that player (company) is the predicted winner (absorbing Markov process). I think this process is at work in our world now. It may be the mathematically predicted end point of (monopoly, uncontrolled) capitalism. That process can fit with the classic translations of חָמָֽס, hamas: a process of accumulation through  small thefts . 

The second inevitable: קֵ֤ץ כׇּל־בָּשָׂר֙ בָּ֣א לְפָנַ֔י, The end of all flesh has come before Me. The passivity of the voice implies  that if the situation were left alone, the end of all flesh would occur  on its own. The classic commentators invoke an inevitable Divine intervention. The insertion of the Divine reflects their worldview, a perspective that they want to teach future generations.  The scientific approach prefers the automaticity of faith in mathematics. 

 In the modern world, when patients are "terminally" ill, we often mean that  inevitable death is so imminent that the loss of time  associated with aggressive pain control is a good trade. Gd  is saying that killing all land animal life would now be euthenasia, a good death, a mercy killing. Gd is not angry; Gd is (mathematically) objective. These words, The end of all flesh has come before Me, are an explanation to the surviving family: us. 

When Noah is born, his father Lemech says: 

וַיִּקְרָ֧א אֶת־שְׁמ֛וֹ נֹ֖חַ לֵאמֹ֑ר זֶ֞֠ה יְנַחֲמֵ֤נוּ מִֽמַּעֲשֵׂ֙נוּ֙ וּמֵעִצְּב֣וֹן יָדֵ֔ינוּ מִן־הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר אֵֽרְרָ֖הּ יְ

and he called his name Noaĥ, saying, This one shall comfort us for our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lrd has cursed.

Noah's name means rest, comfort, consolation. 

Rashi says: 

 עַד שֶׁלֹּא בָא נֹחַ לֹא הָיָה לָהֶם כְּלֵי מַחֲרֵשָׁה וְהוּא הֵכִין לָהֶם

until Noah came people had no agricultural instruments and he prepared such for them. 

Noah invented the plow. He added technology to agriculture. Did this add to the advantage of the privileged? Those with access to metal and the means to shape it could now multiply their advantage with these new tools. The absorbing Markov process that would concentrate wealth into ever fewer families was begun. Did Noah, and his invention(s) magnify hamas, and thus (indirectly) cause the flood?

The Man Who Solved the Market (2019)  tells the story of Jim Simons. Jim Simons was a mathematician who used his understanding of Markov processes to drive one of the most successful  hedge funds in history. His partner, Robert Mercer ( and his daughter) were key supporters of Donald Trump in his first successful presidential campaign. ( Simons was a democrat). We do  not know where powerful tools lead. 

Noah's father's prophecy, that Noah's action will remove the curse (placed upon the earth when humans were expelled from Eden) comes true. 

וַיָּ֣רַח יְ   אֶת־רֵ֣יחַ הַנִּיחֹ֒חַ֒ וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְ   אֶל־לִבּ֗וֹ לֹֽא־אֹ֠סִ֠ף לְקַלֵּ֨ל ע֤וֹד אֶת־הָֽאֲדָמָה֙ בַּעֲב֣וּר הָֽאָדָ֔ם

And the Lord smelled the sweet savour; and the Lord said in His heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the impulse of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more everything living, as I have done.

It was the not the plow that removed the curse, it was the supplication. Noah, now the patriarch of all human survivors, recognized a power greater than technology as the controller of the world. This act removed the curse that was brought on by the attempt to assume a position of equality with Gd.  The curse could now be removed. 

It is not the technology that destroys.  It is the hubris.