Human Sister

what he’s been saying for a long time; namely, that the androids desire to steal souls from humans. Can you comment on this?”
    “God created man and woman in His image. He gave us dominion over all living creatures, and He gave each of us an immortal soul. Certain misguided persons are capable of creating very clever machines that strive to be superior to humans, but no man or woman can create a soul to give to these monsters. Only God Himself can create something immortal and infinitely precious like the human soul.
    “Our Chinese friends also recognize that humankind was meant to have dominion over all other things and that the greatest crime imaginable against humanity is for certain arrogant criminals to create monstrous soulless beings that would, if given half a chance, master and enslave or destroy us. The criminal creators of these androids want their monsters—like that dangerous abomination that has taken over control of the Jensen girl’s mind—to think better than we humans, to be stronger than we humans, to be able to exist in a far wider range of environments than we humans, and so on.
    “But these arrogant, misguided criminals cannot give their monsters souls. How else then but try to steal souls from humans? I felt ill when I first heard about the Jensen girl—what her grandfather and this hideous android have been trying to do to her. Pamela and I were on our knees last night and again this morning praying for the girl and for her soul.”
    “Mr. President!”
    “Yes, Ms. Choi.”
    “Mr. President, Senator Morris has criticized the FBI for allowing a well-known android expert like Professor Jensen to secretly develop a new type of android years after they were outlawed. How can you explain this intelligence failure of your administration?”
    “The Chinese ambassador has also conveyed to me his country’s displeasure at learning that this android was apparently developed on our soil. He told me that in China it would be unthinkable that a private person would be permitted to have such tremendous security at home, as Professor Jensen evidently did, allowing him to develop an android without detection. I reminded the ambassador that this is America and that in America, God be thanked, the government cannot snoop into its citizens’ private homes without a showing of probable criminal activity and a warrant. Having said that, I concede there may be a few isolated cases where a private home isn’t actually private because it is in reality filled with sensitive—and dangerous—national property.
    “Take, for example, Professor Mazak of MIT, who caused quite a stir with his remarks last month about androids. Professor Mazak, a former student of Jensen, obtained his undergraduate degree at a state-financed university in California. Then, with a fellowship from the National Science Foundation, he obtained his Ph.D. and learned everything he knows about androids. His knowledge, the knowledge he not only uses on the job at MIT but also takes home with him at night, was paid for by the citizens of this country. And what thanks do the hard-working taxpayers get from Professor Mazak? He claims that androids are more like God than humans because androids can think simultaneously as many selves, whereas humans can consciously think only one thing at a time. And he dares to support his outrageous statements by quoting our sacred Bible, wherein God speaks of Himself in the plural. Mazak also claims that what he calls the riddle of the Trinity, quote unquote, is easily solved by considering androids, which, he claims, can think three or more conscious thoughts and experience three or more subjective selves at the same time but from a single point of view. He even goes so far as to suggest that God is an android and the universe as we know it is just this android’s ant farm—or some such ridiculous thing.
    “Well, my fellow humans, God has told us that we were made in His image to have dominion over all creatures, and we most certainly are not the images of androids! Androids are the abominable creations of people like Professor Jensen and some of his students. These few people, who are very unlike over 99.999 percent of the population, take home with them public property—taxpayer-paid-for property, the knowledge of how to make androids—and I think that the House and the Senate in their collective wisdom should consider whether or not these few privileged persons should be permitted to