Starting december twenty. Hes the stuff of legend. From jewish myth and folklore as old as the ages. Made of clay dust or soil hes an artificial being brought to life by human hands hes a helper a companion and above all a guardian but whenever he sets out to discover what he is he runs amok. The image of this mythical being has evolved over the centuries. But now in the age of robotics. This legendary super hero suddenly seems within reach of becoming a reality. The gollum. In my nigga my generations perception of the gollum as a doll a large powerful being from the late middle ages stemmed from the characters militant portrayal in full vegas movie. And via have to. The goal of how he came into the world was one of the most successful german silent films of all time. The early horror movie has influenced the way the mythical figure is perceived to this day. When making the iconic film director and lead actor paul bacon and drew from a tale of old prague. The secret of the golem it is said is still hidden within the citys old new synagogue. At the end of the sixteenth century during the reign of rudolph the second not far from the vault of a river pragues jewish quarter and its community were enjoying a golden age of relative security. It was enough to know that they were protected by the hapsburg holy roman emperor. But evil never sleeps. Rumors spread that the jews of prague were using the blood of christian children to perform their rituals. The intent was clear the jews were to be forced to abandon their homes in the city. With no salvation in sight one man rabbi yehuda live had an idea he believed would help his community face this calamity. Was progs chief rabbi and leading scholar of the talmud and common law the mystical traditions of judaism. Even today people come to pay homage at his grave in pragues famous old jewish cemetery. Designed for this rabbi yehuda live known as the mo harle in hebrew a great sage is said to be the first who created a column to defend the two i see or hear you. They are going to have given to my beloved takes two of his peoples down to the vault of where theres a whole lot of mud with change the shapes the column from this mud he does this with his pupils performing a ritual found in earlier sources he and his pupils walk around and around the rudimentary form of the column went down and then it happens the golem slowly rises from the earth and goes reddish light appears along with him he rises ever higher and goes redder still then begins to breathe its not like god breath isnt blown into him and stead he sits up and then stands he is a very big and they already figured he would be naked so they brought clothing along for this new person and they gave him a name. Which of course they didnt call him call him hes called joseph so they take him along and then tell him what he has to do with it first of all hes supposed to sit well behaved in the synagogue and when they need him theyll call for him when you go home from. The. I will thank you because i am marvelously made. And i well know that you all work so wonderful while i was being made in the darkness and woven in the depths of the earth my body was not hidden from you your i saw how i came to be. Your meat with no god but if. Adam praises god in this song the most prominent man in the human race leads us to the origins of the myth of the gollum. Of malt the word column first appears in the hebrew bible. Its in the verse to be exact in which adam thanks god for seeing him in the soil as he came into being. Offered me in the car. It is that bad deeds. To sin that. Youre. According to the story adam is gods creation but what is the golem then a kind of brother how does he come to be. An indication and they live through bible god brings adam forth from the earth and after he has been created from dust god breathed life into him. And i was the procedure must be exactly the same for the call on the gullah must be made of earth he is of the earth the only question is how do we breathe life into him. But. Are there directions for this a formula. Hence can be found in the book of creation one of the most important texts of karbala. Its mainly. Used to describe the creation of the union. By the. Main. Alphabet. So when you have to mention. A person wants to make a call on him all he needs is the torah and the person has to know the many possibilities of combining the letters and the torah and has to know how to combine the letters to apply them to create a column. And that knowledge is a mysterious art. Is. Needed to know the tables but the tables arent enough light there are also directions for it but the big problem is that not everyone can do it. Here thats because humans are sinners and sinners people cannot replicate god like acts or acts of god including how god made man. V court i mentioned stuff. As. The golem saga takes us. Of orms and germanys rhineland in the early Twentieth Century the city was home to a jewish mystical acetic movement called the pious of ashkenaz it arms if they were very sure of their own capabilities that they were truly righteous but they could do good what god desired and that they were complying with all the commandments. Thats why they achieved what others could not. Do or think thats where we for the first time and find accounts of rituals for creating a column that were also successful. At least according to the legend its an inspiring magical moment a ceremony that brings an anatomist matter to life. As is the show by it both things are surely present and the desire to create a column the desire to be closer to god and the desire to be gods equal to court to missing. Is. Yet also met lee the creation of a column reflects the human desire for the power to create korea shot from death cough. All. The letters a trend that are everything you know i say it and it appears in the original creation story of the bible as well there is the breath and words that are associated with the actually very formation of everything. And the original golem story. Am it is written on the forehead and then the rabbi knows that when the time comes that the golem is in control bull he can erase that all f. N. And the golem is met its dead. The power is in the letters and that means truth met means dead. And some my golem is meant he is just made of memes and thomas. While rabbi live made his golem out of clay. California artist Joshua Barber nel has used wood the Creative Process somehow feels somewhat spiritual in the sense that its connecting things that dont exist yet that arent physical and then making them material in some way. The sort of mystical part of it. The power and that energy and that force that was being harnessed to bring something that was on an earth and not alive to life. And that is a form of alchemy you know and thats again sort of why all projects feel somewhat like the golem but this one even more so because of what the subject matter is. The golem is an extension of my own sort of wrestling with what it is to live in a modern contemporary society. To some of us michelle goal in my mind is what moved me about the golem from the start was his function as a gandhi and thats a time of great need a people can create a being by harnessing the power of their faith. Mysticism and the power of kabbalah to protect them against unfounded accusations and harassment. For. Cinnabon im repeatedly surfaces as a key figure in times of crisis like now when certain questions on identity are coming to a head. At the start of the Twentieth Century the jewish communities of Eastern Europe were targeted by pogroms. The golem became a being that evoked a sense of cultural identity offering protection through his strength. To god its precisely this type of column that appears simple vagueness film. It was a strategy of deterrence. With this creature the rabbi proved to the Christian Emperor and his court that the jewish people were no longer defenseless. Then never been a rabbi live created the golan because the emperor was threatening the jews of prague with expulsion its interesting cause. Of the. That there are you know where they are but what is the role of the golem when the threat is extermination rather than expulsion. As the holocaust unfolded there was widespread longing for the golem but the savior failed to materialize. The yiddish writer opera hum razan dedicated a poem to the gollum. Awake or gollum it is high time once again those people have grown wild and all the beasts bellow in their cages. Awake oh god im with your heavy tread go around and raise the prisons in every country and every town. And knock down wall upon wall of the palace where evil resides. And with your divine smile liberate the suffering people. I was stunned this is interesting that in this context he does not appear as a defender of the jews and. Perhaps its a kind of acknowledgement that there was actually no entity within the community that could have warded off this threat not at that time. In a dominant side. In his novel in title Gollum Gustaf Meiring wrote something that cannot die is stocking this district. Discounting element of fear is the main element when it comes to the gollum its the fear of the dark of uncertainty it can be no negotiation with someone who has great strength but who doesnt speak and is intellectually inaccessible im not spazzes. At the start of the Twentieth Century the gollum found a following in popular non jewish culture. But the creature was a beer some figure rather than the guardian. This new cult status peaked at the time of gustav myricks dark novel from one thousand nine hundred fifteen. Is for the song thats my rinks novel is the most famous version of the column a full time. Pogs illustrations were just as popular. If you can shine approx column clearly has asian feet chanced the eyes on half closed the slits its apparent immediately that the character is something to be afraid of an oddity. The image of a frightening creature was present in the literature painting and film of that period. Paul vague and it depicts the golems creation as a mix of black magic and jewish mysticism its reminiscent of faust packed with the devil. Doesnt on mistake people hints that of course this is one thousand to the supernatural but there is also a potentially demonic aspect to it as well. Dark forces are what a the rabbi rather than the power of the letters. In the scene is a they seem to. The ambivalence of the whole film which has anti semitic overtones but also playful fanciful moments. Its the little christian girl who vanquishes the golem with childish innocence. In the tradition thats the way many people used to call them today theyre presumably not very interested in the jewish element of it instead the column is a universal symbol of horror and. This wide eyed expression is far more than an affirmation of identity it set standards for a whole genre the horror movie. But its not only the characters appearance thats inspired artists its the question of whether an artificial being can have an inner life a soul. Director for its long explored this in his iconic film metropolis. When the maria is first introduced as a robot which is a really beautiful robot it comes out and they say its just like a human every way but it cant have a soul and then literally give it a soul to bring it to life in a sort of magical way. You could say that its also present in fritz langs metropolis. You can interpret it as a version of the column story. Even if the cyborg isnt called gollum like. The names change cyborg or replicant yet every one of these beings is on a quest to uncover their own identity that goes too far Ridley Scotts cult film play. I think if i. Pushed him from the American Science fiction author philip k. Dick had the most fascinating concept of all with blade runner he created a being that didnt even know itself if it was a human or a robot. This key character moves through the film in a state of perpetual doubt. Who am i am i a human am i a robot and if i am a robot why do i feel what i feel where do i come from i want to bring. Up and dont you. Know. Its me with my mother. The old goal the myth humans create an artificial companion and then lose control over it has also provided fodder for t. V. Series. Real new ones real humans naturally plays with the threat to make systems but not and thats whats nice about it through brutal armed military conquest that would immediately provoke a negative response instead it takes place in an insidious and subtle way. Such catherine do. They could look out for such catherine. Ball atop the subject. District you do. Theres a lot of door molding. In the digital age. Im has evolved into an avatar a human alter ego. Can should feel theres this great film called surrogates you buy a surrogate in the store and slip into it that works really well anyone whos tried three d. Virtual reality knows that it takes just a few minutes for you to feel at home in a virtual world. I knew from just human surrogates come on into machine with the grace and beauty of the human with most People Living their long stream of cynical sales our world has become a safer place take a senior staff. Have a good. The golem legend even served as inspiration for johann but gone from good when he was riding the sorcerers apprentice. For once the old magician now all his ghosts will do my bidding. On two legs stand gravely. Have a head besides. With your pale now bravely off and do take strides. Master come to my assistance. Wrong i was in spirits calling. For now i find them galling. In mice and men the column is a character thats created to help with household chores. So hes a helper for human from the stories ive read it did things like when i was asked to help with carrying water it picked up the whale and carried it out because it was too strong and when i was asked to bring firewood it brought the whole trieste including the roots. Film did such a fantastic job that. The gollum simply isnt smart enough to really be a true helper. These characters always seem to be heading straight for disaster not too many years ago. Children and young people hearing. When you wanted to say it to someone you said. You were in egypt you were. In a movie thats the way it is in the bacon a film of course for gollum starts to destroy everything he starts to destroy the ghetto and attack people and to lay everything to waste. The climax of the movie comes when the golem turns against the people hes supposed to protect. On thats the trash naturally the extreme version of what happens when a creation a creature or something manmade is released and it has tains a degree of independence and. If you like in the sorcerers apprentice people overestimate the characters abilities it becomes overwhelmed and then turns against its master. Even back in old prague rabbi look couldnt keep the gollum under control. You probably cant allow a being like that to become the way you would vision it instead when it develops its own consciousness through imitation thats when weve already lost control in the moment in the moment when the column starts to discover itself and ask yourself who am i really dont you ask for example am i a jew. Do i belong to these people or ten people who are needed to form a community for the service in the synagogue and do i have sexual needs can i love a woman. Coming. In vegas bill the golem seduces the rabbis daughter and ends up tangled in a web of previously unknown emotions. You mir the more the golem becomes like a human the greater his destructive potential thats when things can go really horribly wrong for dons goodbye to schieffer. This destruction is ultimately after all just a reflection of our sin which we committed by doing this because we wanted to compete with god. Is naturally a warning there are two years if you dont create him in the first place the nothing like this can happen to you. Californias Silicon Valley is a hotbed of innovation and rapid technological progress. Every day hundreds of creators are bus to work many from nearby san francisco. So they say only a rabbi can make a call them and so only one group of people have this weapon because it could be considered to be a weapon and therefore it can be a guard and tear and. But with a robot its different because anybody can make them. These days theyre not inventing guardians instead theyre designing helpful robots that are supposed to become fully fledged family members and display a high level of social skills introducing the worlds first family robot say hi do you go. Helps everyone now throughout their day hes the worlds best camera. Hes a hands free help you can talk to him and hell talk to you back so you dont have to skip a beat. Yes. Governments for. Big corporations are seeing economic drivers. Pushing forward and saying you know all the thing all the good things. Looking after children. In the military. The Robotics Company boston dynamics has introduced a good specimen known as big dog. Its designed for military use to clear mine. Recover. And then the big companies. Which are most extraordinary the Intelligence Surveillance and Security Systems with the capability of detecting tracking suppression is designed to replace human. Limitation. Not only. With critical location such as. Bases and military. The. Notion of the technology their view was that you know robots could just be humans and behave like soldiers they talked about soldiers they talked about the notion that but the soldiers. Because they wont seek revenge. They wont. Develop the. Its the latest in technology. That seems to have a grip on his strength and personality. Hes not easily provoked and stays focused on. His task. Can humans control the gholam of today. One of the one of the problems with with the whole fast Rapid Development of robotics is that its on regulated and there are no National Policies and more concerning is this know what tend to create any. Could humans actually end up melding with machines. Googles engineering director ray kurzweil says transhumanism is a Boundless Research field create bodies that are technology to create virtual bodies and Virtual Reality though the Virtual Reality will be as realistic as real reality the virtual bodies will be as we tell them convincing is real bodies. The thats how its at the idea today is that Artificial Human beings will really be created but to do what Services Sources for spare parts or to become better people than we are. Its precisely this vision that director dominic graf takes as the premise