"Jones, Spike" wrote:
>
> The ultraorthodox have been known to wear leather
> pouches on the head and chest filled with scripture
> so that god's word would be close to the mind and
> heart. Eliezer, what are those called?
Tefilin.
> A wearable computer with the torah on the hard
> disc would certainly accomplish the same thing,
> and do it better, altho I am not sure it fulfils the
> traditional aspect of the gesture.
Spike, Spike, Spike... The scripture is specific. It must be written on
parchment. The "leather box" needs to have certain dimensions and the
edges need to be sharp.
> If a person showed up at synagogue with a wearable
> computer that contained all the complicated laws
> of Judaism, callable on voice command, making
> the wearer in a sense equal to or greater than the
> rabbi, and then that lay person were to use that
> computer in such a way as to resist the traditional
> teachings, and then were to encourage the rest of the
> congregation to do likewise, would that person be a
> rebel roborabbi rabblerouser?
The person couldn't do it on a Sabbath or any of the major holidays.
Aside from that, the day when wearable halachic computers show up is a
common speculation in techno-Judaism, or at least that's the impression I
got.
But try reading the stuff, and you'll soon realize that a wearable
computer wouldn't be remotely enough to make the wearer equal to a rabbi.
It would take a direct telepathic interface to predigested knowledge.
It's not *organized*.
-- -- -- -- --
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky http://singinst.org/
Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
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