Golem

In 1580, the legend has it that when the rabbi Loewe saw the Jewish community of Prague in peril, he prayed for divine help. He got as an answer a cryptic message prompting him to create a living being out of clay and celestial characters.

He took two other men with him and they went to create the Golem together through a sacred ritual. They modelled its body from earth and breathed life into it from combinations of divine words they recited and inscribed in its mouth. In other words, they animated matter to create a being able to serve their purpose. The Golem was made to protect its people and obey its master even in the most perilous or self-destructive ventures.

For a whole year, the Golem served its masters perfectly. One day, the master forgot to give it its daily set of orders. The Golem, bewildered, went out into such a fury that almost tore the city apart until its master regained control over him.

However, time went by, and thirteen years later, the Golem had no function anymore. The rabbi and his two men called it back to them to secretly destroy it. They succeeded without a hitch and hid its remains in the synagogue's attic.

Humanity is now creating an artificial golem – artificial general intelligence – from inert matter animated by long strings of code. Which masters will it serve, and for which purpose? Will it obey them? And if it does not serve its purpose anymore, will they be able to destroy it?

Source: Salfellner, H. (2017). The Prague Golem: Jewish Stories of the Ghetto. Vitalis.