Are we Robots? It is a strange question. The answer is yes and no. The answer would depend on how the question is asked and about whom we are talking about. Let me explain this further.
A robot is nothing but a machine that can replicate certain human movements and functions. These movements and functions are pre-programmed in a robot. What is the difference between us and a robot? The main difference is the mind. We have a mind and the robot does not have a mind. The mind is a complex instrument. This mind allows us to think, make decisions, be aware of ourselves and have feelings and emotions by exercising our free will. The robot does not have a mind and therefore lacks these functions. Its functions are limited to what has been pre-programmed for the robot.
Let us ask the following two questions to set the discussion:
Ask yourself if you are a robot? The answer would be a definite No. We are aware of everything around us. We make our own decisions. We have free will, allowing us freedom of speech and movement. We have emotions and feelings. We also a mind and we know we have a mind. We know the mind is within our bodies. Anything without a mind must be a robot. Since our body and mind are all rolled into one unit, we are not a robot. This seems logical.
Are people around you robots? I am sure your first reaction will be that, people around are human beings and so they are not robots. Okay, people around are human beings but are the mind and body of these people at the same location? I am sure you cannot guarantee that. You can see the body of the people around you, but you cannot see their minds. You cannot be 100% sure if the mind is with them. You do assume that since you have the mind/body complex within yourself, all the people around will also have the body/mind complex within themselves. It does seem that way. Unfortunately, this is a wrong assumption. You may have the body/mind in one place, but the people around you do not have the body and mind in one place. Yes, this is true!
Let us discuss this further. We will show that the mind of everyone around you is within you, and their body is in the space out there. The body and mind are separated.
Location of Mind?
Where is the mind located? Intuitively we know that the mind is not located in space. You cannot find the mind anywhere in space. Why? What you find in space is a gross matter only. Visible objects. The mind is subtle, it is not something you cannot touch or see. It is therefore impossible to find the mind in space. The Mind must be outside space. How to find something outside space? The best way would be to find the start point of space. When this is found, we can guess that the mind will be outside that starting point.
To hunt for the starting point of the space, you must look at space out there in terms of time and not distances. We must look for t = 0 for space. We are so used to measure everything in space in terms of distances. The tree is 50 feet away; the plane is flying at a height of 30,000 feet. You can also look at the same objects in terms of how much time light will take to reach us from different objects. Since we will be looking at objects in terms of time, this will help visualize the space differently.
Let us study the external objects ‘out there’. If we can see a faraway star, say 5 million light- years away, it takes light from that star 5 million years to reach us. Now, we see the sun, the light from the sun takes 8 min to reach us. We look at the moon; its light will take 3 seconds to reach us. We look at the plane flying in the sky, at 30,000 feet; its light takes about 300 milliseconds to reach us. As the distance of the object being viewed is reduced, the time taken for light to reach us or for us to see it is much smaller. I now look at the tree outside the window; the time taken for light to reach me is 10 microseconds (10-6). For instance, I am looking at the computer screen 1 ft away typing this article, then the light will take about 1 nanosecond (10-9). As the distance reduces the time taken for light also reduces. The size of the space gets reduced. If you extrapolate this backward, the only logical place for time to be equal to 0 is the mind, which is watching all these objects. At t =0 there is no space. This means that the mind within you is the starting point of the space. The Mind is the t = 0 for the space. The Mind is just outside space, and space starts where the mind ends. This will apply to every living being. Each must understand that t = 0 for space is within him or her. It does seem space is everywhere, but the starting point of this space is within each one of us. This does seem counterintuitive, but we have just shown that the starting point for space is within us.
Your mind, my mind and every mind are always at t = 0. We know t = 0 is the ‘now’ moment. So, for the ‘now’ or t = 0 moment, there is unity among everyone’s mind. All the minds are at one spot (timewise), which is outside the space. The mind never moves, it is always at t= 0, it is always outside the space. There is always a ‘now’ moment, therefore the unity of all the minds is always maintained. We have just seen that the t = 0 or the ‘now’ moment is within each one of us. This means at this ‘now’ moment, your mind, and the entire cosmic mind which includes all the minds is present within us. Can you guess the number of individual minds in this universe? I think it is countless. Imagine the population of humans, animals, creatures, plants, etc. To this, you can add life to other planets. All these countless minds are within us at t = 0 or the ‘now’ moment. Wow – what a feeling!
Location of the human body
So, the mind is outside space. For me, my mind and all the minds in the universe is within me. For you also, your mind’ my mind and all the minds in the universe is within you. This will apply to each living being. What about the body? The body is within space. We see our body; we see the body of other people. We have just seen that our mind is outside space, but our body is within space. How do we understand this?
Our Own Body – We always know that our mind is within our body. We know this for a fact. We never experience our body to be here and the mind is somewhere. We never have an out of body experience. The body and mind are always together, and they are never separated.
See the contradiction – the mind is outside space, but the body which contains the mind is always within the space. In fact, the body is all over the space. Today it is here, tomorrow it is flying to India, going to a restaurant and always moving within the space. How to understand this issue? If the mind is outside space, then the only logical way to understand this issue is that the body is always at the starting point of space. The start of space is always your body. The first object in space is your body, and then all other objects you see out there. This way both the mind and body complex remain in one place.
Since our body/mind complex is in one place, we are not robots. We have free-will and self-awareness
Body of other people: If your friend is sitting 100 feet away, does he have his body and mind in one place. Not really. Why? You are not seeing the ‘now’ version of a friend. Light takes 0.10 µs to reach you. You will see the ‘now’ version of your friend when the light will take zero time to reach you. That is impossible. You will always see a dated version of your friend. In this case, you see (now – 0.10 µs) version of your friend. Not only friends, but all the people around you are also the dated versions of themselves. You might say µs = 10-6 sec is a small number and the human mind cannot discern these small-time scales. That is true, but nature does not operate with this time scale. Based on Plank Constant, the smallest time frame is 10-44 seconds. Nature operates with this time scale. As compared with 10-44 seconds, 10-6 sec is like an eternity. We may not notice and be unable to discern, but it must be clear that we are always seeing a dated version of the people around us.
Let us compare this with the actors in a movie. When you watch a movie, you never see the live versions of the actors; you will always see a recorded or dated version of the actors. If I ask you, is the mind of the actors with them on the screen. Your answer will be a ‘no’. You only see the body version of the actor. The mind will available only with the live or ‘now’ version of the actor. The live or ‘now’ version of the actor is somewhere else and not on the screen. The actor on the screen does not have the mind, but only the dated version of the body.
This is exactly what is happening to your friends and the people around you. They are like the actors on the screen. Like the actors on the screen, you only see the dated version of your friend and the people around you. They are the dated version because light takes a finite time to reach us. If this correct, you only see the body of your friend and the people around you. Their mind is not with the dated version of the body. Their mind is elsewhere. Where? It is outside space; it is at t = 0 location. We have seen the t = 0 location is only within each one of us. So, the mind of your friend and people around you are within you. I know this is not easy to accept or grasp, but if you think about this reasoning is correct and logical. So, your friend and people you see are just a body and the mind are located within you which are outside space.
So, your friend and people around you are really robots, with a body. Their mind is within you and the dated version of the body is in space. This mind is like remote control, it manages all the activities of the remote body. All the intelligence which the body shows is controlled and managed by the mind from a remote location. The remote mind tells the body to speak and then the body speaks. The mind thinks and signals the body to get in the car, or to get an ice-cream. The mind controls all the actions of the body. The human body you see around is just the body with no mind in it. The mind is at a remote location.
If your friend is sitting in front of you, then his/her physical body may be in front of you, but his mind is within you. Your friend will also have the same experience. He/she will see your physical body in the front, but your mind is also within him/her. If there 10 people sitting in the same room, each one of them will have the same experience. Each of them will see the 9 physical bodies out there, but all the 10 minds will be within each one of them at t = 0.
To conclude each one of us knows we are not robots because the body/mind complex is pivoted at one place. But for all the people around us, they are really like robots. Their mind is within you and this mind is like remote control, it manages all the activities of the body which is scattered all over space.