#culpability

Culpabilité

Aujourd’hui encore, je fais une erreur.

Je touche un objet,

Sans valeur, mais familier au creux de mes mains.

Un instant d'imprudence, un regret instantané.

Je m'en veux.

Mais le lendemain, tout ira mieux.

Aujourd’hui encore, je fais une erreur.

Je touche un objet,

Inutile, mais chargé de souvenirs.

Quelqu’un pleure, son sanglot perce l’air.

Je m'en veux.

Mais le soleil suivant, ça ira mieux.

Aujourd’hui encore, je fais une erreur.

Je touche une personne,

Seule, sans personne pour l'aider.

Elle pleure, Je sens ma faute.

Et je m'en veux.

Le lendemain, la douleur persiste.

Je tente de l’effacer.

La semaine d’après, j’aurai oublié.

Aujourd’hui encore, je fais une erreur.

Je touche une personne,

Entourée de rires, aimée.

Brisée, elle a pleuré. Son entourage aussi.

Je m'en suis voulu.

On m’accuse, je me sens acculé.

On me dit que je le regretterai toujours.

Mais le mois d’après, j’aurai oublié.

Aujourd’hui encore, je fais une erreur.

Je touche une personne,

Quelqu’un que j’aime.

Je m’en veux,

À tel point que je me le suis fait regretter.

Et jusqu’à aujourd’hui,

Je saigne,

Silencieusement, Atrocement.

—

Stayed up past my bedtime to finish this last night. Tightly plotted and full of surprises.

A thoughtful and provocative exploration of AI, morality and the consequences of ceding responsibility to algorithms.

An illumination from a book of hours, sixteenth century © Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford

* * * *

“Genesis acknowledges a crucial variable that is not present in the Babylonian epics—human culpability. To have been too noisy is more anodyne, even, than to have tasted an apple. But Adam and Eve disobeyed, doubted, tried to deceive. These are all complex acts of will. The old Christian theologies spoke of felix culpa, the fortunate fall. This is, in effect, another name for human agency, responsibility, even freedom. If we could do only those things God wills, we would not be truly free—although to discern the will of God and act on it is freedom. Our human nature as fallen and our human nature as divine have a dynamic, asymptotic relation with each other. The centrality of humankind in the creation myth of Genesis is from the beginning an immeasurable elevation of status, made meaningful in the fact of our interacting with God even at the level of sacred history. This is unique to the Bible and central to both Testaments. Could Moses really have refused to return to Egypt? Might Judas have refused to betray Jesus, who knew he must be betrayed? All this is related to the fact that the Bible does not exist to explain away mysteries and complexities but to reveal and explore them with a respect and restraint that resists conclusion.”

— Marilynne Robinson

Noun

A state of guilt or responsibility for a fault or wrong; blame.

The culpability of the phantom troupe is greater than just massacring the Kurta clan because not only did they kill the Kurta so they could sell their eyes for a high price on the black market, the phantom troupe also brutally tortured the Kurta before killing them, to ensure their eyes would turn.