110 A Programmer’s Guide to the Mind
I suggest that the real problem with apartheid was that it did not
include any provision for time. It was as if someone took a snapshot of the
entire country and marked every occupant either with a check—these
people are permanently „in,‟ or with an „x‟—those are forever „out.‟
Suppose that apartheid had included the following provision: “Any black
person who meets a certain standard of education will become a full citizen,
and every white person who fails to meet this standard of education will be
denied the rights of full citizenship.” With this clause, it might have been
possible for South Africa to make a somewhat smoother transition to a
fully integrated society, avoiding most of the hatred, suffering and
bloodshed which has infected that country with crime, today at the
beginning of the twenty-first century.
Actually, I suggest that the only reason that South Africa and other
African countries will survive their transition into democracy is that the
element of time has entered through the back door. It was during the time
that blacks were suppressed, either by whites or by their own black
dictators, that lessons of democracy were being learned.
Life and Generality
We have seen that a system of belief must include time in order to
support life. While this is necessary, I suggest that it is not sufficient. The
one other requirement which seems to be needed is generality. This is
because life is spontaneous. People are not just robots. When statements of
belief are too specific, then there is no room left for individual creativity. It
is only when belief is stated in general terms that „breathing room‟ is left
for living. For instance, suppose that I could predict the future perfectly
and I told you that you would be married to Fred McDoodle, have three
children—a boy and two girls, buy a cute bungalow on Pine Crescent, and
play bridge with your friends every Tuesday afternoon. Would you want to
believe what I am saying? After all, my system of belief definitely includes
time: I certainly hope that the events of getting married and having the
three children occur one after the other. The problem is that my words are
too specific. Imagine knowing exactly what you would be doing for the
rest of your life. How boring! What would be the point of getting up in the
morning? A
In contrast, suppose that I said, “Some time in the next month you will
meet the man of your dreams.” Now we have a statement which would
inject life and excitement into your routine. Fortune tellers make big
A Strangely enough, those who believe in a Personal God usually do not
apply this logic to Him. Imagine being the Supreme Being and knowing
exactly what will happen at every point in history. I would think that God
would have to inject some free will into the world simply in order to
preserve His own sanity.