ROBOTS CRY, TOO

An Adaptation
As Robie entered the bookstore, his sensor noticed an attractive sign by the shelves of
greeting card. It read, “Always give your family a gft of love.” Then, the labels Mother, Father,
Brother, Sister, and Friend flashed against Robie’s sensor. His antennae dropped as he thought,
“What is a loved one? What is a family? What is a mother, a brother, a sister, or a friend?”
Then, up came a pretty girl. She looked at some gift items at a nearby counter. Robie’s
sensor light blinked red. A human child like the girl would know about family.
Robie boldly asked her, “Tell me, please, what is a loved one? What gifts do you give your
loved ones?”
“Sorry, but I don’t know,” came the reply. “I don’t usually give them anything. Father,
Mother, my sister Alice, and my little brother Joshua don’t expect anything from me, anyway. But
perhaps, this time. . . Excuse me. I have to go.” And the pretty girl disappeared.
Robie thought about the girl’s reply. He thought he now had an idea of the meaning of
loved one, family, and so on. But he had an errand to do and he set about it. He delivered a box of
Thank-You cards to the manager of the bookstore. And for this, he received a hundred-peso bill.
As he received the money, his sensory light quickly flashed green. The pretty girl appeared once
more. This time, the girl went to the greeting card shelves. With her little fingers, she picked out
one card after another, read the message, and then, turned it over to see the tag price, then she
shook her head as she quickly returned each card and to the shelf. Once more, she disappeared
from Robie’s sensor.
Just then, the pretty girl reappeared. She now had with her a little box that jingled with
coins. She poured out the coins at the counter.
 With a smile, the store cashier said, “Looks like you’re ready to spend your savings.”
“Yes, I am,” the pretty girl replied. “I’ll give my family these little gifts as a sign of my
love even if they already know I love them. Exactly,- eighty pesos for this comb for Mother, a
handkerchief for Father, a pencil case for my brother, and a set of crayons for my sister.”
Hearing this, Robbie’s antennae stood straight up. His sensor flashed purple. The pretty
girl’s family was so lucky, he thought. He rolled up to the pretty girl.
Holding out the cards, Robie pleaded, “Please accept this greeting card for you and give
the rest to your family. Tell them that a small robot loves them.”
Tears of joy rolled down Robie’s metallic eyes as he rolled out of the bookstore, his wheels
clicking noisily and merrily, perhaps the most merrily ever!
 THE HUMAN BRAIN VERSUS THE COMPUTER
by Rodel Motril Aguirre

There are lots of stories about the superiority of computers over human brains. The most

important questions we can probably ask are: “Has mankind finally invented something that is

better than the human brain? Which is actually better, the human brain or the computer? Will

computers replace what the human brain can do?” We may not be able to give you direct answers

to these questions but we will present some differences between the human brain and computers.

Let us start with speed of processing of the human brain and the computer. The brain uses

chemicals to transmit information while the computer uses electricity. Even though signals travel
at high speeds in the nervous system, information travels even faster through the wires in a

computer. In this category, we could say that the computer is far more superior than the human

brain. So we give one point to computers.

Another point of comparison is the memory capacity. Memory capacity of the brain grows

through reading books, interacting with people, studying and listening to lectures and discussions,

learning new things, and many other activities; while memory capacity of computers grows by

adding computer chips. In this category, we could say that the human brain is much more superior

than the computer. So we give one point to the human brain.

Final point of comparison is making decisions. The brain can use a lot of information from

one’s past experiences and even others. The brain is able to judge whether the decision is good or

bad. While the computer can only make decisions based on how it was programmed. It cannot

process and make outputs beyond what it was created for. Clearly, this category is another point

for the human brain.