psychology CAN’T HELP MYSELF

Hadi Imtiyaz - Class IX

Who would have thought that an inanimate robot could teach us so much about emotions?

Sun Yuan and Peng Yu created the ‘can’t help myself’ robot/art piece in 2016. They created the robot with a fault, it had constant oil spils around it. Despite the fact that it was fuelled by electricity, it kept working, attempting to clean and collect oil in order to stay alive. All of this effort eventually resulted in the robot becoming slower and slower with each passing year until it died in 2019. The worst part is that the robot didn’t even need the oil; it merely kept chasing something for no reason till it perished. This robot is a work of art in and of itself. Art isn’t always what it appears to be. Art always reveals a deeper message. This robot can do more than just clean oil. It exposes a great deal about our own lives. About how we are all so focused on pursuing success that we ignore the more important aspects of life. Don’t you think chasing is all there is to life? Do we ever pause to question whether we truly require what we seek? Everybody you encounter is on the prowl for something, whether it is a great home, a nice car, a nice job, or anything else. Everyone is constantly on the hunt. People are motivated to get up every day and complete their work because of this pursuit. The question is whether they are chasing the goal that they are chasing or the sense of accomplishing something. Nobody likes the sensation of being stuck, and being in one place does not actually satisfy our basic human nature. We are creatures that require a goal to pursue in life. When picking what to chase, that’s when we make the blunders. Let’s take the example of the robot for instance, the oil that it had spilled around itself was not necessary for it’s survival was it? No it was not. The robot ran on electricity, it had absolutely no reason to clean the oil, yet it did. This is what we do as well in our lives. We chase things mindlessly. We need to sit down and think about what our end goal should be, it should be peace, not extravagance. It should be happiness, not extravagance. It should be love, not extravagance. Chase what you are made to chase as a human, not what the world wants you to. After the robot died, it’s name got changed from “Can’t help myself” to “Couldn’t help myself”. Don’t be a couldn’t, be a did.