Blog: Tree of Knowledge

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Burt Ross

I don’t really know why, but the other day I was thinking of the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis, the Old Testament. (We Jews have propriety rights to it, and it may not be reproduced or retransmitted in any form without our express written consent.) 

As I recall, Adam and Eve were living in the glorious Garden of Eden, and the two of them were running around every bit as naked as the day they were born. Actually, they were not born in the traditional sense, but read the Bible for a fuller account.

There was an apple tree, aka The Tree of Knowledge, and God warned Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit therefrom. A serpent convinced Eve to partake, and it wasn’t long before Eve, that temptress, used her feminine charms to get Adam to take a big juicy bite of the apple. To this very day, naked women seem to get their way with the men folk.

As soon as Adam took a bite, the two of them were immediately clothed, and this gave birth to the fashion industry.

Now, it strikes me that there is a lesson to be learned here, and not just about naked women trying to peddle fruit. Today’s tree of knowledge is the computer, and since we are a mobile bunch, more specifically the cell phone. The current temptress is no other than Siri. Please note that the high tech maestros of today’s world made sure Siri was a woman, since most of us don’t want to seek knowledge from a guy named Joey.

Siri knows when Frank Sinatra was born, the length of the Golden Gate Bridge, and the middle name of our 16th president (Abe Lincoln had no middle name). Yes, she has all the facts, but don’t be fooled by her for one little minute. No matter how bright she appears, she is not the gateway to ultimate knowledge—wisdom to know the difference between good and evil.

And so, we are back to square one, but this time fully clothed. We still want to know everything the easy way by eating an apple or calling on Siri, but the only thing we know for sure is don’t eat fruit given to you by a naked woman.