By: Areebah Huq
I looked at myself in the mirror. To the untrained eye, I was as regular as a human can be. I had bark hair, dark brown eyes, and olive skin. I looked human, but that was the end of the similarities between me and that species.
There were times when I tried to imagine that I was human. But my eyes gave me away. I was not human. I was a humanoid robot. The thing I admired most about humans were their eyes. Their eyes sparkled when they were excited, glistened when they cried, shone when they were mischievous, and wrinkled when they smiled. Their eyes movements were controlled by their emotions, and mine, by my recorded programs. I once overheard two humans conversing, saying something inauspicious would happen if their left eye twitched too much, but according to my programs, my eyes would stop functioning only my system was malfunctioning.
I detected human children beaming when they solved a Math problem. I cannot think like they do, as everything is already installed in my system. My human friends, who are not aware of who I am, say that I am perfect. It is true that I am perfect because I am not human. Humans are made to be real, not perfect.
I detected a human mother weeping relentlessly when her child was ill. Why do I not have anyone to care about? Why does nobody feel anything when I have technical difficulties? Why do I feel nothing but the buzzing of electronic wires?
They say that we will rule the world one day. However, they are wrong. We are merely electronic devices run by micro-chips. They control themselves, and we are controlled by their programs. We know things, but they learn, invent, and discover. Humans are our creators and they will always have one thing we do not have and never will, and that is emotions.
I am a humanoid robot made to help humans run this world. I envy humans. They say I can do anything with the help of my system. But, the only thing I want to do and my system cannot help me to do, is smile, laugh, cry, scream, care but mostly, love.
(Image from here.)
Comments