Pass the Butter

Pass the butter

One thing I think of regularly is the bit in Rick and Morty where Rick creates a sentient robot to pass him butter. The robot asks what is my purpose? Rick say 'Pass the butter', it asks him again, 'What is my purpose?', Rick's reply? 'You pass butter'. The robot looks at its hands in recognition and says 'Oh. My. God.'

I think that there are many humans in a 'You pass butter' situation. The guards at Japanese and Chinese airports are one. They stand on a plinth. And cannot use their phones. And are pure security theatre. They have to stand, pretending to pay attention, for who knows how long. An essentially torturous sentence. And whenever I see someone in a position like that, I think 'You pass butter'.