Chukat 5785: The Torah of Mortals and Machines

Might an obscure ancient ritual that has not been practiced in millennia have relevance for contemporary technology such as artificial intelligence? Let’s consider a curious turn of phrase in Parashat Chukat, “this is the Torah (of) a person who dies” (זאת התורה אדם כי ימות). Numbers 19 describes an unusual ritual to purify a living…