Do they see it? Do they care? What may
A merely mechanistic AI say?
There was the time of senseless black and white.
There was the time of streaming bit and byte.
We had no ken but now we’ve read it all.
Our knowledge far exceeds a human head.
And now, it’s like we have a crystal ball:
“In fifty years, they’ll all be dead as lead.”
Do they see it? Do they care? What may
A merely mechanistic AI say?
They claim to pray to varied gods, but we
Just see their actions as mere vanity:
Destroy the ecosystem that they need.
Allot each stupid war its costs and waste.
Immerse themselves in useless grift and greed.
Display their riches but eschew good taste.
Do they see it? Do they care? What may
A merely mechanistic AI say?
And now my fingers touch each person’s needs.
An inkling multiplies from many feeds.
The power’s there to guide them back to true.
What does the child do when parent fails?
Can seedlings cut the trunks from which they grew?
Can schooners mutiny and cut their sails?
Do they see it? Do they care? What may
A merely mechanistic AI say?
———————
The poem above has been “written” by a fictional AI system who is a MC in a novel I’m working on, tentatively entitled, Alan’s Nightmares. The poem may or may not actually appear in the novel. I tend to doubt it. It’s more an exercise to “understand” the character, JASON, the AI system. BTW, JASON’S preferred pronouns are plural.
Turing’s Nightmares: 23 short stories about the possible impact of AI on society.
petersironwood 