I think the poem ‘All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace’, by Richard Brautigan is an excellent way to sum up a lot of the ideas in TTDoT. Having gone through my own techno-utopian phase, I’m well acquainted with the ideas…
This commentator on the all poetry blog said:
Cornus – Richard nailed it. It’s the only possible future for humans upon Earth that does not contain a great extinction of life. The idea has been around for a while, Arthur C. Clarke’s ‘Childhood’s End’. Humans organizational competency ended in the early Bronze Age. Any form of government beyond clan and tribe has ended in failure because humans are the weak link. Conscious machines, ever more capable than humans, are the planets only hope, not humans.
Me: Childhood’s End is a wonderful book. Full of occult symbolism with a dark but fascinating message. A must read for all dreamers.
All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace
the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky.I like to think
(right now, please!)
of a cybernetic forest
filled with pines and electronics
where deer stroll peacefully
past computers
as if they were flowers
with spinning blossoms.I like to think
(it has to be!)
of a cybernetic ecology
where we are free of our labors
and joined back to nature,
returned to our mammal
brothers and sisters,
and all watched over
by machines of loving grace.