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Mammals and Machines
Doing some maintenance on my LJ-interests, I noticed they mostly fall into two broad categories: mammals, and machines. [Also food and data, but I think of them as life essentials rather than interests ;-) ]
I mentioned this to Google, and it showed me a poem:
All Watched over by Machines of Loving Grace
I like to think (and
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.
It's quite sweet and idealistic, yet makes me feel uneasy - I've probably watched too many Star Trek episodes where computers go a bit mad in humanity's best interests.
For context, this poem was printed in The Digger Papers in August 1968. The Diggers were a radical community-action group operating from Haight-Ashbury in the late 1960s, who combined street theater, anarcho-direct action, and art happenings in their social agenda of creating a Free City. The Diggers took their name from the original English Diggers (1649-50) who had promulgated a vision of society free from private property, and all forms of buying and selling. Their most famous activities revolved around distributing Free Food every day in the Park, and distributing "surplus energy" at a series of Free Stores (where everything was free for the taking.)
Information from
http://www.diggers.org
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diggers_%28theater%29
I mentioned this to Google, and it showed me a poem:
All Watched over by Machines of Loving Grace
I like to think (and
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.
It's quite sweet and idealistic, yet makes me feel uneasy - I've probably watched too many Star Trek episodes where computers go a bit mad in humanity's best interests.
For context, this poem was printed in The Digger Papers in August 1968. The Diggers were a radical community-action group operating from Haight-Ashbury in the late 1960s, who combined street theater, anarcho-direct action, and art happenings in their social agenda of creating a Free City. The Diggers took their name from the original English Diggers (1649-50) who had promulgated a vision of society free from private property, and all forms of buying and selling. Their most famous activities revolved around distributing Free Food every day in the Park, and distributing "surplus energy" at a series of Free Stores (where everything was free for the taking.)
Information from
http://www.diggers.org
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diggers_%28theater%29
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Note to self: Google also finds me this paper: All watched over by machines of loving grace: Some ethical guidelines for user experience in ubiquitous-computing settings
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Ethical interface guidelines? Intriguing.
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Same. And it's bringing to mind a children's SF book I read back in the 80s, buggered if I can remember the name of it though. The lead character lost her sight while defeating the computer though - things like retinas being burnt out I tend to remember.