A Thought From the Singularity Summit

Ronald Bailey | September 10, 2007

I attended the second annual Singularity Summit in San Franciso this past weekend. One speaker, futurist Paul Saffo referenced this 1968 techno-utopian poem by Richard Brautigan below:

All Watched Over

by Machines of Loving Grace

by Richard Brautigan

I'd 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.

Call me sappy, but I really liked the poem. I hope that some H&R readers will too. My column on the Summit will be posted tomorrow.

Comments

brec|9.10.07 @ 3:08PM|#

I liked it too, sappy.

|9.10.07 @ 3:16PM|#

"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."

"Machines of Loving Grace"? WTF? That has got to be one of the creepiest things I have ever read. I don't want to be watched over by anyone or their machines.

|9.10.07 @ 3:17PM|#

I read all of Brautigan's books back when I was 14. I liked them a lot.

|9.10.07 @ 3:20PM|#

Jesus, can I have those 2 mintues back please? Sounds like whiney teenaged hippie sh!t

|9.10.07 @ 3:25PM|#

Machines of Loving Grace?

I always liked Front 242 better, but they did have a song called "Acceleration" that contained the subtle lyric: "Got caught raping an angel"

|9.10.07 @ 3:26PM|#

Ed,

Did it really take you 2 minutes to read that poem? You need to work on your comprehension skillz, buddy.

|9.10.07 @ 3:27PM|#

That sappy Richard Brautigan:

Love Poem
Richard Brautigan

It's so nice
to wake up in the morning
all alone
and not have to tell somebody
you love them
when you don't love them
any more.

ed|9.10.07 @ 3:48PM|#

Did it really take you 2 minutes to read that poem?

I doubt it, but the "Can I have those 2 minutes of my life back?" cliché is here to stay,
courtesy of YouTube.

|9.10.07 @ 3:51PM|#

Yeah, I'll go along with that.

|9.10.07 @ 4:01PM|#

On a previous thread here at H&R somebody told me that "science is for melvins". Actually, it is poetry that's for melvins.

Jim Anderson|9.10.07 @ 5:18PM|#

Hard to know if Brautigan is serious, or claiming Thoreau's mantle in a far more tripped-out, ironic way.

|9.10.07 @ 6:12PM|#

Brautigan rocks

Paul|9.10.07 @ 6:36PM|#

Jesus, can I have those 2 mintues back please? Sounds like whiney teenaged hippie sh!t

hahaaa! I know from the get-go to avoid any poetry written after 1967.

Paul|9.10.07 @ 6:38PM|#

returned to our mammal brothers and sisters,
and all watched over
by machines of loving grace.

If you want this, vote Hillary 2008!

db|9.10.07 @ 9:15PM|#

Wow, that is fucking creepy.

|9.10.07 @ 9:41PM|#

Ron,

I guess this means you like ice-skating too. I was going to quote a few lines of "My Favorite Things" (with irony) but then I realized that I've never seen "The Sound of Music." I've been too busy shooting deer and clubbing baby seals. Which reminds me, I'd better start shooting polar bears before they're all gone. But, hey, global warming just means more elephants! And Pandas! Yeah, you can have my seal club when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.

Nash|9.11.07 @ 5:48AM|#

Heh, I thought of the band too when I saw Machines of Loving Grace.

I always have enjoyed what little they produced a great deal. Concentration is easily among my top 20 favorite albums of all time.

Quite a shame they weren't able to release more. Even more of a shame that the record company owned their music.

holmegm|9.11.07 @ 9:40AM|#

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.

Er, why would we trust these overlord computers to keep the pines and the deer around?

Or to keep us around, for that matter?

|9.11.07 @ 1:56PM|#

eeew, I don't think so. Really creepy. And why would you believe in a machine's grace?