A Thought From the Singularity Summit

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.