Avatar Blues

image borrowed from bing

Avatar Blues

“We are not the only avatars of humanity. Once our

computing machines achieve self-consciousness,

they will become part of this design.”--- Dan Simmons

Assimov is smiling as the legacy of Robbie & Hal

has morphed into fingers of reality, for robots

are already everywhere, and we can easily find

those marvelous machines in factories, hospitals,

schools, on the battlefield--assisting surgeons,

building cars, conducting reconnaissance,

clearing minefields & disarming bombs,

or roving around on Mars.

This is hardcore science fact, not fiction,

and we can read every day about the

latest robotic achievements.

There are a group of RFFs, or

Robots for Fun, like BIGDOG

from Boston Dynamics, a gas-powered

hydraulic quadraped that moves animal-like

and can adapt easily to different terrains,

or the WF-4RIV from Waseda University,

a mechanical flutist that can flawlessly

play “The Flight of the Bumblebee.”

or the ROBOVOX, an 8 foot tall structure

that can receive text messages and read

them aloud on giant speakers,

or the Ever 1, a Korean android that can

move its upper body, speak, and make

facial expressions while delivering

lectures or public service announcements;

and already we amass those RPUs,

Robots for Pragmatic Use, like the

Northrop Grumman X-47B, that can land

on an aircraft carrier using only computer

systems, without human babysitters,

or the famous Roomba from iRobot

that will vacuum your floors,

or the Lettuce Bot that is refrigerator-

sized, pulled by a tractor over

a field of iceberg lettuce, doing the

thinning of 20 workers,

or the AMouse that has artificial whiskers

to help navigate it in tight spaces, and

can explore confined surroundings.

So we have to ask ourselves, which

will be more effective, human clones

or robots to perform mind-dulling

factory work, mining, or domestic chores?

What about turning those sad plastic love dolls

into warm synthetic androids, or boxers

& football players into metal combatants 

that can just be rebuilt after a defeat,

robotic cock & dog fighting that would

save the animals and possibly boost our

food supply choices in the future?

Technology has changed humanity,

completely captivated our youth,

and fascinated the rest of us.

But will our worst nightmares about

demonic sentient machines repairing

themselves and propagating a separate

species come to pass?

The pitfalls, tragedies, and mistakes

that accompany computer-controlled

aircraft, vehicles, highways, theme parks

have not fully revealed themselves yet,

and it is unclear as to whether we will be

in control or under the control of this

artificial intelligence;

when the crisis comes will God help us,

sending us another Christ avatar, or

will we finally realize that we have always

been just android puppets of a mechanical

diety, that there will be no humane pity

for our self-induced plight, and that

regardless of our feelings we discover

that “resistance is futile.”

Glenn Buttkus

Posted over on dVerse Poets OLN

Would you like to hear the author read this poem to you?