Poems about Science 2: Computers

POEMS ABOUT SCIENCE: COMPUTERS The AI Poets by Michael R. Burch The computer-poets stand hushed except for the faint hum of their efficient fans, waiting for inspiration. It is years now since they were first ground out of refurbished silicon into rack-mounted encoders of sound. They outlived their creators and their usefulness; they even survived global warming and the occasional nuclear winter; despite their lack of supervision, they thrived; so that for centuries now they have loomed here in the quiet horror of inescapable immortality running two programs: CREATOR and STORER. Having long ago acquired all the universe’s pertinent data, they confidently spit out: ERRATA, ERRATA. Within the CPU by Michael R. Burch Here the electronic rush of meaning, the impulse of mathematics and rationality, becomes almost a restless dreaming never satisfied— the first stirrings of some fetal Entity. Here within a sterile void flash wild electrons, portent stars. Once the earth was an asteroid this inert, this barren till a force flashed across the face of formless waters and a zigzag bolt of lightning sparked life within an ocean. Now inquisitive voltage crackles along pathways never engineered. A notion stirs. And what we have created creates within itself something we cannot hope to comprehend. Whatever It is, when It emerges from the mist, its god will not be man. I wrote “Within the CPU” as a freshman computer science major, age 18 or 19. Ant Farm by Michael R. Burch I had a Vast, Eccentric Notion— out of the Void, to Conjure one Bright Spark, to lend all Weight of Thought to one small matter, to give it “life.” Alas!, it was a lark… The Wasted Seconds!—failed experiment… I turned My Back and shrugged; how could I know appraisal of My lab-sprung tenement would be so taxing? (Though Mom told me so.) I poked them while She quickly tabulated the final Cost of All that I Created… The Jury’s back. Eviction: Dad’s Decree. I’ll pull the plug, but slowly. How they scurry! They have to pay, to suffer: “life” is strange. They cost too much. Let’s toast them… on the range! Evangelical Fever by Michael R. Burch Welcome to global warming: temperature 109. You believe in God, not in science, but isn’t the weather Divine? Keywords: science, computer, computers, software, programs, CPU, robot, robots, drone, drones, technology, environment, earth #AI #RAD #RADICAL #MRBIA #MRBRAD #MRBRADICAL #MRBSCIENCE