This is how positively some people used to feel about technology back in the 1960s. Can we ever get there again? Probably not any time soon: there was a now-lost hope at the time, about how IT could potentially be a driver of positive changes in society; it’s hard to keep hold of that kind of idea at a time when anti-democratic eugenicists are increasingly concentrated in the higher realms of tech. But all is not lost. The 1960s had a lot of optimism. I’d like to see some of that now, misplaced or not.
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.
(Richard Brautigan, 1967)