Mind in the Machine

Master or slave?

Fear not that you will be hit by a bus.
Self-driving cars will soon be upon us.
Who would cross before a car on the street
If nobody was there to give them a beep?

Would you trust a seeing eye computer
To stop in time to avoid a scooter?
Can AI really figure it out
At a four-way stop and not cause a rout?

Man has been around, for thousands of years
Using his own brain, with blood, sweat and tears.
Yet now he is asked to give it a break
So a big black box, the lead it can take.

A machine makes less mistakes than a man
So the roads will be as safe as they can.
Yet what becomes of the skills we acquired
The purpose for which our brains have been wired?

Is it possible we may be displaced
By robots on which the future is based
Which can beat everything we can do
And on their own reproduce themselves too?

Then biological intelligence
Which of the universe has made such sense
Would be eclipsed by digital machines
Which take over the world and all its genes.

Yet, maybe there still is another way
In which humans can ever have their say.
The human brain could play a central role
And with its machines make a bigger whole
Connected via the digital space
To the remainder of the human race,
With devices implanted in their brain
Advantages over nature to gain.

Is this the brave new world we wish to see
Where there is no room left for poetry?
What then will become of the heart of man
When technology strives for all it can?

Maybe it’s time for us to call a stop
To then take a vote to wind back the clock.
But can we give up all that we have gained
Without our new lifestyles being constrained?