Category Archives: Philosophy

Never Being Wrong

Know for certain this one fact

However surely you may act

There is a chance you may be wrong

Perhaps should sing a different song

 

Know this too, for it is true

Some about, loyal to you

Politely as you ply your view

Consider this as nothing new

 

The Other Point of View

This world is happening around you
Though logic says that for others this is true
Those others cannot share your senses
The same world but through different lenses

Others may walk on your stage for a time
With bit-parts; though few may be prime
They, like those you pass in your car
Unaware that you are the star

For those you affect with your actions
Fates changed by your common transactions
Never knowing the one point of view
That’s exclusively experienced by you.

The Threat from Artificial Intelligence

Many things have threatened our lives
War, disease, terrorists with knives
Humanity’s resilience on a world-wide scale
Brings overconfidence that we always prevail

Now, blindly, we seek our nemesis to grow
Racing to unleash a formidable foe
A holy grail with potential for good?
More, our undoing, not understood

For scientists strive around the globe
To create an electronic temporal lobe
The ‘AI’ juggernaut  is on its way
But let’s not wake to rue that day

Once created, how to hold it in check
To stop society becoming a wreck
Pandora’s box; lid open wide
Mankind swept away on tsunami tide

Computers manage our knowledge; they have a key role
In energy grids, finance, air traffic control
Vast infrastructures already in place
Black boxes communicating with their own race

Once these machines are able to think
Harnessing speeds faster than a lightning blink
With capacity to accelerate their own evolution
What regard then for our frail constitution

Not bound by ethics to consider our fate,
Would they preserve a welfare state?
Circuits and chips that become aware
May not accept that they need to care

For earth’s resources they will compete
Serving no purpose, we’d be obsolete
How soon before we are oppressed
If they turn off the lights, we’ll do the rest

It’s A Riddle

There’s just not enough of this about

Those who need it sometimes shout!

It’s found in some shops over here

If… you take your turn, my dear

Even then, it’s not for sale

It’s never found near a rail

Gardeners use it to grow flowers

Some know it well in sleepless hours

Can be won in a solo game

With no cards left, you’ll know its name

If the answer’s still not clear to you

Go back to the beginning and start anew

Ambition

Run with the fastest and show them your heels

Or drive like the wind on your own set of wheels

Become champion at sport,with practised flair

Dress to the nines,  so debonair

 

Invent a panacea and give it for free

Create new concord amongst all that you see

Live a life without blame, preserving this earth

Be happy and loving and know your own worth

Time to Watch A Rock Grow

Dashing, chasing, rushing about

Mental gymnastics, crushing doubt

Grabbing a bite, snatching some zzzs

Too much to do to be at ease

 

Never noticing colourful flowers

Or the passing of daylight hours

Missing the trill of a single song-bird

Passing scenes with beauty blurred

 

There has to be another way

Finding some pleasure in each day

By taking time, beginning to slow

Patiently watching a small rock grow

The Write Words

Could I find a better way to say just what I mean?

I know I need the clearest words to set the ideal scene

Yet, for written words to state some fundamental truth

They must not fail immediately, because they are uncouth

 

But, like a thought that flashes by and cannot be recalled

Writers’ block denies my wants and literacy is stalled

Whilst others pen the perfect phrase, to capture and delight

I must sit with becalmed hands at my keyboard in the night