Tuesday, April 23, 2013


Cerebral Goldfish

So what shall we say of individual intelligence
Where does it mesh within the cerebral hierarchy?
Am I usefully intelligent? Are any of us really so?
For the great waking technologies we now laud
May to others from further reaches of the cosmos
Be nothing but tawdry Heath-Robinson* inventions
Badly constructed with a tape and string knowledge
Flawed theorems executed without due diligence
Or perhaps it really is the master key to unlock all
Quench our need to understand the how and why
To dissipate wonder into the cloud of innovation
To in the end discover life is as simple as numbers
Just sequences of sentience scattered with errors
And science has discovered the way to correct them
I do not need to have the greatest intelligence
To know that is the most chilling scenario of all
 
* In the UK, the term "Heath Robinson" has entered the language as a description of any unnecessarily complex and implausible contraption, similar to "Rube Goldberg" in the U.S. "Heath Robinson" is perhaps more often used in relation to temporary fixes using ingenuity and whatever is to hand, often string and tape, or unlikely cannibalisations. Its popularity is undoubtedly linked to Second World War Britain's shortages and the need to "make do and mend".