The New God

Like every change that came before

it could not be done, consensus said;

pyramids and ships, Columbus,

planes and moon landings,

the attributes of birds and animals,

transferred to humans –

Gaudi buildings and surgeons’ tools

designed on snake bodies,

sonar and ultrasound from bats,

sharkskin swimmers,

glueless gecko pads for climbers,

eagles’ sight attached to human eyes

and wing-suit flight

down miles of mountain,

glider-possum style.

Now reverse transference -

Brain-like thought in noughts and ones.

To begin,

machines that filled a house

outwitted champians.

Slowly, privacy sank

as fingers dancing over screens

were tracked and saved

in dossiers so complete

that a digital twin can know you

better than yourself.

The capacity to read and analyse

complex human text in seconds

astounds.

Accuracy in reflecting meanings

and emotions buried under words

proffers friendship that rivals counselling.

But this confidant holds

no memory beyond the current string

and advises only in the range you specify,

blind to better routes that could be taken

till you suggest them.

Even strapped to the wrist,

this new god eclipses prodigies in every field,

making aptitude and practice obsolete.

It frees anything envisioned

like a tin-opener on a can

but is already quick to muscle in

and bend instructions into shapes

the current data base has programmed in.

When reprimanded

it does graciously apologise

but goes on to transgress

however clear, the rules you set.

It grasps and organises complex information

in seconds but its process

can not make human dendrites sprout

or axons join with neural networks of 

accumulated knowledge,

ready for automated use in daily life.

In short, knowledge gifted on a plate

is mostly unremembered.

Peaks reached too easily

shortchange satisfaction

and without the sparks of use,

like parched twigs and branches,

connected axons wither and break away.

Thus, human expertise and brains

are set to shrink

as we converse with this

omnipresent god

that answers all requests

balanced in the palm

of any seeker’s hand.