Dei ex machina

Barriers are but temporary hurdles, stones in a river
Worn smooth by civilisation’s inexorable advance
From the minotaur to miniaturisation, time flows
Zeus diminished from omnipotence to impotence
Overseer made redundant, deafened and belittled
By the echo of “Eureka” in the Western deification of science
Technology reigns as religion’s ageless wars simmer on
In these times

Knowledge without wisdom
Information beyond ken
Wireless integration
Will augment the sight of men

In the eye of the beholder
There lies a vast machine
Enhancement for the user
To be told what they’ve seen

Will Google’s little whisper
Guide the turning head?
Accompanied by adverts
Whichever way you tread

Night-vision for those moments
When you’re on auto to the loo
But would the MS paperclip
Then tell you what to do?

Ocular projection
Your own heads up display
Describe yourself succinctly
Still stuck for words to say?

No need for Facebook status
When it’s written on your face
Look round a room of strangers
There are footnotes for this place

Where anyone you look at
Brings up a readme file
CV, dating, preferences
Public secrets and their smiles

Unrestricted public browsing
Setting privacy aside
The internet never forgets, they say
Nor you when it’s inside

First impressions without meeting
Just browse the database
Digitally branded?
Superimposed disgrace

Access to the World Wide Web
Vast store of human knowledge
Understanding through osmosis
Drip-fed distant learning college?

Each one’s an armchair expert
Pub quizzes just got easy
From self-contained infinity
To a daydream for the sleazy

Would ears then translate the gabble
Of a thousand foreign tongues?
In clipped pronunciation
Hear sing-song feedback sung?

Ten billion untapped voices
Waiting to be heard
Heed then in whatever way
The baying of the herd

Clamour for attention
All these voices in our heads
Connecting to the mainframe
Recharging in our beds

Recollections synced with servers
Download your own brain
A lifetime’s worth of images
The love, the joy, the pain

Share yourself with loved ones
Meld your lives together
Departed loving memory
Retained by yours forever

No HD with Dolby audio
All first person perspective
Replay ad infinitum
Second-hand yet still reflexive

Would the details remain unchanged?
No subjective recall skew
Could we face or bear it
Or have rose-tinted edits too?

Folders, files and paths
Rack your brain to find
Internal reorganisation
Have you lost your mind?

Eternal lives of others
One part of a great race
Entwined and integrated
Staring into space

What happens when you’re out of range?
Beyond 3G round here
Lost for words? Cat got your tongue?
So far, but yet so near

Infected with a virus?
No GP’s check today
Your friendly IT monkey
Will make sure you’re ok

Could this vision of the future
Be embraced with such a thrill?
All around where people moved
Now find them standing still

First email took our letters
Then mobiles warped our brains
We surfed the web with keyboards
And publicised our pains

Escapism became reality
Initial preserve of the rich
Then, with time, the upgrade
As each one made the switch

The WEEE Directive’s windfall
Computers weren’t much cop
No outlet for those flatscreens
Nor brand-new iPhone shop

Techno just got old school
From must-have to retro chic
Mobile phones were obsolete
As no-one had to speak

Infallible sense of direction
Sat-navs had their days
Now a certain type of radar
Reflects back the ways

Books and libraries had it
Hard and softback spine
No traipsing chavs with speakers
Just an inbuilt audio line

The unblinking digital sentinel’s spent
Replaced by you and me
Implants in our pets as well
Live streaming sight, you see

Everyone’s got an opinion
Find out what’s yours worth
Remote surveillance now in-house
Distinct lack of mirth

As you process private thoughts
The good, the bad, the ugly
Watch out what you wish for
As that tracker fits quite snugly

Big brother’s duly noted
One too many fights
Punished by denial
Who turned out the lights?

We’re a displaced crowd of bodies
Speaking without words
Flashing instant messages
Telepathic just unheard

New nightly dreams on pay-per-view
Then earn your daily bread
From office to home working
As effective in the ‘stead

Déjà vu became habitual
Presque vu from a quick glance
Jamais vu is not an option
Seen clearly in a trance

To fight, to fuck, to eat, to drink
Reality’s back to basics
Is this really evolution
Or a parody of The Matrix?

An opportunity for control
This one’s too good to miss
Unsurpassed and epic
Opposed by love’s sweet kiss