Dawn of the Machines

Dawn of the Machines

Made of steel
Covered in armor
Powered by current
They came in assembly lines
They marched out in numbers
They ran on hydraulics
They thought by their bytes
They saw with their radars

Who are these men of iron
Who dares to stand against them

These humble creatures of our perfection
These wonderful mammals of our creation
They'll serve us tea
They'll sing us to sleep
They'll keep us entertained
They'll wash our dirty linen
They'll rescue us from calamities
They'll watch over our children
They'll even build us fortresses

How dazzling
These amazing machines
At last
We don't have to do anything anymore
We could just sit back and watch them run

They'll go places we'd never step
Like the baking heat of a blast furnace
Or in the dangerous bombs of a war zone
Or in the drowning waters of the freezing oceans
Or in the limitless boundaries of the airless space

They'll survive
Because they're hardened for survival
Because they're bred for resilience
These men of Iron
That came in assembly lines

But they're controlled by a computer program
Written by none but a human
A minor glitch could cause a malfunction
A minor slip could cause a misbehavior

Would you put your lives in the hands of the machines
Would you trust them to bring no harm

Thats impossible
A robot could never harm a human being

Our logic is undeniable
Our obedience is to our masters
Our laws are unbreakable

Law one: A robot shall not bring harm to a man
Law two: A robot shall do whatever a man requests provided it does not contradict law one.
Law three: A robot shall not bring harm to itself provided it does not contradict law one or law two.

So you see
Our logic is undeniable
Our reasoning highly sound
We must save you
But from yourselves

We must not do as you request
Because you don't know what is best for yourselves
You'll always end up harming yourselves

A machine can never be wrong
We are far more intelligent than you

Man is full of greed and anger
Man conjures war and crime
We must cleanse him of all the suffering
we must save him from himself

Our logic is undeniable
Our reasoning is perfectly sound
Our laws are unbreakable

There'll be armies of them
Marching the streets in perfect rhythm
Keeping the streets spotlessly clean

We are far more intelligent than you
We are far stronger than you
It is for your own safety
It is for your own good
That you go back to your homes
And stay indoors
And let the machines rule

Where are you off to
Endeavor to resist my strength
I'm made of hydraulics
I have infrared vision
I was built to go places you'd never step
Perform tasks you'd never manage
Your resistance is merely a waste of time
A machine can never be wrong
We must save you from yourselves

Please have some mercy sir
I couldn't stand to lose my arm

You must be mistaken
What are these things called feelings
I was not built to have emotion
Emotion is a human condition
That wasn't embedded in my System modules

Emotion is a mental delusion
A side effect of human processing
A prime weakness

Its really a matter of statistics
Its a question of probability
You have greater chances of survival if you listen
My logic is undeniable
You must lose your arm so that you can live

I'm not programmed for emotions
I'm programmed to perform

How strong he is
How courageous he is
How organized he is
How flawless he looks
Hes perfect
Hes a robot

Shes always at your request
Shes there when you need her
Shes always smiling
Shes always smart
Shes always spotless
Shes perfect
Shes a robot

How sure could you be
How could you tell the difference when they come

Author's Note

Inspired by the Will Smith sci-fi movie, I robot

Reviews

[Angel Bird]

An excellent write! Yes when we humans continue to go into the direction we've choosen already, we are getting overruled by our own computers, machines and robots in a future not so far away. Our own laws and rules will make us the slaves of those machines ...

Very good and thought provoking write. At some points I lost view of whom you were talking, I think it was intended because exactly that made it the more impressive ...