“All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace”

Has technology ever inconvenienced you or hurt you? Maybe technology got in your way, slowed you down or even literally hurt you? Have you seen technology have a negative impact on society?

I like to think (and
the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky.

I like to think
(right now, please!)
of a cybernetic forest
filled with pines and electronics
where deer stroll peacefully
past computers
as if they were flowers
with spinning blossoms.

I like to think
(it has to be!)
of a cybernetic ecology
where we are free of our labors
and joined back to nature,
returned to our mammal
brothers and sisters,
and all watched over
by machines of loving grace.


(1967) Richard Brautigan



Brautigan envisioned a cybernetic ecological utopia. A perfectly harmonious and stabilized system composed of animals and computers alike. Although I could easily argue on behalf of all aspects of technology, I do not believe such a world will ever exist. As cybernetics has advanced, it has not progressed to a stage that allows for the return to the balance of nature. In fact, it seems far from that.

My working definition of cybernetics will be of that proposed by Norbert Wiener, as “the study of control and communication in the animal and in the machine.”

There is a great hiatus between biology and technology. Although one can be made in the image of the other, they are not nearly as interconnected and interchangeable as we are made to believe. Biology is on an entirely new level of complexity.

I find the “one cannot live while the other survives” philosophy entirely applicable to this situation. The machine destroys the animal. And while we can try to protect the original balance of nature by utilizing this technology, we have really only created more problems by deviating from it. Humans are now ravaging the land by pumping artificial fertilizers into the soil to meet the demands of our economic system-fueled by technology-that will probably lead to the downfall of our race. (Alright, this is a bit of a “slippery slope” here. And it most definitely represents only one facet of technology.)*

However, this is not the only thing we have lost as a result of wide-spread technological advancement. Hand-held, portable devices such as cell phones, ipods, ipads, laptop computers, Global Positioning Systems, and calculators are now interwoven into our everyday lives. It is a stark misconception that these means of technology have solved all of our problems regarding navigation, knowledge, and human interaction. Without them, we cannot survive.

Today, we don’t have half the knowledge base some of our parents do, we have lost sight of how to engage in candid interaction with other people, and sometimes we can’t just google “how to escape a sinking car” before its too late.

Computers have failed to liberate us. Instead, they have shaped us in a manner that has “distorted and simplified our view of the world around us.” (Adam Curtis, 2011)

We need to come back to reality. Plopping your toddler in front of a TV all day will make her IQ plummet into the realm of borderline deficiency.

We need to become self-sufficient again. Use a map. Learn a language.

Needless to say, I cannot picture a deer strolling around in a forest full of computers. When I think of “cybernetic ecology” or “mutually programming harmony”, all that comes to mind is this:





Yeah. Those freaky jelly-filled bubbles with people in them.












There needs to be a distinct divide between nature and technology; just as there needs to be a rift between human beings and their beloved gadgets.


*Catastrophic thinking aside… I must admit technology saved my life. I don’t discourage cyborg advancements, nor do I frown upon all biology-related cybernetics. But it reaches a point where we are just kickin’ out new ideas and advancements before we even consider the implications.