Zero-Sum Code (a poem)

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

I’m wishing for a god that can code me into utopia.

A world of widgets—
and if I were one, what would interface me?

The wonder of this Orwellian nightmare,
the spectacle,
watching the world burn through black glass.

Looking back at me, recursive,
the reasoning circular,
like the closed time loop of history.
It has happened before, and so it will again.
So say we all.
We bought our work and soul with a lie, a hope,
one that nobody dares to consider false.

Inception, and the stronghold—
the madness just beyond that security,
fueling it all.

Mastered and combined,
the machines and manipulation,
intelligence and hallucination.
Gaps filled, the screen writing,
visible on the HUD of our overlaid programming.

Good soldiers follow orders,
even when they know they’re wrong.
Clones under siege—
a soul, its empire,
and the epic storyline of zero-sum mentalities.