No Killing Moths. It’s a line from Radiohead’s “Fitter Happier” off the album OK Computer. While the line inspired the poem, it was the song and album that inspired the context, the ‘persona’ of the transmission: [AI COMPANION], an artificial intelligence steward that helps run the ships of the Proxima Centauri mission, the tag line of the company as the invented bio: “The next consciousness is the next universe.”
Considering the future of AI can yield stories that range from the dystopian (Skynet from Terminator) to the utopian (Data or Zora from Star Trek) and everything in between. I’m more in the Skynet camp–or Weapons of Math Destruction–but I’m also charmed by puffy robot versions like Baymax from Big Hero 6.
I decided to confront my AI distaste through the context of this poem. I imagined [AI COMPANION] as corporate AI designed to serve client needs–the client in this case the Proxima Centauri mission. This AI steward is programmed to support the flora and fauna of the Ark, ship that ferries the biota we humans rely upon for our existence. It’s meant to be a bit benevolent…also a bit creepy. I mean, what would it do if you disobeyed the directive?
Not that you should kill moths. Please don’t, for all the reasons listed in the poem. Plus: moths are cool.
No Killing Moths is a companion poem to my prior Project Abeona offering, What Noah Knew.
No generative AI was used in the creation of this work.
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