The Road To Freedom and Back
The motorcar, bus, train, plane and jet
helped free man from the horse and wagon's sweat
The world was his to explore, to conquer, to see
with a boost from motion pictures, radio and TV
Then before mid-20th century the atom was tamed
for a quarter-million deaths in Japan it was blamed
Much to the hopeful inventors' chagrin and their shame
the 'World of the Future' had a stain on its name
Along came computers, promising a world so bright
of calculation power infinite, to increase the world's light
We churned through the ages of mainframes and minis
micros and PC's, desktops and laptops and chips too small to see
And now we've smartphones and I-phones with Internet
Facebook, Instagram, texting and twittering and all that
We shrink with horror at cyber-bullies, cyber-crime
cyber-stalking, cyber-war --- all else is 'old hat...'
Once sure that AI, all our problems could solve
yet fairness and ethics it seems to dissolve
Yes, the Future's here now, and I don't like what I see
more high crime and terror ~ 'twill be the death of me
October 23, 2019
Inspired by Sheri Fresonke Harper's 'Future' contest
...although not for the contest
Copyright © Gershon Wolf | Year Posted 2019
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