English for the New Millennium

1. All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace
This is a pretty unusual poem, particularly because it
deals with cyber issues that seem more relevant todaythan
they would have been when the book was published back
in 1968. The poem describes a utopia, or dystopia
depending upon how you interpret it, where nature exists
in balance and harmony with technology.
The poem describes a world in which "mammals and
computers live together in mutually programming
harmony", with technology acting as caretakers while "we
are free of our labors and joined back to nature. "This is a
trulyinterestingidea of theworld, seen as a perfect balance
between nature and technology.
On one hand, it evokes images of nature being
protected and nurtured by technology, existing in balance.
But at the same time, there is a sense that something is not
quite right. The imagery feels juxtaposed, like nature and
technology don’t really belong together, yet somehow,
they have come to accept each other and co-exist in spite
of their inherent differences.
So we have this idealistic vision here, where
technology frees us from our labors and provides us with
the opportunity to return to our natural state, allowing

2. computers to handle our mundane affairs. But as we all
know, this is not the case. We are watched over by the
machines of loving grace, but not in a beneficent manner.
Our actionsare tracked and theinformation is used, at best,
by corporationstrying to influence how we spend our time
and money. Our smart phones, instead of allowing us
freedom to walk in the woods, end up being digital chains
that keep us ever at the beck and call of employers who
demand more and more from us.
In conclusion, let’s take a step back and look at our
“cybernetic forest” and think about it. Do we really have
more freedom as a result of computers? Have our lives
really become easier and simpler over the past 40 or 50
years? Is the cyber-world we’ve created a utopia or a
dystopia?There are no easy answers to thesequestions, but
this poem challenges us to think carefully about those
questions, which is something we all should do.