All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace

In 1967, Richard Brautigan wrote a poem entitled “All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace.”   The poem was published within a collection of poems under the same title.  According to Wikipedia, 1,500 copies of the 36-page collection were printed at the Communication Company, and all were given away for free.

"All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace" is Brautigan's most frequently reprinted poem.   In the original 1967 publication, Brautigan included a copyleft statement which retains copyright but grants permission to reprint any poem in the collection so long as it's given away for free.    

I am not going to make you read the poem here.  But I will tell you, the poem is a somewhat over-optimistic view of a future where man and beast cohabitate happily with machines. 

We are now watched over by machines.  Drones and cameras.  Our automobiles are now attempting to drive us from place to place.  We regularly converse with our cars and devices within our homes.

I am a little suspicious about some of this.

Today, I am posting a video showing the grace and agility of a robot.  Not the attitudinal grace invoked by Richard Brautigan, but physical grace.  Astounding grace.  The robot in the video is from Boston Dynamics. 

For some reason, this frightens me a little.  What if this machine was coming after me?  How farfetched is that?

—Mitchell Hegman

Video Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sBBaNYex3E