The Artificial Thinker
In Rodin’s famous sculpture
The Thinker
The subject, deep in thought
Rests his chin on the back of his curled hand
There are memes on the internet in which
The subject, such as it is
Lifts its chin from its hand
Uncurled to hold the phone
Into which the subject stares
Unthinkingly
Thoughts, every one of which is an assertion
Replaced by adherence, each occasion a surrender
With corresponding shame repressed
Then projected on the other in aggression
But the hive mind that made us an angry hornet’s nest
Now must adjust to a new presence
In the cyborg’s mind/screen hybrid–
Artificial Intelligence mutates the command and control module
Inserting a specter that haunts our thoughtless conformity
Are we conforming to the desire of the other
Secure in the anxiety of known unknowns
Or has desire ghosted us altogether
Our inhuman cyborg anxiety ceding
To the machinelike nihilism of unknown unknowns
When no one even wants what they want
Because all desire has gone wanting
Me, I think I want only this–
That future generations are able to think for themselves
Perhaps arriving at the conclusion
That is the beginning of it all
There is at least one known known:
“God opens His hand and satisfies the desire of every living thing”
As the Siddur instructs–
Knowing this, think deeply upon its meaning
