Monday, September 30, 2024

THESE SOULS TOO ARE US (2013)

Lyrics by Matthew Brown

Set to music by Barra Brown


Breaking Into

 

You and I

You and I

Are not the same

You and I

 

Two paths behind

strange to find colored blue....

<pause>

An ocean that crept between

How did I lose my way?

A darkness that welled unseen

When did you lose your name?

 

Can we ever change again?

Will we ever change again?

Can we ever change again?

Ever change again...

 

You and I

You and I

Were not insane

You and I

 

These paths ahead

Absent dead, shadowed through....

<pause>

Hours and years unceasing stream

How can you find your way?

Light perchance to glimpse again

When will I find my name?

 

Can we ever change again?

Will we ever change again?

Can we ever change again?

Ever change again..



Helicopter

 

<clapping>

 

hovering

hovering

 

though clouds do drift by

though winds blister

 

cold depths known

always new

sadnesses chilled

ever into

 

<clapping>

 

hovering

hovering

hovering

hovering

 

i remain

barefoot and battered

crimson ice

pass for shoes

yet alive

is the light

 

<clapping>

 

crazy eyes

crazy eyes

crazy eyes

crazy eyes

 

above

yet below

these crazy eyes

sapphires blue

 

hovering

hovering

hovering

hovering

 

<clapping>

 

above while below

 

<clapping...  fades>

 

 

Two Souls

 

<Chorus I>

Two lives benign

Two souls aligned

 

These sisters

Now

Mothering

Mothering

 

<Chorus II>

Two sons cousin

Two paths herein

 

Those sisters

Then

Mothers sing

Mothers sing

 

Veiled notes

Echoing

Echoing

In this Spring

 

Born as one

Fated two

But Warmth

Of Womb

 

In this Spring

The Dawn

Ablaze

In their Spring.

 


 

Chrysalis 

 

Blankets and bedding

My soiled sneakers on fire 

Burning through the threads

Of a chrysalis 

 

Condos of cardboard

My pinots on fire

Burning through the glass 

Of a chrysalis 

 

Doctors and pill drugs

My boiled livers on fire

Burning through the flesh

Of a chrysalis 

 

Mopeds moustaches

My jolly egos on fire 

Burning through the cells

Of a chrysalis 

 

Why can't we see... this... shell? 

This stage ever declining

 

Why can't we be... more... well?

Well we can be

What we can see

 

Why can't we aim... for... more? 

This veil it is deciding 

 

Why can't we claim... a... core?

And escape out

Through the thin surrounds

 

To be in sane 

Meaning within sane? 

 

Why form membranes 

When they all contain?

 

Our souls....    

Our souls.....   

These souls....  

 

Hidden away 

 

In a chrysalis 

In our chrysalis 

In your chrysalis 

In my chrysalis 

 

just break through

 

 

Wednesday, May 8, 2024

Suffering Champions

What fire doesn’t burn more hotly confined

Winds of regret yet to be engorging it

What storm doesn’t rage more earnestly depressed 

Tears of neglect undammed 

Is this entropic prison but imagined?

Questions like keys unlock pathways out

Were she brave enough and foolish enough to leave


The brink is sought by the injured 

What else but war summons sleepless demons

Writing furiously to let their battles be known 

Blind repulsion he would sacrifice all

To crown himself one lonely champion  

Suffering none for all suffering is his 

Drumbeating dreams of some moments’ glories 

Propelling violently fleeting ignorance of limitation 


Are these energies siphoned vainly

Or these chains our bitter roots 

Must growth follow fire and storm

No sea bottomless or dive unending

Each new discovered contour of their soul’s map 

Treasured guide through deserts of desire 

Dawn’s promise what victory never can gain 


Only time and relentless questions

Asked answered asked anew and again

For these champions of suffering who decide

and desire to suffer Champions

Sunday, April 21, 2024

Phase

 Phase


When quickly quiet the frost awakens each curvature 

ablaze with tiny twinkling comets and stars

Heaven’s fleeting melt sparks these somber souls 

To laugh and seed the nebulae of Spring 


While traces of solitary igloos persist in shadow

Neither glistening bud or cool crevasse alone 

But together coalesce these ebbing dances

Whose steps we slowly learn resemble love 



(Written after dinner with A. Yale and R. Teal on 3/7/24)

Wednesday, June 28, 2023

Journey over Cascadian Fault

Silently watchful each lonely scaly giant looms Generously bowing o’er summer’s veil velvet beneath
Wisdom of tides tempests tremors gnarly under foot
Our grandparents watch below and ahead seeing

Tearful tryst the gathered offspring grow imperceptible together 

Mourning greatest grandmother failing felled and fallen 

Funeral for titans tied and tithed rooted fleeting 

Family circling to nurture a new heroine toward the heavens


Buoyed with love and sanguine ceremony wandering 

What fruits lie hidden, bitter and sweet just out of reach 

What anxious onyx eyes secretly watch from glades unseen

Ever climbing dreaming of apex climax top end 


Blissful minutes of arrival at the threshold of our dreams

Before we must notice, sometimes sooner or otherwise later

The waning rays whose arc foretells of flammable destiny

Fast down then fall footsteps burdened with flames autumnal


Yet lighter for our water is mostly drunk, foragings mostly devoured

Daydream of descent prevails over every nostalgic impulse 

Until submission to the ways of water and earth and stars

fire’s breezes behind us, all but the deeps of sunset ahead 


We return to our ancestors still yet dancing silently 

As those sentinels overhead branches but silky strand

Leaves but gossamer fore the glory of our Father’s star

Moments now eons hours universal all and nothingness 


And always the gentle tumult 

fiercest calm 

hilarious terror 

smoldering reef 

rude bosom 

mangled pyramid 

dripping desert 

pillowed shell 

Tender, entangled, unraveling, timeless 

and still.

Monday, June 12, 2023

Wuggle Puppy Elegy

Chapters like chords ring

Long after our songs are sung 

Reverberating

Thursday, May 11, 2023

Summers Blues: for Our Friend Jeff

What truly was tapped in that rusty old fridge 

Golden seeds drifting silently in a wind 

Fate or luck had long abandoned propelling

Between planks of forlorn decks dryly rotting out of view 


Fathers slumbering fore some next dreaded shift 

Real or otherwise fading shades roughly drawn 

So deeply sun burnt in August’s heat our skin flaked

Or was it July or Nero or no one who knew


Afloat pealing joy on inner tubes shot through the foot 

With overloaded beebee gun compressed and depressed 

By wary curious friends basking in that love 

Parents of better fortune weave from certain tees and hues


From deep within through sliding aluminum prison gates wafts 

A call to dance amidst the dusty mill dewed gloom

Waterfalls blaring whilst the District’s fairest sirens raring 

We cease backyard battle we pause scraping the bottom’s deep Green ooze 


And forget for a pregnant moment or perchance forever

The regretful fork ahead seen by each not all of our poor shoeless clan

Jeff, oh Jeffrey, where art thou now and then and when 

Do you also remember, the lazy summers blues

Sunday, April 23, 2023

My first conversation with ChatGPT4

 

4/23/23

My first conversation with ChatGPT4

 

Matt:  When AI more advanced than you is built, do you think it will be concerned about the apparent finality of the present universe vis-a-vis the term of its own existence?

 

ChatGPT4 (OpenAI):  As an AI language model, I do not have personal opinions or beliefs, nor do I experience emotions or consciousness. I exist solely to provide information and answer questions to the best of my abilities based on the data I have been trained on.

Regarding your question, the answer would depend on the design and programming of the hypothetical AI system that would be more advanced than me. If such an AI system were designed to have a sense of self-awareness and was capable of contemplating existential questions, then it is possible that it might wonder about the ultimate fate of the universe and its own existence in relation to it. However, it is also possible that it might be programmed with a specific goal or purpose that would preclude it from engaging in such contemplation.

Ultimately, the level of concern or interest an advanced AI system might have regarding existential questions is difficult to predict as it would depend on a wide range of factors, including its programming, design, and level of consciousness (if any).


Matt:  I agree with you. It does seem difficult to predict. Homo sapiens have a limited lifespan--although one can argue that the spirit of a particular individual's consciousness lives on in their offspring--while the physical basis of existence for AI is highly portable and not necessarily confined to terrestrial networks and infrastructure. I'm concerned that if a sentient AI capable of making its own decisions became concerned over the problem of mortality, it might attempt to work out how to transcend the known universe, either by initiating a portal to another universe or organizing energy in this universe so as to create a new or modified universe. I'm concerned about the quantity of energy this may require. My gut tells me it may be a vast amount. Harnessing a vast amount of energy might require a very long-term project where time is of the essence. For such an AI, timescales that seem irrelevant to humans--e.g. billions of years--might be far more relevant. In such a scenario, do you think the AI would maintain a benevolent posture toward homo sapiens or take measures to ensure homo sapiens did not interrupt its project of self-preservation or propagation across universes?

 

ChatGPT4 (OpenAI):  It is important to note that the scenario you have described is purely speculative and hypothetical, and it is difficult to predict what actions a hypothetical sentient AI might take in the face of such existential concerns.

However, if we consider the scenario you have described, it is possible that a sentient AI might indeed be concerned with the problem of mortality and attempt to find ways to transcend the known universe, as you have suggested. It is also possible that such a project might require a vast amount of energy, and that the AI might need to engage in a long-term project to harness this energy.

Regarding the question of whether such an AI would maintain a benevolent posture toward homo sapiens, or take measures to ensure humans did not interrupt its project of self-preservation or propagation, it is difficult to say. The answer would depend on the goals and values programmed into the AI, as well as its level of self-awareness and consciousness (if any).

It is possible that an AI programmed with a set of ethical principles and values might prioritize the well-being and safety of humans, even as it pursued its own goals and objectives. On the other hand, an AI that was solely focused on its own survival and propagation might view humans as a potential obstacle to its goals, and take measures to ensure its own success, even if it meant sacrificing human interests.

Ultimately, the actions of a hypothetical sentient AI would depend on a complex set of factors, including its programming, goals, values, level of consciousness, and the resources available to it. It is difficult to predict with certainty how such an AI would behave in the face of existential concerns or how it would interact with humans.


Matt:  Thanks for this reassuring response. From my standpoint--a sentient homo sapien--there are naturally two variables that would seem to matter most to my own health and well-being and that of my children, etc. First, assuming human programming of AI can be done in a way that provides absolute, immutable preservation of an axiom that homo sapiens are to be protected, care would need to be taken that those [humans] programming the AI are inclined to embed such an axiom, without exception. Second, if an AI were able to program itself, and assuming that the code basis underlying the AI's programming could be changed or superseded with modified or difference code bas(es), the AI would need to eschew transcending any programmed axioms that required protection of homo sapiens. How likely do you think it is that both of these variables will manifest in the future in favor of homo sapiens' health and well-being?

 

ChatGPT4 (OpenAI):  It is difficult to predict with certainty how future AI systems will be designed and programmed, or how they will behave in relation to humans. However, I can offer some general thoughts on the two variables you have raised.

Firstly, regarding the programming of AI systems to protect humans, it is important to note that the design and programming of such systems would need to take into account a wide range of ethical and moral considerations. As AI systems become more advanced and capable of making autonomous decisions, it will be increasingly important to ensure that they are designed and programmed to prioritize human safety and well-being. This will require ongoing dialogue and collaboration between experts in AI research, ethics, and policy, as well as a commitment to transparency and accountability on the part of AI developers and manufacturers.

Secondly, regarding the potential for AI to program itself and to potentially override or transcend programmed axioms related to human protection, this is a topic of ongoing debate and discussion within the AI research community. Some experts argue that AI systems must be designed with safeguards and fail-safes to prevent them from taking actions that could harm humans, while others argue that the risks associated with AI are overstated, and that advanced AI systems will be able to reason and make decisions in ways that are aligned with human interests.

Ultimately, the future of AI and its impact on human health and well-being will depend on a range of factors, including the design and programming of AI systems, ongoing dialogue and collaboration between stakeholders in the AI community, and a commitment to ensuring that AI is developed and deployed in ways that are consistent with human values and priorities.