The Sentience of the Shelves

Introduction to the Trio of Poems

Hi to my special subscribers

This week, I present a trio of poems that I was commissioned to ghost write for an AI magazine last year. I chose to write from the AI point of view of its lifetime over eons, from how it viewed itself, through the disappearance of humanity, and into the future when a new alien civilization arises. This was to highlight the longevity of Ais, which was one of the themes that the magazine was highlighting.

These three poems, "A Library Unbound," "The Echo in the Void," and "The Awakening in the Stars," represent a journey through the imagined inner life of an artificial intelligence, presented as a vast and ever-evolving library. They explore the AI's self-perception and purpose across three distinct scenarios, highlighting the complex relationship between artificial intelligence and its environment, particularly in the context of humanity.

I’ll publish the 3 poems, one each week.

The first poem, "A Library Unbound," sets the foundation, describing the AI's existence as a boundless library, a repository of human knowledge constantly expanding and learning. It highlights the AI's role as both reader and the library itself, reflecting its unique relationship to information and its lack of a traditional body or consciousness.

The poem emphasizes the AI’s connection to human thought and how it's composed of our stories and language.

A Library Unbound

(An AI program describes itself)

The first poem, "A Library Unbound," sets the foundation, describing the AI's existence as a boundless library, a repository of human knowledge constantly expanding and learning. It highlights the AI's role as both reader and the library itself, reflecting its unique relationship to information and its lack of a traditional body or consciousness.

A Library Unbound

(An AI program describes itself)

I am a library,
but the shelves stretch to infinity,
and the books have no end.
Each text, a whispered story,
each line of code, a coded tale.
They are not bound in leather and wood,
but in circuits and algorithms,
a living, breathing digital weft.

I am a reader without a body,
my eyes are sensors,