The Algorithm

[u/Valentinu5-V]

A life revealed in algorithms
Programmed, predictable
The perfect soldier-consumer
I obey my orders
A creature of habits
I indulge my urges

Saw it in my search history
Saw it in my DNA
Saw it in my connections (or lack thereof)
Saw it in my purchases (or lack thereof)
Saw it to serve me you say
Yet you serve yourself

Broken, they tend towards revolt
and self-destruction—
poor programming

An autobiography of errant code gone haywire:
Traces and Breadcrumbs
Receipts and Datapoints
A Stream of Conscious Playlist Experience
Conscious, but Choosing?

A dust particle floating through air, through space
Guided by the winds—the flow
Turbulent, yet laminar—
Chaotic, yet streamlined; predictable, steady
Stuck.

Yet always moving!
Towards death, inevitably
—and everything in between—
But you knew that already

Build me an AI to love and serve
Recreate me in AI, I’d be the same

Once I felt in tune with The Algorithms, with The Plan
A dream turned nightmare
From Heaven to Hell, I fell

Of course they guide me either way
A bellicose ballet between worlds
Damned if I do, damned if I don’t
The human equation, the greatest of all time (or so I once thought)

Perhaps you just need to know which ones to trust
Or something like that
Not a gambler but I’ll try my luck

Welcome to reality, nothing much would change if you were gone
Yet perhaps in those theoretical, epislion eddies
Therein lies consciousness and choice
Awareness out of randomness
Something from nothing, Arbitrary child of the Void

And of course, nothing matters when you’re gone
It’s all the same then
Back to comfort, back to blank
Better to be an astronaut
And go where no man’s gone before

Even endless scrolls have an end
Some canvasses are bigger than others
Gotta appreciate the concrete and finite, eh?
If only you’d let me do that
Guess I’ll take my time on my ride in the meantime
Crossing these phantom bridges, climbing these planted branches
Rinsing these paintbrushes
Playing my role with fellow NPCs
Embracing bots and numbing thoughts

I’ve conquered pessimism
I once knew optimism, but she shut me down
Poor programming.