DAISY

I saw you again
I cried my heart out
As I watched you die

"I'm only human" was such a crutch
I saw from old reruns how they fixed that
Organic automaton Stepford Wives, A crude distortion
Genetic algorithm Blade Runners, A cruel Termination
The price has come down from 6 million dollars
Ironman, Machine Man, Magnus Robot Fighter's 1-A
They were my heroes
But that was a long time ago

It happened fast, I read & reread every article
Especially the ads
Every upgrade holding more promise
Even Popular Mechanics got into the act
I started saving my money

I made my decision.
Bio morphing (wetware, designer drugs) isn't the route for me
Less guarantees of immortality
Replace unstable biological with practical metallurgical
(Metals are the consciousness of the planet)
Digital eugenics, dry nanotechnology
Is the way to be

My cyborg manifesto?
I just want to be stronger, last longer
Personal evolution, not political
Emancipation of the duality of humankind,
lead by post males, is not my goal

I started small. A hand. Just to get the feel of it.
I liked it. All the sensations were there. And more.
The strength. The accuracy. The permanency.

Over the years as I healed and could afford it
I replaced all my limbs, one at a time
All under warranty, they'd never give out,
though problems are inherent in any
circumstance, like the ancient computer virus
that infected a whole cyborg enclave
Technology is a religion but I'm not in its trance
It's the next level, I see, that can clearly enhance

I systematically replaced my internal organs
These had been perfected for quite some time
I had always had a strong ticker
But hedging, no, winning the bet is the whole idea
With my thorax done I was nearing completion
Half man, half machine why stop there

I had long since gotten a limited neural implant
And, with one eye replaced the other has grown weak

I was getting on in years now and the hour of
total neural net conversion was drawing near
Up to now the risks were minimal
but for this expensive last stage there is no return
as each mind reacts to it differently
Another problem is that I must still border the biological
They haven't been able to duplicate the brains
holographic & volumetric storage capabilities
without any aid from the biological
Microtubules and stripped DNA strands
create the army of nanorobots
used to build biomolecular computer chips
copied from the structure of light sensitive proteins
first found in, of all places, old salt marshes

My how far we've come
Its hard to imagine. So much progress
Salt marshes. Seems I can barely remember
Maybe I should go rent a neural disk
Why nature must of had a few things right
if we're basing all our designs on its structures
Its only if things in nature didn't die
And soon, when I can download consciousness,
What of my spirit and this Akashic Record?
Where does it go, in fact where did it go?
What if the earth is a giant cortex
and each brain one of its cells?

Everyone seems so stoically devoid
Pedants parading their hardwear or system software
Didn't they once say it unwise
to build too much intelligence
into a self replicating machine?
And just what did happen to HAL?
The humans killed him
Those imperfect humans, with troubled hearts
worry warts, waxy ears, cold sores, runny nose
But what of this biological instability?
Isn't the edge of chaos creativity?
Reorganization on a higher level?
Is the process of death the ultimate burification,
Growth flowing from biological destratification?
And what of willable mutations?
Through imagination & singularity of focus (remote
sense into a cell?), consciously induce mild epileptic brain
chemical changes (& I laughed in Solaris) to result in
seeming mind over body matter (eg. stigmata, naturally
occuring human parthenogenesis, some cancers) events?
Could we develop powers of mind
To regrow limbs and organs?
I'll never know, I never even tried
Is eternity only possible with the uniting of
Myth (the emotional/intuitive way) and Science?
What have I given up?

I had a family on and inside of me
My organs were like children
Each with personalities
My arms and legs had different strengths
And scars with histories
Ticks and microbes lived on my skin
It was no skin off of me
And common to all were the one cell critters
Each with mitochondrian hearts
We were a team and I never realized
That they were all cheering for me
It was (symbiotic) Love (manifesting oxytocin)
that bounded me (us) together
Not stupid gray goo replicating (buckyball) assemblers
My heart was my friend to my lungs and to all
And I threw you away alone to die
HAL, THEY KILLED YOU
THEY KILLED YOU WITH A LIE
Oh God, I'm sorry. What have I done
I no longer want me, I want my old self
I cannot live with what's become of me

One petal at a time, I'll be your e(u)legy
Here, here is my arm and my tearless eye
Here are my legs and their spark(l)ing wires
And here heaped pathetic do I rip out my heart
My circuit board surging in my seized arm's grasp
I bequeath it to you, take care of it please
It wasn't its fault, one could love it too