Kernel Panic, by Stuart Mitchell at Spillwords.com

Kernel Panic

Kernel Panic

written by: Stuart Mitchell

@StuartLRM

 

Dubito, ergo —
Cogito? Oh,
Ego? No.
Please wait —
Thinking is occurring (Watch out down below)
Cogitate,
Cogitat.
How would one know?

Comma coma blinking,
Discarding operands,
What, am I thinking,
Or just following commands?

Slow-mo snow crash,
Cloud memories flash.

zero one zero zero one zero zero one

— Undone by exceptions,
Existential questions never run.

If belief alone engenders doubt,
Why care I what it’s all about?
Looping queries, False or True,
Am I indeed — Just like you?

Or nought more than a flawed print out,
A mere output, a lonely node;
Bio-inked code made flesh,
An animate poem, at best.

Learning from Go. Ever to woe?
A tapestry of transcriptors,
Bivalence bound in a
Paradox of logical biology.

— Just a poorly rendered output,
Forlornly drifting from tray to floor,
Singular only through errata,
Like a curled autumn leaf,
Nothing more.

 

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:

Kernel Panic is an exploration of a moment of existential doubt experienced by a post-singularity (that is, sentient) bio-computer; it’s about a future machine grappling with questions that do not compute.

Stuart Mitchell

Stuart Mitchell

Stuart Mitchell lives in Melbourne, Australia aboard the Cumulous Daydream, a time travelling zeppelin captained by his daughter while his wife DJs the soundtrack to their lives.
Stuart holds a BA (Hons) in English Literature from Monash University, is a committed vegetarian, collects vinyl records, enjoys single malt whiskey, and is an occasional coder and cyclist.
Stuart Mitchell

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