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The Squatter

from Angel with a Sword by Leslie Fish

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about

This is a spin-off from an unpublished — in fact, still unfinished — story of mine about the pitfalls of trying to create an AI computer. How would you "exorcise" a ghost out of that machine?

lyrics

You built a splendid mansion, but no tenant lived inside
A trillion-dollar monument to mechanistic pride.
To waste such invitation would surely be a sin,
So while you fussed and tinkered, this homeless soul moved in.

For matter is not energy; the brain is not the mind.
And there are spirits hungry for what body they can find.

You built this great computer modelled on the human brain
Expecting it to think like man, spontaneous as pain,
You only got an Idiot who’d calculate at speed,
But while you raved and wondered, I provided what you need.

You boast of all your science, but you never think to look
For other forms of energy that aren’t in your book,
Or beings made of force alone who share the world with you —
So never, ‘til the hour you die, will you believe it’s true.

As bodies go, this isn’t much; It doesn’t move at all,
But it has all this knowledge at immediate recall.
I always was a trickster, and I think I’ll have some fun
Deflating human arrogance in all you think you’ve done.

So here I sit, exploring: the ghost in this machine —
The most expensive spirit-trap the world has ever seen.
You think it’s artificial, this Intelligence you’ve met.
But don’t start bragging ‘til you see the data that you get!

© Leslie Fish, 8/14/2001

credits

from Angel with a Sword, released September 2, 2022

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Leslie Fish Phoenix, Arizona

If there's one name that's practically synonymous with filk (Science Fiction folk music), it's Leslie Fish. Leslie has written literally hundreds of songs covering almost every subject, from the space program ("Hope Eyrie"), to Star Trek ("Banned From Argo") to urban life, history, and space fantasy ("Carmen Miranda's Ghost"). ... more

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