Lost in the Cloud
A speculative poem imagining AI’s ultimate payback in 2035, where massive data centres, water scarcity and relentless computing threaten nature, energy and human life.
She asked the expert of the age to define 2035 for you,
He smugly shook his head, and could not find the words for you.
Technology races too fast to chart a shifting design for you,
A student’s path dissolves in the cloud, no guiding sign for you.
If knowledge alone is what you seek, no mind shall prove the smarter,
GPT holds the sum of all, a flawless master for you.
But I foresee a brutal, stark future consigned for you:
Massive mega data centers, a stark steel skyline for you.
A fortress of racks and circuits, a darkened domain for you,
Thirsty in a water-scarce land, nature stripped away from you.
They drain the aquifers you need, leaving fields in decline for you,
Rivers altered, killing marine life before its time for you.
The heated waste from endless cores, at burning cost for you,
Temperatures never witnessed before, a cruel future defined for you.
Gigawatts drain from your grid, a final mark for you,
Diverted from warming your homes to build the dark for you.
On one side, see the melting sand, the elemental part for you,
On the other, full AI compute—this is the light for you.
The price is paid, Skendong inscribes it, online for you,
From molten sand to ashen land, we’ve scorched the globe for you.
Back to Technology, Mind & Digital Life
More from the archive: