Ladies and Gentlemen

Just some of my reflections on virtual reality and artificial intelligence.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you please

under the spotlight, you will see 

a most remarkable… facsimile 

so lifelike, so real

it is a wonder of industry!

fashioned strictly for your appeal

this muse a marvel of ministry

a ruse submitted for your reveal

to your virtual reality

for your notions, sign and seal

please don’t question its authenticity

as you behold these sights surreal

to your conclusions thoughts ideal

in your virtual reality

your avatar just looks so fine

who needs wrinkles and laugh lines

a spot of Botox by design 

a little touch up here and there

a nip a tuck a little more hair

some augmentation for some flair

in your virtual reality

it is not hard for me to see

how the complicity

of almost true… has come to be

but I prefer some actuality

a strange virtue… in my reality

call me freakish and obscene

but a virtual handshake’s not for me

I much enjoy the touch

of another’s hand to clutch

and the feel of a gentle breeze 

that tickles my skin and gives me ease 

to an air conditioned freeze

the taste of simulated cheese

simply, does not appease 

all those artificial flavors

don’t really do us, any favors 

if I gave my love some plastic flowers

my eyes would meet with such a glower

they are a bit caustic and smell sour 

for the sense of almost real 

will not elicit many feels 

the virtue of virtual of truth unreal

seems to me...

like quite a steal

Reviews

[Robert James]

I started programing computers in college back in the days of key punch machines, I never took the occupation seriously too busy getting drunk and reciting houseman but I used those programing skills though out a long and checkered business career. My observation over all those decades of dedicated code hackers is that all along that virtual world was the preferred reality. The digital social net they have built for themselves is where they wish to live. But what is our excuse exchanging verse in pixels on a screen. You've made me think, not entirely as you intended perhaps, but that is what poetry is for isn't?

For that Thank you!

[Robert Trakofler]

Oh what fun that is my name… Robert James:) wow key punch cards I remember those things! Honestly I too grapple with posting poetry online but in many ways the printed page is dead there are so few magazines that publish poetry for the sake of poetry that it is nearly impossible to get your word across the world anymore! Now it is true that some of us write behind masks and that in itself becomes an avatar but I have found that when anyone truly emotes with words under pretense or authentic we crazed poets generally can sniff out the truth

[Robert Trakofler]

Psst thank you for taking the time to read this

[Robert James]

my pleasure, thanks for lettin me emote on your comment page ;-)

[Ern M. Yoshimoto]

the ascenscion of VR is going to raise many questions. i am personally not buying into this panacea, i think it is false and driven by tech-fetishism. not that i am a luddite, i just wish the smartest people in the world invent something that actually helps people.
but i enjoyed this work of satire. it articulates a lot of my reservations for this new emerging tech. i believe people being drawn to it are lacking things in their real life. meta or any any of their clones are not the answer to their problems. human connection, real connection, is the only cure.

[Robert Trakofler]

LOL it is precisely why I believe a Donald Drumph can retake his office people are so disconnected with reality

[Ern M. Yoshimoto]

the MAGA hats i find both threatening and pathetic. while they are capable of violence, it looks more like a toddler acting out. it's obvious to me they have unmet emotional needs and jumping at the chance to act out aggression... not that i know a cure to all this. next 4 years, i will resist fascism wherever possible.

[Robert Trakofler]

somebody once whispered in my ear that the incessant need for conspiracy theories is a need for some kind of control the dynamics of which still eludes me but I sense they might be on to something

[robert harris jr]

very nice poem great use of rhythm and structure hold one topic at hand

[Robert Trakofler]

lol this is one of the very few poems I still like over time they tend to lose their luster with me lol

[Beccy]

'your avatar just looks so fine
who needs wrinkles and laugh lines
a spot of Botox by design '

How very true Robert. A very large part of what we see nowadays has little basis in reality. Social media platforms are a prime example of how people use filters and all sorts of photo editing to create the image they want other people to see; the perfect face, the perfect body, all of which creates unrealistic standards.

As for plastic flowers; yuk! and your line 'the complicity of almost true' is spot on and quite outstanding.

Beccy.

[Coyote Poetry]

Me too Robert. I don't like phone conversation either.
call me freakish and obscene
but a virtual handshake’s not for me
"I much enjoy the touch
of another’s hand to clutch
and the feel of a gentle breeze
that tickles my skin and gives me ease
to an air conditioned freeze"
Nothing as good as a strong handshake and some good conversation. Thank you for sharing the amazing poetry and your thoughts.
Coyote

[Ken Simm.]

I would really like to be associated with the words of the erudite bunny above. Extraordinary true points made using remarkable language.

[Robert Trakofler]

LOL I know this one isn't that old but I have forgotten it already such is the mind of a BuNnY :/ its rare that I go back to a poem and still like it and in this case I actually do... how refreshing:)

[Julie McCarthy (juliesp..]

I hate AI
Electric cars not for me
Helping with writing or emails no thanks I’d rather use my human brain
Robots serving in bars and maccas no !!!
Driverless cars trains. No way
The list goes on

Great write loved it 😍

[Robert Trakofler]

Those driverless cars were all over the place here in Pittsburgh lol they gave me the creeps! It seems Pittsburgh has some of the most difficult terrain to navigate for AI and I as a human can attest to that:/ it’s nice to hear from you Julie

[Marie]

We live in a world of virtual reality now and you have very finely demonstrated that through excellent word choice in this amazing poem. Yet, the real can't be beaten no matter how hard the virtual tries. There is nothing like the real thing and you also point out your preferences very poetically on that score. An amazing write, subtly inked. I enjoyed reading very much and thank you for sharing, Robert. Lovely work!!!

[Robert Trakofler]

more and more everything is a facsimile... the news the avatars the fake photographs they plant in social media the stuff they put in films now even the bots they have on different platforms its everywhere lol even in our food artificial this and that we have come to a point that we as consumers don't know the difference between what is real anymore they have been blurring the lines for so long

[Marie]

Sadly, yes! I agree 100% dear poet... Wishing you a very lovely day to enjoy...

[Einstein Noodle]

hits home Mr. Bunny Man! hits home indeed .. kids are stuck in it ... thrive on it ... promote it and can't leave anywhere without it ... it's not for me sir ... i own a flip phone i only use when traveling more than 50 miles from home ... i really like your analogy of the plastic flowers ... so good my friend ... no ... you would not get away with such a thing ... nice satire my friend
E.

[Robert Trakofler]

in many ways I am forced to be in this world of mass media mostly for my business in posting the menus and events that i host and it is a slippery slope to disconnect from when I'm always inundated with queries about this and that I'm kind of stuck with my hand in the jar LOL and of course I eat too many cookies (yes pun intended)

[Einstein Noodle]

well, Bunny ... that's a whole other pizza .. glad to hear your business remains bouncing back from lockup :))))))))))))

[emmajoygreen]

People ought to sign their imagination and thoughts: 'This not A1 - this is me, myself, her, him, he or she. Have it authenticate by someone official plus - importantly, sealed and put in a capsule for virtual reality to discover long into the future to explode into a 'EUREKA! moment or few. Meantime, permission given to hold hands, hug, kiss, cuddle and generally make a pleasurable nuisance of yourself! Imagine reality in your dreams, wake up happy; forget all media, throw away make up, after shave, faux fur and leather. Make for the nearest mountain range! There's nowt to fault when it roots are above eye-level.. so told.
What a debate you've raised with your grand comments, your finely put words.. and an avatar to win the most beautiful baby contest!

[Robert Trakofler]

I think what i find the most repulsive about all of this it the thought really just occurred to me as i was thinking of a response to your notes... is that we as artist poets and revelers spend so much time trying to see the beauty that surrounds us to srink it to love it to share it to bring it to light wrap ourselves in it and witness in testaments in myriad mediums only to have this falsity become the norm we watch as the masses embrace the untruth and we stand aghast on how this could happen in our lives and a sense of futility overtakes are hearts