Woodpecker or machine

 Woodpecker or machine


From a vantage point

on high granite

at eye level with the canopy

my solitude is disturbed

by a raucous staccato 

somewhere to the south east

of this dome


I had noticed carpenters 

framing a house

on the access road

to this protected land

so I attributed the noise

to their nail guns


The yellow flicker

responsible for the sound

took flight at that moment 

the source much closer 

to my ears

than I had imagined


Machines

not made by humans

are products of biology

the machinery of which

is far more intricate 

than we are capable of making


But we are products of

the same biological processes

biological systems

in search of ways to survive


Biological equilibrium

is a complex adaptive system

comprised of multiple 

complex adaptive subsystems

of which we are a part

or are now apart 


There is an equilibrium

between predators and pray

of which we are a part too


Human intelligence

has enabled us

to free ourselves

from the balance imposed

during bygone ages


We were once a group 

of just a few primates

amongst individuals 

of many other species 


Now we comprise

the largest biomass

on the planet


Even so

the geography available

is enough to sustain us

providing we are kind to the world

an engineering goal

that is within our capabilities 


What appears to be beyond us

is the ability to engineer

pansocial systems 

which would put an end to war


Alien observers

with an intelligence far beyond ours

may be cataloging

the gradual deterioration 

of our atmosphere

and monitoring 

the numerous unnatural explosions

so often extant

upon this planet


Evidence for peace on earth

which perhaps 

they would have predicted

based upon evidence

of our advancing technology

and the statistical prior 

in other worlds

including their own

has not yet been attained 

on this particular one


They will elect to continue 

to watch and wait

or at least 

their machines will


Truly advanced technology

is never attainable

in the absence of peace


Aubrey Lieberman

11/30/23

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