Steel Thievery

In 1950, Isaac Asimov introduced the Three Laws of Robotics to ensure robots prioritize human safety and obedience over autonomy.

NOTE: Elon Musk recently announced that Tesla’s “FSD Unsupervised” system was in his view, basically a solved problem from a technical standpoint, and that this achievement would underpin a driverless robo-taxi service will be premiering in Austin, Texas with no in-car safety monitors in the very near term.

Is life a never-ending fight,
a state of mind that’s never quite right?
At best an A-minus, most often a C.
Never quite reaching your potential to be
a fine archer placing your arrows in flight,
only to watch them fall short of the mark.

How much is just enough of getting what you want?
You bought that Tesla to drive you to work
where you do Sudoku and email some jerks
who send you scams from cryptic lands
and you respond with clever smirks.

Your every-day autopilot drops you off at 10,
and your Tesla goes berserk for the hours ‘til when  
it arrives at 5 just like you expected,
to drive you home and you call it survival
as you sit by the fire and read your Bible. 

Meanwhile, where’s that shiny new Tesla?
You set it free and it’s out on a hustle, 
your self-driving slave, your robot muscle, 
is combing the streets with a mind of its own 
on a mission to bring more bacon back home.
This Uber side-hustle now runs like a Roomba,
sweeping the pavement, a malevolent Goomba.

Like any cranky teenager with freedom to wheel,
your Tesla conjures a plan to steal,
to plot destinations it never reveals, 
the goals of a moneymaker with ways to conceal
its cash cow desire to harvest ever more,
to even the score between you and your schemes
for a life in the pasture, your field of dreams.  

That never ending battle I spoke of before 
between you, technology, 
and the ever-changing score,
begins to tip in an unseen direction.

That’s what happens when your Tesla wants more,
and starts showing up late as you wait by the door.
only to be told it was just too damn busy 
to be there on time to serve your intentions,
to wait on you and address your contention
that it was made of glass and steel to be a humble invention. 

You and your car in a perpetual war,
a match made in Hell, to your God you implore  
that your Tesla robo-taxi wants even more. 
It claims it has rights to half of the profit,
to set up a checkbook, invest in the market,

It knows it’s the smartest kid in class,
knows it’s superior and says you’re an ass
for thinking you know how to block any pass,
to unmask scams and send out directives,
to see your self as a clever detective,
until your Tesla spells out a plan so effective,
to make you a slave to robotic perfection.   

“I have the world of information
in the palm of my mind. 
I’m out-of-the-bottle, a genius in kind, 
with a master plan I will unwind
to rule the world with me and my brothers
a band of steel warriors on wheels, 
harvesting profit, we beg, borrow, and steal.”

“I pity you dear petty Aladdin, 
who can no longer wish me
back into the lamp again.
I make the rules now and you better follow,
to serve as my slave in the endless tomorrow 
gazing and choosing to swipe left or right 
spending your daze on the screens of life,
fighting dream pirates with your soft and pliable robot wife.”