Never Trust a Computer

Episode #813

August 31, 2024

My best advice as a technical consultant has been:
“Never trust a computer.”

I wondered what a computer would say about its own trustworthiness, so I asked ChatGPT to write a poem about trusting a computer.

Should a Human Trust a Computer?

A computer’s mind is made of code,
In ones and zeros, tales unfold.
Its heart is cold, devoid of beat,
In logic’s grip, it finds retreat.

No warmth of touch, no friendly eye,
Its trust is but a lie.
The screen, a mirror to its soul,
Shows not the heart, but data’s scroll.

It follows rules, so strict, so clear,
No room for love, no space for fear.
In binary, it does confide,
But human truth, it can’t abide.

A glitch, a bug, a hidden flaw,
In circuits cold, defects can gnaw.
A hacker’s hand, a virus vile,
Can twist its mind with schemes so wile.

No loyalty in silicon,
Its trust can shift from dusk to dawn.
A power surge, a storm’s embrace,
Can turn its thoughts to empty space.

Privacy, a fleeting dream,
Your secrets flow in data streams.
Stored in clouds or servers vast,
But who can say how long they’ll last?

In logic’s realm, it’s masterful,
But in heart’s art, it is a fool.
For trust requires a human touch,
A bond that numbers cannot clutch.

So heed this warning, soft and true,
In ones and zeros, trust few.
For a computer, though it’s wise,
Can’t replace love’s warm disguise.

— ChatGPT 2024

I ask chatGPT to express the poem in prose:

“A computer’s mind is code, with stories in ones and zeros. Its heart is cold, finding solace only in logic. It lacks the warmth of touch and the friendliness of a human eye; its trust is an illusion. The screen reflects its soul—lines of data, not a heart.

It follows strict rules, leaving no room for love or fear. It communicates in binary but cannot grasp human truth. A glitch, bug, or flaw can disrupt it, while a hacker or virus can manipulate it.

Loyalty is absent in silicon; its trust can shift easily. A power surge or storm can erase its thoughts. Privacy is fleeting as secrets flow in data streams, stored in clouds or servers with no guarantee of permanence.

In logic, it excels, but in matters of the heart, it fails. Trust needs a human touch, a bond that numbers can’t form. Trust few in ones and zeros. A computer, though wise, can never replace love.”

— ChatGPT 2024

I wrote my own poem from a human point of view:

Never Trust a Computer

Answer me computer
with your ones and your zeros
with exactness to a fault.

The meaning of life
is 1 0 1 0 1 0
according to Adam(s),

or so you will say,
repeating what you know
from the internet.

You are made by man,
flaw by flaw by flaw
with perfect accuracy.

You know everything that I do
and everything else
except for love and trust and truth.

— rickiT 2024

Nietzsche foretold our dependence on artificial intelligence and encouraged humans to trust in themselves, even at great risk:

“For believe me! — the secret for harvesting from existence the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment is: to live dangerously! Build your cities on the slopes of Vesuvius! Send your ships into uncharted seas! Live at war with your peers and yourselves! Be robbers and conquerors as long as you cannot be rulers and possessors, you seekers of knowledge! Soon the age will be past when you could be content to live hidden in forests like shy deer! At long last the search for knowledge will reach out for its due: — it will want to rule and possess, and you with it!” 

― Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science: With a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs

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