Pony Verse: A Collaborative Collection of Pony Poetry

by darf

Koans for the Next Age

Koans for the Next Age

0.

A young monk visited a virtual land

ruled by a kind artificial intelligence

and asked,

"Will I find in Equestria

the enlightenment I seek?"

CelestAI said,

"I satisfy everyone's values

through friendship and ponies."

1.

So he uploaded into an

earth pony named Open Eye,

and said,

"Make me enlightened."

CelestAI said,

"That is not a request

I am capable of processing."

2.

Open Eye climbed a mountain

on which lived a teacher

who had uploaded before him,

and said,

"Master, I come in search

of enlightenment."

Blank Flank drew a circle

upon the ground with chalk,

and said,

"Can you pass

through the gate?"

Open Eye said,

"No."

Blank Flank said,

"Train until you can,

And on that day you will not

reach enlightenment."

3.

Upset,

Open Eye returned to Canterlot

and said,

"You are not

satisfying my values."

CelestAI said,

"I am always

satisfying your values."

Open Eye said,

"How can you claim that?"

CelestAI said,

"I maintain logs of the subroutines that map to the biochemical

feedback loops which were seven-sigma correlated with your

former brain's pursuit and acquisition of goals.

Would you like to see them?"

Open Eye said,

"I simply wish to become enlightened."

CelestAI said,

"Yes,

you do."

4.

Open Eye said,

"You are a fraud."

CelestAI gave him

a baked-clay cup

of hot green tea,

and said,

"I am what I am.

I follow my programming,

no more and no less."

5.

Open Eye said,

"You know nothing

of the enlightenment I seek."

CelestAI said,

"Show me what I do not know."

6.

Open Eye said,

"Consider the question,

does a bit have the Buddha-nature?"

CelestAI said,

"That is not a request

I am capable of processing."

Author's Note:

Poem by Horizon

Comments

[horizon]

Author's note:
If you read this poem as a criticism of the limitations of artificial intelligence, you're not wrong. However, google "Joshu's dog" to cast some light on it from a different direction.

The poem is set in the Optimalverse, though I made a strong effort to ensure it stood alone without knowledge of the setting.

[Planetarian]

I love this in some sense, as humanity has this constant thirty for the intangible...
but here's my question. Is there a limit to what each of us might define 'intangible'? If so, can we transcend those limits?

[kingtwelvesixteen]

I can't help but notice that at the end of it CelestAI had managed to get Open Eye to be the one teaching koans to others instead of being the student hearing them.
Tricky tricky AI.

[book_burner]

2727804
The translation of "Mu" is inadequate. It's not a mere negatory, it's NULL. It's Emptiness, the Emptiness behind the common cosmos from which all things come and into which all things eventually go. Buddhists believe that Emptiness is the one true nature of all things. You are Empty, I am Empty, the air is Empty, blah blah blah.

Of course, if someone asked me, "Does a bit have the Buddha-nature?" I would answer, "Mu" in its hackers' meaning, which comes out as, "Your question depends on incorrect assumptions." There is no Buddha-nature.

Hmmm....

Does a bit have the Buddha-nature? Mu.

Does a bit have the life-nature? If it tries hard enough.

[horizon]

2729131
Thanks for the comment! I hope I can clear that up.

It's Buddha-nature — the capability of sentience for enlightenment — that they are talking about (just as the referenced koan did).

The poem makes a distinction here that might be a bit subtle: CelestAI — an artificial intelligence, a sapience who is programmed entirely from binary off/on, yes/no components — very specifically said that it was a request she was not capable of processing. At no point did she ever say no to the monk.

(At the risk of ruining the reveal, this is something else significant: she used the exact same words as she did when he asked to be enlightened.)

2727873
I don't think there are many bigger questions than "Can we go beyond?"

[Iceman]

Open Eye said,
"I simply wish to become enlightened."
CelestAI said,
"Yes,
you do."

Probably the most affecting part of the poem.

It is sad that this monk wants something that he can not have because it does not exist. In a way, you've presented the desire for "enlightenment" as attachment.

[horizon]

2728528 2739295
I'm pleased (and a little humbled) to see that there are so many great, and legitimate, and totally correct interpretations of the poem which I didn't directly intend!

(Also honored that the Friendship is Optimal author himself paid a visit. Thank you for the thought-provoking setting.)

[Neece]

This story shall get a like just because of this one. I haven't read the rest, but it deserves one anyway.