WISE OR OTHERWISE

   From Shakespeare’s time to ours, or from Plato’s
   have we progressed in our mentality?
   Not so.  But after many hundred years, what grows
   and offers hope is our technology.

   Although our brains remain as fallible
   and limited as in all ages past,
   computers now and robots may yet pull
   us toward a wise maturity at last.

   As models and scenarios play out
   the likely outcomes of this choice or that,
   we can decide our courses with less doubt
   and make decisions like a diplomat.

        Yet though we now use intellectual tools,
        is that enough to keep from being fools?

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