"All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace"

In Richard Brautigan’s poem, “All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace,” Brautigan presents a controversial argument on the effects of technology. Although Brautigan paints visually appealing analogies of nature interacting with technology, they are so exaggerated that they can easily be interpreted as sarcasm. For instance, when he compares “deer stroll[ing] peacefully past computers as if they were flowers” he is mocking the idea that animals will be able to continue to live in the same manner as they are now as technology advances. This anti-technology argument is further strengthened by the opening line of each stanza: “I like to think;” implying that everything following that statement is what the author would like to believe and desires to happen, but far from what will actually occur.
Furthermore, the author progresses from animals losing their current lifestyles, to the impacts on the human race. Brautigan claims that “we are free of our labors and joined back to nature” insinuating that we humans are as helpless as the animals against technology. Therefore, Brautigan is using this poem as a warning to be wary of how advanced we allow technology to become. In reality, we are dooming are own fate by creating technology powerful enough to control us.
However, one must take into account the beauty of this poem. Despite Brautigan’s pessimistic perspective on the fatal effects of technology, through his analogies it is apparent he hopes his predictions are wrong. With comparisons of, “like pure water touching clear sky” and “as if they were flowers with spinning blossoms,” Brautigan sheds some hope of serenity and compatibility between nature and technology.
Unfortunately, I have to agree with the pessimistic reality that technology may reach a point so advanced that we will lose control. The main reasoning behind my siding with the anti-technological viewpoint is because of how unrealistic Brautigan’s portrays the harmonious world of technology in nature. When I actually try to picture deer walking by computers, I find it very difficult to do. Computers do not belong out in the middle of fields; it would disrupt the pure and untouched aspect of nature. The human race has already destroyed and altered so much of nature’s original scenery that nature is already in a weakened state. If humans fail to preserve what is left of nature, and if they let technology gain control, then more than just a few deer will be lost forever.