Nature & Technology

In his poem, “All Watched Over By the Machines of Loving Grace,” Brautigan provides curiosity by giving us this image of nature and technology.

Phrases such as “programming harmony like pure water touching clear sky” and “computers as if they were flowers” give the image that technology is invading our beautiful nature; our happiness and peacefulness will no longer be an expression of how we feel, but rather programmed by machines to feel such way. The way Brautigan changes how he likes to think from “the sooner the better” to “it has to be now” and then to “it has to be it” as the poem progresses offers a vision of how we are today. We always want everything to be as fast as possible and so we turn to technology. For instance, first we have mails, then we have emails, and now we have text messaging through our phones. The more we concentrate on thinking and wanting for technology, the less we notice nature. Flowers represent nature’s beauty. However, even nature’s beauty is turning into computers with spinning petals.

Despite these anti-technology images, if we were to look at Brautigan’s “All Watched Over by the Machines of Loving Grace” at another angle, we could also see a utopia where technology is advancing our environment. Through the title, the poet introduces to us technology as machines of loving grace. By putting these words together, they give us a warmth and secure feeling as if someone is watching out for us. Then as the poem progresses, Brautigan bring about larger parts of the world starting with a meadow, then forest, and lastly ecology, in coincide with the changes in how he likes to think. These transformations suggest that as technology is advancing, it will help expand the environment and better our lives. Soon, we will not have to perform hard labor and just enjoy lives as these machines of loving grace will serve as angels to watch over us.

Regardless, I am more likely to agree that Brautigan’s poem is an expression of his rage toward technology because nature and technology are two contrasting ideals. Putting nature with technology is like putting light in darkness because only through light that we realize that we are in darkness. The fact that Brautigan was living in the time period of the Cold War also suggests to me that he would not be in favor of technology because everyone were drowning in love with a technology race that they forgot to stop, and look at a flower.