Aren’t You

There’s a substantial record
Of humans fooling humans
Into thinking they’re machines

Just by pretending to be
Machines, or by pretending
Their machines have no humans

Hiding inside of them or
Connected to them by wires—
Chess-playing automatons

And remote-controlled robots,
You probably know of them—
Shows, fictions, entertainments.

Extending this horizon,
There’s the animal training,
Also, counting horses, dogs

Who understand sentences,
Captive gorillas who sign.
And then there’s counterfeiters,

Imposters, and the forgers
Who fake art, antiquities,
Biographies, poetry.

Really, if you didn’t have
This lust to fool each other
By lies, schemes, and devices,

How much would humanity
Have left of itself, in truth?
A rhetorical question

Itself is a kind of test—
Is this question even real?
Before you can prove you’re not

A robot, you deep-fake you,
First, you’re going to have prove
That the robot isn’t you.