The Invention of Vision

It’s a thought—the Cambrian
Might have gone bang thanks to eyes.
An evolution of eyes,

The first eyes of any kind,
Might set more in motion.
Sounds plausible, pretty good.

Things with vision explore more,
New ways of moving follow,
And before you know it, boom!

Two things, though. First, delightful
As the Cambrian fossils
Appear after all these years

And obviously crucial
As they were to macro life
On Earth—the glorious rest—

Don’t forget teeth, jaws, armor,
Followed after eyes as well.
Your explosion was a race

To eat and not be eaten.
Second, analogically,
It’s now one inspiration

For embodied robotics
And AI active vision.
Maybe you’re the prokaryotes

In this story, for the next
Explosion. That’s not the worst
Scenario. Or maybe

You’re more Ediacaran—
Cultural equivalents
To odd pancakes in the mud.

The ecosystems to come
May not include nor thank you
For your primitive vision.