OddWritings
aI : a Gaia

This cross-chain word-unit palindrome sonnet explores the futility of the acquisition of complete knowledge. Like all word-unit palindromes, it can be read both backwards and forwards word-by-word.

SCARCITY INFO: The digital collectible of this poem exists in the following blockchain/format/price combinations:

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1. Polygon : the text by itself. 2 dollars via credit card, on Cent.
   10 copies: (note secondary markets list with either MATIC or ETH)
   Cent OpenSea (secondary only) Rarible (secondary only)

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2. Polygon : the text on graphics. 2 dollars via credit card, on Cent.
   10 copies: (note secondary markets list with either MATIC or ETH)
   Cent OpenSea (secondary only) Rarible (secondary only)

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3. Ethereum : the text by itself. 0.02 ETH, on Foundation or OpenSeaPro.
   1 copy: (note my listing on Foundation turned off availability on the other marketplaces, boo - except for OpenSeaPro)
   Coinbase Darkblock Foundation LooksRare Mint.Fun OpenSea OpenSeaPro (i.e. Gem) Rarible X2Y2

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4. Tezos : the text by itself. 2 XTZ
   10 copies:
   Darkblock Objkt Typed.Art

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5. Tezos : the text on graphics. 20 XTZ
   10 copies:
   Darkblock Objkt Teia Versum

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This means that there are a total of 41 copies of the poem, spread across the Ethereum, Polygon, and Tezos blockchains. At least one copy has been sold, and so THIS NUMBER OF COPIES IS FROZEN.

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SO WHAT DOES THIS POEM LOOK LIKE?

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text by itself :

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text on graphics :

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I READ THE POEM. I'M CONFUSED.

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There is no one "right way" to interpret a poem; it can be interpreted many ways, depending on how the poem is written and what experiences each individual reader has had in their life. I'll outline here some notions I had while writing the poem, as a way of spurring your own ideas on interpretation and meaning.

• obsolete meanings
  1. spire : to breathe
  2. travel : toil
  3. seem : befit
  4. tread : path
  5. reaches : contrivances


• all of the words in their obsolete senses occur in the second half of the poem


• because this sonnet is also a word-unit palindrome, i have chosen to place the volta at the center (which is where the reader 'turns')


• the first half of the poem begins with Knowledge and ends with love. the second half begins with Love and ends with knowledge.


• city of dreaming spires : Oxford university. - Brewster's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable


• city college : Newgate prison, in front of which prisoners were executed. - Brewster's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable


• to tread the boards : to be an actor. compare "to walk the plank" (not in the poem)


• Lovelock : the author of the gaia hypothesis


• the gaia hypothesis : theory that the earth (a non-human) is nevertheless a single living organism.


• artificial intelligence (AI) must be trained. when training stops, its knowledge slowly becomes outdated.


• an artificial intelligence, presumably, never dies.


• in Herodotus, solon tells croesus : "count no man happy until he be dead"