THE PUPPET GODS

Punch and Judy to their audience

Our puppet strings are hard to see,

so we perceive ourselves as free,

convinced than no mere objects could

behave in terms of bad and good.

To you, we mannikins seem less than live,

because our consciousness is that of dummies,

made to sit on laps of gods and mouth their wit;

Are you, our transcendental gods,

likewise dangled from your rods,

and need, to show spontaneous charm,

some higher god’s inserted arm?

We seem to form a nested set,

with each the next one’s marionette,

who, if you asked him,

would insist he’s the last ventriloquist.

— Theodore Malenchuk

Contextual excerpt from The Society of Mind, Chapter 5: Individuality. Book by Marvin Minsky.