O[ur]boy

[s~Z]

If our world survives, the next great challenge to watch out for
will come -- you heard it here first -- when the curves of
research and development in artificial intelligence, molecular
biology and robotics all converge. Oboy. It will be amazing and
unpredictable, and even the biggest of brass, let us devoutly
hope, are going to be caught flat-footed. It is certainly
something for all good Luddites to look forward to if, God
willing, we should live so long. Meantime, as Americans, we can
take comfort, however minimal and cold, from Lord Byron's
mischievously improvised song, in which he, like other observers
of the time, saw clear identification between the first Luddites
and our own revolutionary origins. It begins:

As the Liberty lads o'er the sea
Bought their freedom, and cheaply, with blood,
So we; boys, we
Will die fighting, or live free,
And down with all kings but King Ludd