wonder was never meant to be instant.

“We should become more like the machines that are replacing us.”

But what about my empathy? What about my heart?

It may beat slower than the response your precious AI yields.

But it’s steady. It’s soft. It’s intentional.

It may break occasionally, not by error but rather by blessing. 

Because it feels. It cries. It hurts. It longs. Oh how it longs.

These machines are always evolving. Reprogramming, updating, optimizing, onto the next version of themselves.

But me, I’m still here. Still wondering how the world came to have its greatest companion be a digital one. 

And it’s beautiful really. To feel. The good and the bad. The beautiful and the broken. The scared and the sacred. Because it makes us human. 

The human heart is a marvelous thing. People falling in love. Slow pauses in conversation. The awkwardness of a first date. Practicing for weeks to learn to tie your shoes. A smile from a stranger. Sending a letter. Handwritten notes. Art that takes time to create. Words that took careful selection to craft. 

We weren’t meant to have the answers instantaneously. We were meant to pause. To ponder. To wonder if we could create a better idea than the first. To remain curious. To learn patience. To appreciate waiting. 

I find myself more impatient these days. More reliant. More tiresome. More exhausted.

These machines they tell us to become more like are becoming more like us.

Thieves of curiosity. Dissolvers of our creativity. Catalysts to our laziness. 

But what can’t it take? This intricate muscle that beats inside of me. That drives every decision and interaction that occurs on this entire planet. That of which runs my entire body. This powerhouse. This pain-absorber. This thing that makes me human.

I bet these machines wish that they could have the very things that we are losing sight of.

I bet they’d give their all to trade knowledge for wisdom. To trade pace for a real heartbeat. To trade artificial intelligence for learning acquired by living.