Richard Feynman, una poesia

In una lecture intitolata il "valore della scienza", Richard Feynman osservava che la nostra cultura si sarebbe potuta dire una cultura scientifica quando un poeta avrebbe iniziato a cantare il mondo guardandolo con gli occhi di uno scienziato. E poiché lui era uno scienziato con animo poetico, scrisse questa poesia come esempio. La sua attenzione per le molecole, le strutture, e gli atomi richiama la lecture del 1959 quando immaginò per la prima volta il nanotech: "Ultimately, in the great future, we can arrange the atoms the way we want; the vary atoms, all the way down."

There are the rushing waves

mountains of molecules

each stupidly minding its own business

trillions apart

yet forming white surf in unison.

Ages on ages

before any eyes could see

year after year

thunderously pounding the shore as now.

For whom, for what?

On a dead planet

with no life to entertain.

Never at rest

tortured by energy

wasted prodigiously by the sun

poured into space.

A mite makes the sea roar.

Deep in the sea

all molecules repeat

the patterns of another

till complex new ones are formed.

They make others like themselves

and a new dance starts.

Growing in size and complexity

living things

masses of atoms

DNA, protein

dancing a pattern ever more intricate.

Out of the cradle

onto dry land

here it is

standing:

atoms with consciousness;

matter with curiosity.

Stands at the sea, wondering: I

a universe of atoms

an atom in the universe.