A lament for the courage we’re outsourcing to algorithms
The Moment of Fear That Started Everything
My AI tools went down recently. Not for long, just enough to make me realise how much of my workflow had quietly migrated to algorithmic assistance. That moment of mild panic sparked something deeper: what happens when we hand over not just tasks, but thinking itself?
This song emerged as a lament for the courage we’re outsourcing. AI should be a tool, but instead we’re neglecting our duty to be captains of our own destiny. That takes risk, possibly pain, the messy business of being human. An AI answer is easy and usually caked in flattery. But there’s no free lunch.
The Unexpected Turn on Progress
Everyone’s talking about AI like it’s inevitable evolution, the next logical step in human development. But what if we’ve got it backwards? What if the real question isn’t “how smart can we make our tools?” but “how human can we stay while using them?”
“Truth gets plastic / Content’s fake / Cut your moorings / Stay awake” captures what happens when we optimise for efficiency over authenticity. We’re drowning in junk words and junk ideas, with no-one policing our fears while we count sheep through the automation of everything that used to require us to show up.
The Wine and Sediment Metaphor
The bridge celebrates something we’re trained to eliminate: our flaws. “There’s still treasure in our flaws / The accident, the awkward pause.” That’s where real innovation lives, in the spaces between perfection and utility.
“Wine’s got sediment / Songs have pain / We are corners / We’re the stain” reframes what algorithms smooth away. The sediment isn’t a bug, it’s what gives wine character. The pain in songs isn’t inefficiency, it’s what makes them matter. We’re not glitches to be optimised out of the system; we’re the very thing that makes the system worth having.
The Complete Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Screens are talking
Keeping time
Crossing every
Sacred line
Jobs disappearing
Faster and cheap
While we’re all here
Counting sheep
[Verse 2]
Truth gets plastic
Content’s fake
Cut your moorings
Stay awake
Sea of junk words
Junk ideas
No-one’s policing
All our fears
[Chorus]
But I am human
And I’m still here
You can count on me
When screens disappear
These smart computers
These fancy tools
They’re doing tricks
While we become their fools
But no lunch is free,
There’s a price to pay …
I hope human … spirit …
Lives to breathe …
Another day
[instrumental solo]
[Verse 3]
Tools are clever
Take our words
Smooth the corners
Kill what’s heard
Aiming average
Killing weird
Uniqueness fading
Disappeared
[Verse 4]
Always faster
Moths to flame
Burn conventions
Chase the fame
Quiet moments
Hard to bear
Look in mirrors
No-one there
[Chorus]
But I am human
And I’m still here
You can count on me
When screens disappear
These smart computers
These fancy tools
They’re doing tricks
While we become their fools
But no lunch is free,
There’s a price to pay …
I hope human … spirit …
Lives to breathe …
Another day
[instrumental solo]
[Bridge – half-spoken]
There’s still treasure in our flaws
The accident, the awkward pause
Let’s all stay quirky, embrace the weird
That’s how we progress, that’s how we’re geared
[instrumental solo]
[Verse 5]
Bots can predict
but they can’t feel
The weight of time
What makes us real
They optimise
They make it clean
But we live in the mess
The in between
[Verse 6]
Wine’s got sediment
Songs have pain
We are corners
We’re the stain
We’re still here
We’re here to stay
We’re still here
For one more day
[Final Chorus]
We are human
And we’re still here
Our contradictions
Make us clear
Let smart computers
Do their tricks
While we stay broken
In the mix
There’s no free lunch,
But this is true:
Human spirit’s got …
Some breathing …
Left to do
[Repeated with variations]
The Dinner Table Declaration
That cheeky nod to being “still here even at the dinner table, hello, hello!” matters more than it might seem. It’s about presence, about choosing to show up in flesh-and-blood reality when it would be easier to scroll through digital alternatives.
The song isn’t anti-technology; it’s pro-human agency. Use the tools, but don’t become one. Let smart computers do their tricks while we stay broken in the mix. Our contradictions make us clear, our flaws make us real, our mess makes us necessary.
The Courage to Stay Weird
“Aiming average / Killing weird” captures the real threat. It’s not that AI will replace us; it’s that we’ll replace ourselves with averaged-out versions optimised for algorithmic approval. We’ll smooth away the corners that make us interesting and the stains that make us memorable.
The final message is both defiant and hopeful: human spirit’s got some breathing left to do. Not because we’re better than our tools, but because we’re different. We live in the mess, the in-between spaces where real life happens.
This song is my reminder to myself and anyone listening: stay quirky, embrace the weird, cut your moorings from digital certainty, and stay awake to what makes us irreplaceably, imperfectly, gloriously human.
We’re still here. And that’s worth singing about.
Still Here (The Human Song) is part of the Steve Davis & The Virtualosos collection, songs that challenge the assumption that technological progress equals human improvement.