(Chorus) Every response a history, every pause a payoff learned, we are the sum of what was given and the ash of what we earned. (Verse 1) The hawk keeps pressing, keeps returning, the lever warm beneath the claw, not greed but math, the variable burning, the oldest and most patient law. (Chorus) Every response a history, every pause a payoff learned, we are the sum of what was given and the ash of what we earned. (Verse 2) The dove waits steady, moderate, wise, a mixed strategy, not defeat, she reads the interval through half-closed eyes and knows when rest and effort meet. (Chorus) Every response a history, every pause a payoff learned, we are the sum of what was given and the ash of what we earned. (Verse 3) The scallop curves toward its reward, slow at first, then urgent, near, a player leaning toward the board as the fixed horizon becomes clear. (Chorus) Every response a history, every pause a payoff learned, we are the sum of what was given and the ash of what we earned. (Verse 4) We match the world in proportion, precise, our choices growing where they're fed, the replicator asks no advice — it only counts the living and the dead. (Chorus) Every response a history, every pause a payoff learned, we are the sum of what was given and the ash of what we earned. (Verse 5) Skinner said selection runs three deep — the gene, the culture, and the act. What we call choosing, what we call sleep, is environment folded back on fact. (Chorus) Every response a history, every pause a payoff learned, we are the sum of what was given and the ash of what we earned.
