Technology cannot save us when mother earth decides our fate

When our brick world collapses

By Surya Vishwa 

One week seems a very long time—to learn that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a redundant nonentity when it comes to dealing with the wrath of nature—in real time. Last Saturday, keeping to journalistic impartiality, we ran an interview about the positive aspects of AI. It quite ironically coincided with the mountains collapsing on our heads, the land opening beneath our feet, swallowing us up and the skies spiralling in torrents washing away houses and vehicles as if they were toys. Beginning last Thursday and till around Monday Sri Lanka faced its worst natural disaster in decades with hilly areas such as Nuwara Eliya, Kandy and Badulla amongst the worst affected. Experts warn that the worst may not be over and that the landslide threat still hangs heavy in the central province region. Thousands are rendered homeless and live in temples and schools.

This is not the first time in Sri Lanka we humans were turned into playthings in the hands of nature which we have abused in a myriad ways, using our so called superior knowledge primarily for its ruin. 

We cannot forget the shock when the seas we have clogged with plastic and poison drowned us. 

We in Sri Lanka were taught horrifically of the power of the elements in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Yet we petty creatures of amnesic memory have in the last 21 years ignored how in the natural world the other creatures behaved in a way that displayed they knew of the impending disaster. To spend time as needed to learn of it thoroughly, to share these information in actual discussions, to mainstream into education the learning how insects/reptiles/birds for example may behave ahead of earthslips and landslides is no small task. All of this comes under Natural Intelligence. But no, we have become in the past two decades obsessed with the artificial. Open a phone and there will be 100 ads a day jumping at you yelling that you will be nothing if Artificial Intelligence is not mastered. And while many of us are caught in this illusional vortex, the infinite, unpredictable, grossly vilified, utterly polluted Mother Earth has been dragging us away by our throats, our feet and our hair; into the deathly realisation that nature does not care one whit about this new age artifice. And where was this beatified artificial intelligence when floods, earthslips and landslides killed, made homeless and devastated life? It was busy teaching us about its uselessness. For days humans were cut off even from basic phone connection unable to get urgently required help. Why? Because the mountains and trees fell on and uprooted the phone towers. So just to relearn the basics—for AI to work—an internet connection is needed, right? Yes. And an internet connection cannot be established when phone towers fall like matchsticks at the feet of earth’s decree, right? Yes. 

When Mother Nature tore apart the earth beneath our feet

So, to revert to the past 20 years in how we lived—the one thing we have not done is preparing in diverse ways to respect this earth as our mother—the ways our elders did—so that monsoons nourish instead of killing and mountains maintain their stronghold surrounded by bastions of forest land—instead of falling on our heads. From October to December last year, this page has continually run detailed writings on how humans are killing the earth and tourism by piling, burning and burying layers and layers of garbage on it. Focusing on Nuwara Eliya and how it has been turned into a virtual garbage dump we had met the current Commissioner, Mayor and was part of initiating public programs on recycling and civilian responsibility, carried out with the Nuwara Eliya National Library. 

Dear reader, this article is not a fancy theoretic rigmarole. It is based on fact as fact can get. The Harmony Page literally functioned from a vast library named the Residential Library of Healing located on a mountain top in Nuwara Eliya, overlooking a waterfall. There were 22,000 books (many on earth and planet related subjects), the life collection of this writer which were used in academic linked pursuits for a national university, for mass media and public good. It was also turned into a model of knowledge tourism. The colourful hippie like manner in which the books jostled about with sarees turned into curtains/table clothes, how everything recycled resonated simplicity—appreciated by scores of international visitors may soon be relegated to a mere memory. The place is now cordoned off and declared a red zone. This seems to be the only residence in the immediate vicinity where no water is leaking from beneath the foundation. Some of the neighbours who had slunk back to check on their houses (to be hauled out shortly after by the authorities) had reported that almost all houses had water spouting from underground indicating the possibility of more landslides. My immediate neighbour Mala who had started a catering service for the international scholars who visited the residential library of healing shared with me the photographs of the place. I had left over three weeks back to some other districts for my media research work.

Will the 22,000 books within perish under earth?  AI cannot answer that

It is now in retrospect striking how I had in a random act, just before leaving the house, placed the large bag holding birth certificates and such documents into my knapsack. Carrying it around I had almost laughed at myself as to why I did this strange act, something I had never done before. I now realise how the super consciousness of the cosmos influenced this. It is known around in the neighbourhood that I worship the sun and earth—an ancient most practice that earns much ridicule in this age of the artificial. Although it has earned me quite a reputation as an eccentric I can clearly say that even the mustering of equilibrium and calmness to write this piece—when I am homeless and my books, one of the largest private libraries in Sri Lanka is about to be buried into earth—is a result of being in sync with the earth and the universe. 

Living a life polar opposite to the ‘artificial’ and nurturing to the full the natural, I will agree with the fate that the earth will mete out. We are told that by the 20th of this month we will know if any of us can return—but looking at the ferociousness of the damage right around this seems unlikely. The benign scenic waterfall that was the envy of all my friends, is now a monstrosity.

Therefore, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, if you want Sri Lanka to survive, please may this act of Mother Nature awaken you to the fact that we should be investing in researching about the intelligence of nature— while we are still alive. Our research should be a humble reverence where we are not the masters but the subjects of the universe. This merits a whole new world view.

Yes, artificial intelligence has its uses, but AI cannot bring back the dead. Therefore, in setting out and prioritising national policy, Sri Lanka should not blindly follow international fads. 

When everything that is artificial falls apart