Sudheendra Kulkarni
THE Internet is transforming the world in revolutionary and awe-inspiring ways. Technological promises of the digital age — social media, 3-D printing, nanotechnology, non-biological intelligence merging into human bodies and collectives, abundant solar power, collaborative science, e-learning that has converted the world itself into a huge campus, et al. — could fundamentally change global, national and local economies, nation-states, political and governance structures, communities (virtual communities are blossoming each day on the Net), the nature of money, our cities and villages ….just about everything.
Sudheendra Kulkarni’s book Music of the Spinning Wheel – Mahatma Gandhi’s Manifesto for the Internet Age, argues that this tsunami of Internet-induced change has the potential to realise the timeless ideals that Mahatma Gandhi cherished, and zealously championed, through his message of khadi and the charkha. Kulkarni (a member of the BJP’s national executive and former aide to Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee in the PMO) states that digital technologies have the potential to promote universal brotherhood, ensure sustainable development, transform globalisation into benign glocalisation, and help build tomorrow’s non-violent, harmonious and morally guided world. Digital technologies have many perils, too. However, Kulkarni’s book optimistically projects that humanity has been blessed with a real opportunity to move upwards into a new orbit of evolution, provided the future progress of the Internet, which he describes as the “species mind of humankind”, is guided by the ethical and spiritual values propounded by Gandhi and other great seers of India and the world.
The Internet as the latter-day avatar of the spinning wheel? The proposition may seem absurd to many people? to Gandhians and also to geeks. I know I run the risk of being ridiculed for seeing a correlation between the two that are, outwardly, as dissimilar as a spaceship and a bullock cart. Nevertheless, the more I study the two tools, the greater becomes my conviction that the Internet, like the spinning wheel of Gandhi’s conception, has the potential to advance his cherished ideal: non-violence.
Thinking of the Internet as an avatar of the spinning wheel prompts me to borrow a helpful concept from James Cameron’s widely acclaimed 2009 Hollywood blockbuster Avatar. This epic science fiction film, which carries a distinct imprint of Hindu philosophy and mythology, explores modern man’s troubled relationship with Nature by metaphorically depicting the encounter between humans and a virtuous humanoid species, called Na’vi, inhabiting a moon full of flora and fauna in outer space. When the Na’vi meet, they greet each other by saying: ‘I see you’. Like many other Hindu symbolisms in the film, ‘I see you’ is nothing but namaste, the common greeting among Indians. However, namaste connotes a lot more than ordinary ‘Hello’. Consistent with the Hindu belief that divinity pervades all beings and all things, namaste means ‘I see myself in you’, ‘I see me through your eyes’, or ‘I honour the Spirit in you which is also in me’.
Now if, hypothetically speaking, Gandhi’s spinning wheel were to meet the Internet, how would it greet the new technological marvel? It would, with great enthusiasm, say: ‘Namaste ? I see myself in you and I see me through your eyes.’
In Hindu philosophy, an avatar fulfills a highly spiritual task mandated by God. Gandhi saw the spinning wheel carry out a spiritual mandate, which subsumed its economic and national-liberation mandates. Likewise, the Internet is also called upon to serve a lofty spiritual agenda of helping humanity move closer towards the goal of a world without wars and violence. And it’s already on the job.
Nobel Peace Prize for the Internet?
The Internet’s potential to contribute to realisation of the ideal of world peace is being recognised by many leading scientists and information technology professionals around the world. An early spotter of this potential was Joseph Rotblat (1908-2005), a Polish-born British nuclear physicist and a member of the famous Russell–Einstein Manifesto, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995. He had great respect for Gandhi’s message of peace. He was a member of scientific team that worked on the Manhattan Project in the US to produce the first atomic weapons. In his deeply moving Nobel acceptance speech, which became famous for its appeal ‘Remember Your Humanity, and Forget the Rest’, he paid rich tribute to the Internet, when it was still in its infancy.
In 2010, the Nobel Committee in Oslo received an unusual appeal? The Internet was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. The appeal was initiated by by Wired, a reputed and widely read magazine that covers the developments and debates in the world of information technology. It stated:
“We have finally realised that the Internet is much more than a network of computers. It is an endless web of people. Men and women from every corner of the globe are connecting to one another, thanks to the biggest social interface ever known to humanity. Digital culture has laid the foundations for a new kind of society. And this society is advancing dialogue, debate and consensus through communication. Because democracy has always flourished where there is openness, acceptance, discussion and participation. And contact with others has always been the most effective antidote against hatred and conflict. That’s why the Internet is a tool for peace. That’s why anyone who uses it can sow the seeds of nonviolence. And that’s why the next Nobel Peace Prize should go to the Net. A Nobel for each and every one of us.”
Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired, remarked: “Technology really can change the world. People want peace, and when given a voice, they’ll work tirelessly for it. In the short term, a Twitter account may be no match for an AK-47, but in the long term the keyboard is mightier than the sword… The Internet can become a weapon of global hope.”
…Whether the Internet will ever win the Nobel Peace Prize is really secondary to my main argument. I know that this argument would have no credibility if I failed to address the points of legitimate criticism (its misuse for criminal, destructive and unethical purposes), hurled at the Internet. Gandhi used to say, “Healthy, well-informed, balanced criticism is the ozone of public life.” (However), those who associate the Internet only with pornography, hate speech and cybercrime either haven’t bothered to see much else on it, or are too cynical to admit the Internet’s? and mankind’s? brighter side.
The slow, but sure, end to institutionalised wars
“We are probably living in the most peaceful time of our species’ existence, and it will only get more peaceful.” This startling conclusion comes from Steven Pinker, a Harvard professor, who conducted a study of the history of violence around the world. “Global violence has fallen steadily since the middle of the twentieth century.”
What has brought about this remarkable change? Answer: The information explosion caused by the mass media, and especially by the Internet in the past ten-fifteen years, has immensely enhanced humankind’s inter-connected-ness and boosted our self-awareness as a species. People all over the world want peace. They have always wanted peace. However, now for the first time in human history, the limitless constructive and non-violent interactions among them are helping them realise that what unites them is a lot more than what separates them. Thus, while being conscious and even proud of their national, cultural, religious, racial or linguistic identities, every Netizen has consciously or subconsciously begun to feel that he or she is now also, simultaneously, a world citizen.
This new global consciousness, which is still at a formative stage, is both influencing, and is being strengthened by, the Internet-enabled dialogues and interactions among the people. …It is causing a big shift in the relative weight of ordinary people’s views vis-à-vis those of politicians and governments. Most countries in the world have embraced democracy in one form or the other in the post-World War II era. Even the few remaining non-democratic countries are today not as authoritarian and closed as they were in the past. This, combined with the fact that more and more members of the global society are beginning to think like ‘World Citizens’, is creating an ever-growing constituency for peace.
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