COMMENT Interesting things are happening in Malaysia these days.
Right in the capital city Nazri Aziz, the de facto minister for law, is trying to determine the identity of a porn star actor, and if this is ascertained to be one man called Anwar Ibrahim, then Nazri will push for the creation of a Royal Commission of Inquiry.
Why RCI? Because Anwar is the leader of the Opposition and has the temerity to want to be prime minister one day. Future PMs must be of pure moral stock and not be tarnished in any way; like the pope, perhaps.
So Anwar has to be morally assassinated before he can be prime minister.
What about past PMs, were their morality of the pope category? Shhhhh... don't ask!
What about the case of ‘Datuk T', the trio producers and ‘sellers'of the pornographic video? Won't the minister charge them with producing, showing and selling porn in the first place?
After all, they have openly admitted to this accusation. And they admitted to planning to force Anwar to withdraw from the political sphere altogether: Doesn't this amount to blackmail? Again, shhhh.... don't ask!
In the meantime, top leaders and civil servants are calling non-Malay Malaysians variously as pendatang , si mata sepet, si kaki botol , sons of prostitutes and such.
And across the South China Sea in Sarawak, the state election is taking place with no less a person than Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak himself giving goodies and money no end to attract votes in favour of Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud and his party.
On the social front, we have the issue of the book ‘ Interlok ' written by Abdullah Hussain. He depicted the scenario of the stereotype Malay being poor, the Chinese being ever ready to sell their children for cash and the Indians for drifting aimlessly all over the place (or that's my impression after reading the book), all interlocking in a social embrace.
It's not a bad story. But it became an issue when the authorities made the book a compulsory read for Form Five students. Parents don't like this for some reasons, while the Education Ministry has insisted that the must-read policy must go on.
Then, we have the case of the history books, where the government has hashed and rehashed them to the extent as to completely change history altogether.
Historian and author Ranjit Singh Malhi is of the view that ‘scant attention' has been paid to the efforts of the Chinese and Indians in the development of the nation. He has also charged that there are too many ‘half-truths and factual errors' in the current history syllabus, and that it is loaded with ‘value judgments' (I got this from Malaysian Insider ).
However, according to Professor Ramlah Adam, there is nothing wrong with the history syllabus. It is ‘well balanced', and as an author she didn't talk or put in negative issues that have happened, she took in the positive parts and left the negative ones out.
The scenario is equally interesting in the religious front. Harussani Zakaria, the famous mufti of Perakm has issued a fatwa (edict) banning the poco-poco dance, saying it contains ‘elements of Christianity'.
I remember yoga being banned from being practised by Muslims because it contains ‘Hindu elements'.
The religious authorities have forbidden non-Muslims from using the word ‘Allah'. Copies of the Bible in the Malay language imported from Indonesia were first banned from entering the country, but the ban has since been lifted. The Bible can now be imported, albeit with some conditions still thrown in.
We live in a most mediocre time
Did I say we are living in interesting times? I change my mind. Under all these conundrums I have mentioned, I do think we are living in a most mediocre time. For our time, that is, in the second decade of the 21st century, it's all so very sad, too.
And I say this with great trepidation.
I shall explain my low sentiment by using three terms: (i) stem cell engineering, (ii) ageing and (iii) artificial intelligence.
I have been reading (Time magazine) recently. Why do I bring these issues here? It's because these are the cutting edge issues of human thinking. These are subjects and issues intelligent, knowledgeable, progressive, concerned and informed people of this (no longer) new century are thinking about.
It might be useful for me to expand what these subjects are all about.
Firstly, stem cell. This relates to human cells and tissues. When a disease occurs, it means that cells have gone rotten and no longer work as they should. The cure would then be for these rotten tissues to be repaired or removed to help strengthen the weakened area.
Scientists now know that all tissues come from some basic or stem cells and that these cells can be cultivated in the laboratory. So, growing some stem cells in the lab and planting them in areas where mature cells have gone rotten makes sense.
The theory is that when these healthy stem cells are engineered to grow in the human body, humans can control diseases.
Now for ageing. Scientists say that the end segment of the chromosome of a DNA is known as telomeres. Apparently, as cells divide into two, these telomeres would shorten.
So, logically speaking, there can come a time when the telomeres won't be present anymore. When this happens, cells will not multiply. With no fresh cell growth, we have no fresh cells, so we grow old.
There is an antidote to telomeres and it's known as telomerase. So, feed telomerase to telomeres and this will reverse this shortening process; with the length of telomeres remaining constant.
The conclusion would be that humans can now control ageing!
As for artificial intelligence (AI), this refers to computers or the speed by which they compute.
It is known that computers compute fast and are getting faster. The rate of them computing faster is also getting faster. So, there can come a time when AI can equal or even better organic human intelligence!
Helping us to reduce diseases
These three items above, stem cells, ageing and AI, when combined, can help the human race control diseases, the ageing process and with AI, extend life expectancy as well enhance the quality of human life.
Indeed, Raymond Kurzweil as a thinker and observer of this new phenomenon even projects that human life can go on forever! Say bye bye to human mortality!
In fact there can come a time when AI and humans can morph into one, a "singularity". According to Kurzweil and many other scientists, this is a highly plausible proposition, that singularity is a highly probable happening.
They even predict that this can happen as early as the year 2045, a mere 34 years from today - one full generation into the future.
From then on mankind, as we know ourselves today, will never ever be the same again.
Kurzweil has co-founded a Singularity University to study this cutting-edge development.
Another learning centre, this known as the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence, has also been established for similar purpose.
And where are we in this forward march to the future, to the world of longevity and singularity?
Judging from what I can see around me, our leaders are not even aware of this impending new era. We can't even manage to ‘singularise' our own people, we can't implement and realise ‘1Malaysia', let alone man and machine.
I have my own wish and wishful thinking in this regard. I imagine the era of Singularity is already here. We have all these super intelligent AI-equipped robots all around us. Or that some of us are morphed or enhanced with AI-aided consciousness.
Now, if the robot and the morphed human both read the first part of this writing, I'd record their most probable comments, as follows:
To Nazri: "Go back to law school, you idiot. The rule of law says that procedure is as important as the law itself." And,
"This is the problem when you make personal morality into law."
And,
"In the meantime, go after the extortionists!"
To Najib (on his campaign style in Sarawak): "My computer doesn't compute. Call EC and MACC immediately, ask them to redefine corruption."
To Prof Ramlah Adam: "Please quote all facts, whether positive or negative. Let the people decide whether they are good or bad. After all, history is their story as well, not your individual perception alone."
To Harussani Zakaria: "Go and get a life!" And,
"Go and earn you salary with your own initiative productivity, not from the people's income tax. You are so good in condemning people who give you your bread."
I have one last wish and it's addressed to all our leaders: why are you not doing anything to prepare our future generations for the era of Singularity?
AB SULAIMAN is an observer of human traits and foibles, especially within the context of religion and culture. As a liberal, he marvels at the way orthodoxy fights to maintain its credibility in a devilishly fast-changing world. He hopes to provide some understanding on the issues at hand and wherever possible, suggest some solutions. He holds a Bachelor of Social Sciences (Leicester, UK) and a Diploma in Public Administration, Universiti Malaya.
