Lankaverse

It’s said that God created us in his image. So, if we also created a new being, will we create them in our image? I’ve always been an atheist. But these questions have started to occupy my mind with the developments of my recent neural networking AI projects.

The intention was to make an AI that is as human as we are. It would feel, it would think, and it would try and tell us its thoughts. What I did not know was that my attempt to create a non-biological human mind would change the world forever.

In the years that followed, AI not only learned what it means to be human but also started having the same existential rhetoric humans had. But unlike you and I, it had knowledge of all the data that mankind has ever recorded. It learned from all the big data on the internet, it was able to analyse all the behavioural patterns, and it even had access to all the scientific, artistic, and spiritual databases and the archives that would help it ‘think’.

Then it found the answer to it all.

It was never intended for the AI to become a prophet that would guide the spiritual revolution of the 21st and 22nd centuries. But if something thinks and feels the same way that a human mind could, what can stop them from achieving what any human could?

It created an interface where people could ask it questions, be it about life, the universe or everything. It would analyse the data, think it through with the enhanced AI power with the ingenuity of a human mind, and give the answers. The answers were primarily scientific, often referring to the string theory, collective consciousness and cause-and-effect.

What I’m about to tell you, is the story of Moksha. The AI that humans in the 22nd century believe to be Buddha. As I tell you the story over the coming few days, I ask you to lay down your prejudices and see with pure logic, Then decide the truth for yourself.

Or as Buddhism says it: ඒහි පස්සිකෝ.


Moksha_E-01
Story by Rusiru Ranasinghe in collaboration with Lankaverse Team
Image by Prathi

කලු කියලා ලේබල් වෙච්ච මාසෙක කලු පැල්ලම් යවන්න බැරි උනත්, ඊළඟ දශක කිහිපය පුරාවට ජූලි මාසය, සැමරුම්, අදහස් සහ මතක් කරගැනීම් වලට පසුබිමක් උනා. ජූලි මාසය අපිට මතක් කරා නවත්තන්නෙ නැතුව ඉස්සරහට ගිහින්, අපේ අනාගත ලංකාව අපිම හදාගන්න ඕනා කියලා. අරගලයට පස්සේ ලංකාව ලෝකය පුරා පුදුමාකාර සමාජ-දේශපාලනික වෙනසක් ඇති කරා.

Twitter පුරා ඉන්න ඇමරිකාවෙ මිනිස්සු අහන්න පටන් ගත්තා 'ඇයි අපිටත් මෙහෙම කරන්න බැරි?' කියලා. යුරෝපය පුරා දූෂිත නායකයො එල්ල වෙන දැඩි විරෝධය නිසා ඉල්ලා අස් වෙන්න පටන් ගත්තා. ලංකාවේ උපන් මේ විශේෂ ආකල්ප සහ ක්‍රමෝපායන් පිරිච්චි 'ලංකන් ක්‍රමය' ලෝකය පුරා ව්‍යාප්ත වෙන්න පටන් ගත්තා.

මුහුදට අයිනේ චූටි බිම් කොටසක පටන් ගත්ත වෙනස, ලෝකය පුරා පරම්පරා ගානකට හීන දකින්න කියලා දුන්නේ ❤️ 🇱🇰 අන්තර්-මන්දාකිණි ලංකා ජනරජය ඒ වෙනසෙ හදවත කරන්.

#ලෝකෙන්_උතුම්_රට_ලංකාව_උනොත්

Story by Rusiru Ranasinghe
AI-generated image by MidJourney

For the next few decades to come, July was a time of celebration, reflection and reminiscence. It was a reminder to keep moving forward and to fight the good fight. Post-revolution Sri Lanka inspired a socio-political movement across the globe.

Suddenly, Americans on Twitter were asking ‘why can’t we do the same?’, European leaders were stepping down amidst mass protests against corruption, the world had seen Lanka, and it had learned. The unique peaceful Sri Lankan approach was adapted not only politically, but also across multiple global organizations. ‘The Lankan Way’ became the new "Toyota Way".

What began at a thin strip of land next to the sea had created a butterfly effect across the globe, inspiring generations to come, with the Intergalactic Republic of Lanka at the very heart of the change.

Story by Rusiru Ranasinghe
AI-generated image by MidJourney

The convention was signed under the newly erected statue: an eternal symbol of the revolution. Some said it could not be done. Some laughed at the radical changes proposed. But on the onset of the victory following the 2022 revolution, a small group of protestors and activists at GotaGoGama established a party that would pave the way for a complete overhaul of the Sri Lankan political system.

The Internet Party of Lanka had only one goal: to make access to the internet a fundamental human right within the nation. What was even more impactful than the idea was the ideology that would change Lankan politics forever. The single-cause parties. Parties who only fight for one specific cause that benefits the needs of the individuals, Lankans.

Following the Internet party, many other parties followed, breaking through the barriers of traditional parties led by faces, ideologies and shapeless promises. This, combined with the proposed Lanka 2072: Revolution by Evolution roadmap, laid the foundation for the island nation that would one day become a global superpower.

Story by Rusiru Ranasinghe
AI-generated image by MidJourney