The internet in Pakistan has become a contested terrain, used by left, right and centre to peddle their own political interests more so in the past couple of months. The holy month of Ramzan has been no exception. The supercharged political scene has been in the final overs, the digital battlespace has since been breaking the internet daily. The marchers are ready to charge on the capital, to gain what was rightfully theirs. The new tenants of the holy fort, are daggers drawn, and the bows pulled back like a Chaudry’s moustache. The Constitution and its avenue could be in grave danger with swords of Damocles hanging over it. As the climax is yet to arrive in our sensational political film, it is an opportune time to reflect on household emerging technologies whose boundaries have coalesced into the realm of politics.
The final round of the battle is going to get tougher, since logic, reason and facts were the first ones to embrace martyrdom. Trolling might not be the problem of the sultanate anymore, since the looming threat of deepfakes are hanging more and more. The powerful, the mighty, the learned and the belligerent. Striking terror in the ranks of the Maharaj, Bahadurs and the sycophants alike.
This is the era of the fourth Industrial revolution, so the ‘war of independence’ couldn’t be fought with bare hands, feet or mangonels. The contemporary tools of the rightly guided ones and the Raj are the Artifical Intelligence, Machine Learning, Big Data and the like. The old Raj sahebs and Khan Bahadurs have resorted to deploying modern technologies to manipulate information consumed by the poor public. Dissent is monitored, communications are censured and the mutineers are put behind bars to ‘boot’ softwares. Gone are the days when corner meetings would be held over grand courtyard luncheons to galvanize support. The appetite has evolved, so has the food, but the behaviour of the consumers is still the same.
After laying siege to the forts of Lahore, Karachi and Jhallianwala, Sher Singh is out in the ‘space’ to take on the Dwyers for crushing the soul of his wit. Taking them to cleaners after taking them to courts but Atkinson is in no mood of showing any remorse. Global Twitterspace records are being smashed and e-chowks are crowded in the country’s cyberspace. Like the public squares and panchayats of the fore, these spaces are the virtual d-chowks of the democratic order. The Grand Vizier, however, is not so convinced though. To Vizier these are the BOTS in the guise of humans offering no real threat to the mighty Lion kingdom. BOTS are the loyal subjects of only ‘His’ excellency for all anyone cares, employing software scripts to multiply and extrapolate. Haters gonna hate but potatoes will potate.
Nonetheless, the Army of trolls has approached the enemy gates, Cheering and sloganeering, to whip up the sentiments and rally round the flag. Biggles are being blown, the gladiators of the podcast are inspecting the guards, hoping for the emperor to have a great fall. The Youtubers and the loggers are indulging in messianic oration. The hashtags are echoing millions of times in the corridors of power. The princess wonders why the revolutionaries won’t eat cake and take a hike somewhere. Uncle Sam is helpless, Emir-ul-Mulk is hopeless, Khazanchi is clueless, Unionist is cynical, Qazi is silent and the coffers dried. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put people together again.
Far away from this Panipat, in a foreign land, Elon Musk lodged himself on the throne of the Acanthis. Only to learn that he lingua franca in vogue there was completely alien to him. He couldn’t help but pull off his space-X, learning that the Kingdom of Space belongs to another race, leaving him behind only with his boring company.
Back in the square one lies the aggressive atmosphere. The hostility in the digital colosseum is at an all-time high, taking the troll on the nation’s ethics and morals which gives great pains to the Mir Bakhshi. Trolls are on the roll, our national sport to disparage the nobles and aalims offline. The horses, the archers are all set to go, Hoofing, panting and chanting online. ‘Tis the season of the digital Jutts, the Pomis, the Gullus and the DJ Butts, dancing and singing to the tunes of the sult’ns. The BTS and K-pop are trending no more. The sovereign, the sultans are out of wits, the viceroy, the rajas still travel to brits.
The final round of the battle is going to get tougher, since logic, reason and facts were the first ones to embrace martyrdom. Trolling might not be the problem of the sultanate anymore, since the looming threat of deepfakes are hanging more and more. The powerful, the mighty, the learned and the belligerent. Striking terror in the ranks of the Maharaj, Bahadurs and the sycophants alike.
These synthetic media tools could be fraudulent, but in this Mad-Max fury, mutual destruction is quite assured. The looters and enemies are hiding behind the fith column, sharpening their axes and lances to disrupt the state’s affairs. Herein lies the graveyard of empires, therefore, while using the technology, user discretion is strictly advised.
