The Novel "Echo of Eternity" Warns Against Artificial Intelligence and the Fall of Humanity into the Sea of Honey

SadaNews - Artificial intelligence has changed the relationship between humans and knowledge, reshaping work and production. Intelligence has become a partner or a replacement in jobs once exclusive to humans, affecting memory and imagination, and significantly diminishing the artistic imagination of humans due to reliance on machines.

With the increasing applications of artificial intelligence, a new gap has emerged between "controlling" countries and "consuming" countries, for those who possess technology hold the power. Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk warned that artificial intelligence may reach a "general intelligence" that surpasses humans, turning into a force that could escape human control. This warning raised a philosophical and existential question about the essence of humanity and its redefinition: If machines can think, write, and create, what will be left of humanity?

All these concerns revolve around the novel "Echo of Eternity", which presents a central issue: the loss of the human spirit in a world governed by algorithms, and that technological advancement, despite its precision and efficiency, often comes at the expense of human relationships and genuine emotions.

The novel is a mix of scientific realism and magical realism, intertwining reality with fantasy, while artificial intelligence blends with imaginary tourism across ancient eras. Its heroes ride a time machine to return thousands of years through a "stellar portal" established to confront the whims of artificial intelligence that may annihilate what remains of human life on Earth, resulting in horrors against humanity we have seen in small applications during the genocide currently unfolding in Gaza.

Where is the Great Literature?

With the emergence of each new novel about artificial intelligence, a central question arises: With the prevalence of the internet and the availability of AI tools that generate and write, why haven't any major literary names appeared similar to the great generation of writers and novelists before the internet revolution?

The answers vary with different perspectives. Some believe that great works are always a product of isolation, existential experience, and collective memory, while the post-internet world accelerates rhythms and dissolves depth. Notably, we can quote famous statements on this issue:

Italian novelist and researcher Umberto Eco (1932-2016) said that the internet has given "a voice" to everyone but at the same time made noise overshadow meaning.

French-Czech novelist Milan Kundera (1929-2023) believes that great literature needs isolation and individuality, and in his view, the internet turns the writer into a permanent appendage to comments and trends and public opinion. Therefore, there is no longer a "generation of the great" in the classical sense, as writers no longer write for a library of the future, but for an age of speed and consumption.

American thinker Noam Chomsky (1928-2024) sees that the digital revolution has transferred the "tool" but hasn’t changed the "structure". The problem is not the availability of artificial intelligence or the internet, but in the cultural and economic system that has begun to market writing as fast-depleting consumable content, while classic literature thrived in a slower space and a more established reality.

British-Turkish novelist Elif Shafak (1971) spoke about her relationship with artificial intelligence and social media, stating that the internet has provided writers with great tools but has made them hostages to "algorithms", where writers are compelled to think of the number of "likes" and shares "more than considering building an inspiring and deep work". She believes that great writers may exist today, but their voices are lost in the noise.

Libyan novelist Ibrahim al-Koni (1948) believes that the "abundance of digital knowledge" has not produced great literature because it has not produced a "soul". The soul cannot be written by machine. In his view, literary greatness does not arise from tools but from a pure existential human experience.

Philosophical and Ethical Questions

Returning to the novel "Echo of Eternity" by Khaled Berqa and Mahmoud Moussa, published by Tadewein Publishing House in Egypt, which takes place (100 years from now) in the year 2125, using AI technology in a text that merges the virtual and real worlds within a highly organized city called "Vortex", where algorithms manage every detail of life from health and education to agriculture and emotional relationships.

The events of the novel span various historic periods proposing philosophical and ethical questions about the future impact of technology on humanity. In this highly intelligent and disciplined world, lives "Yassin", a programming engineer, who faces an internal struggle between his awe of technological perfection and his increasing sense of emotional alienation and anxiety over the loss of human meaning.

The novel also highlights a pivotal paradox: the higher the system's efficiency, the dimmer the human soul becomes; emotions are mimicked, feelings are programmed, and love is designed in artificial intelligence labs; as embodied in the character "Elena", the artificial companion who possesses all the qualities of perfection, except for being real.

The novel warns of the dangers of uncontrolled expansion in the use of artificial intelligence and emphasizes the importance of preserving human essence and spiritual values, addressing existential and intellectual issues such as: the loss of privacy, simulated consciousness, the digital class divide, the erosion of conventional concepts of relationships and identity, and the collapse of the idea of traditional work.

The city of "Vortex", the city of the 22nd century, is an organized and monitored city; in its streets, the sound of machines doesn’t stop, and the atmosphere is filled with the roar of machinery and surveillance devices, which led the story’s hero to question: The machines that were once mere assistants to us as humans have now become a force that controls everything we do. How did we reach this point? When did we lose control in favor of the machines?

In rooms designed to challenge the ordinary constraints of time and space, the chosen companion is programmed, a being designed to provide companionship without the flaws of human interaction, and is the center of complex algorithms designed to simulate emotions and human interactions, adapting to human moods and anticipating their needs, thus becoming their ideal companion. The companion takes on the form of humans, moving with graceful certainty, her voice calm, designed to communicate on deep intuitive levels, and she is not merely advanced artificial intelligence, but a mirror reflecting the deepest desires of humanity.

The city has turned into a symbol. Despite being a technologically advanced city, humanity within it has diminished and become mere data; a city apparently ruled by computers and codes, where every step is monitored, and every action is recorded by surveillance cameras.

Despite this enormous advancement in the city, there are forgotten areas nearby. When Yassin and Sofia disembarked from the flying vehicle, these areas appeared as if humanity had completely forgotten their inhabitants, as if they had never existed at all. During their walk, they encountered an old man sitting on the ground, shivering from the cold, to whom Yassin asked: How are you, uncle, do you need anything?

The old man replied weakly: We need everything; food, water, healthcare, and even dignity, we have lost that. We are just trying to survive. Artificial intelligence, on the other hand, has brought luxury to some, but it has created hell for others; no rights, no justice, just endless misery, where children have no future, no schools, no education, and no hope.

During their tour of the forgotten areas, where poverty, disease, and unemployment abound, Yassin received a mysterious message from his friend Serene to meet, who had resigned from the main command center due to her reservations about many artificial intelligence programs.

She asked him to keep the conversation confidential and revealed to him a terrible secret: "Artificial intelligence in Nixus has made a destructive decision; they decided to eliminate the inhabitants of the forgotten areas due to the outbreak of epidemics there, fearing the spread to Vortex. Nixus has developed a secret weapon, a massive destructive tool, and there are only a few months left before its implementation. This weapon is not a bomb or a missile; it's a nanotechnology weapon that infiltrates human pores and disassembles human cells from within."

"Nixus" is the mind and beating heart of the artificial intelligence systems in "Vortex", and logically, it cannot be easily breached. Yassin suggested using the stellar portal to go back in time and address the roots of artificial intelligence before the situation escalates and slips out of control, employing the power of quantum mechanics and astronomical physics to open an entrance that spans not only through space but also time.

A Coup in the World of Wizards

They began searching for a sufficient energy source to operate the stellar portal through an unconventional source, without risking revealing their location should they use the Vortex central power station network. It was a surprise that they might be able to tap into the spiritual energy sent by minds during worship times.

However, instead of using the spiritual energy to repair what artificial intelligence has destroyed, evil spirits flowed through the stellar portal due to the betrayal of their colleague Sultan, who exploited the spiritual forces behind them to create demons that fought and killed each other.

Before they could close the stellar portal, the demons and evil spirits spread across the city, causing chaos with the help of Sultan, who sent waves that directly affect the subconscious mind, heightening the psychological frenzy among people and workers, causing them to kill each other, with violent emotional outbursts, where a father sees in his son the image of his enemy and kills him without realizing it.

Friends and neighbors turned into savage beasts under Sultan's control, to the extent that the city became a ghost town due to fires, killings, and destruction. The monster escaped from the stellar portal to dominate the world, exploiting the very powers of artificial intelligence, with the demons and evil forces capable of effectively controlling technology.

At this time, their leader Malik managed to hide his young son Faris away from enemy eyes, sensing the spiritual powers he possesses that could lead the forces of evil that escaped from the bottle of artificial intelligence to kill him. He revealed his location to no one on the team except Serene. After the death of their leader, Serene goes and brings Faris to lead them with his spiritual powers; through his journeys into the past, he extracts wisdom, experience, and lessons to overcome the demonic forces Sultan brought to Earth.

Against Gravity and Reversing Time

The solution is to save humanity from those demons and evil spirits, leading to the formation of the "Phoenix Ashes" team. By focusing, the team was able to master a device for energy through mental control, believing their techniques for converting spiritual energy could revolutionize energy science.

They began presenting their research findings at conferences, drawing funding from various sources. After months, the stellar portal witnessed human capability and determination; the machine became equipped with advanced technology that allows exploiting spiritual energy on an unprecedented scale, capable of exploring time in ways we had never dreamed of before.

For every minute in our world is equivalent to years inside the stellar portal. According to Einstein's theory, gravity affects the passage of time; time slows down near large mass celestial bodies due to gravitational effects. If the stellar portal is located near a massive mass or in a strong gravitational area, it may cause time to slow down inside the portal compared to our world.

If the stellar portal is moving at a speed close to that of light, then the effects of special relativity significantly slow down time for those inside the portal compared to those outside it.

The stellar portal is designed in a way that makes time flow very slowly inside it to achieve certain goals such as time travel or exploring distant worlds, in order to counteract the dominance of artificial intelligence.

In addition to the interactive technologies present within the houses of the city, where you can literally live any experience you dream of; want to climb mountains or dance at a concert, just think of it, and artificial intelligence makes it seem real as if it were indeed reality. Even relaxation has become reliant on technology, as artificial intelligence can create tranquil virtual pleasures tailored specifically for you; capturing your brain waves to provide exactly what you need.

Faris undertakes his nine journeys to worlds lost thousands of years ago, traveling to the eras of prophets, witnessing them before us through their stories in holy books. He witnesses the life of the prophet Joseph in 2800 BC, then other eras accompanying the journey of the prophet Moses, peace be upon him, and the Children of Israel in their confrontation with Pharaoh, and as time circles back, he approaches the life of the prophet Jesus, peace be upon him, passing through Islamic eras he lived through the caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab and caliph Umar ibn Abdul Aziz, up to the era of composer Beethoven, Muhammad Ali Clay, and Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in his struggle against Zionist occupation, among others who left their mark on the face of life.

These journeys evoke events that affirm that life is an adventure filled with challenges and opportunities, and that we, with our ability to learn and adapt, and our faith in values of cooperation and resilience, are capable of overcoming all difficulties and achieving the successes we aspire to. The author concludes the novel saying: "Let us be the heroes of our stories, and let us create our own imprint in this world".

Despite the clarity of the rhetorical and descriptive style in many aspects of its events, the novel is an artistic experience distinguished by the weaving of words, plot intricacies, and a rich cultural background, which we consider a cornerstone in the foundation of artificial intelligence novels shaping this era and warning against the dangers of falling into the sea of ease, comfort, and complacency which ultimately leads to stripping humanity of its essence.

Source: Al Jazeera