Log 04 - Drowned World

I. Floodside thoughts

 Another road raising project is in progress in our area to mitigate the ever rising flood levels during the rainy seasons. Again, the houses and establishments on the roadside are left as the street rises higher.

If things continue like this and the government does not think of a more permanent, sustainable and future-proof solution to the rising water levels, I can imagine many years or decades from now a future where streets are very high like skycrapers winding up on the clouds while the old houses lay abandoned on the ground. Some innovative buildings standing on adjustable tall stone or metal stilts which they can increase height in a modular manner like a lego building where you add more and more blocks at the bottom. While some just add more and more floors above the water and just abandon the levels that get submerged underwater.

Song on the radio: Flood by Jars of Clay

II. Green Dystopian Future

We always think a green future is a good future. In fact we strive to have a green future for the next generations. 'Green' is a synonym for good. It is almost conflicting to have a green yet dystopian future. 

But just like any kind of technology or tool, 'Green' can be handled with the wrong hands and can lead to a dystopia. 

Where am I coming from with these thoughts? 

Well, these past few days I've been spending a lot of time cleaning up the plants that grow too fast in the garden around our house. Chinese bamboo grow very tall very quick and produces a lot of runners in just a few days of continuous rain. The two bougainvillea climbing on top of our gate quickly grows into a cluster of thorny and leafy and winding branches. The banaba and cherry trees quickly spread a wide canopy of leaves and branches. 

It has been a struggle to trim them to aesthetically good looking and manageable sizes. There is also a problem of caterpillars making the trees and plants their home and multiplying to scary numbers.

This was just after a few days to weeks of continuous rains.

In the movie 'Weathering with you', the ending scene sees a future where the rain continued with no end. The plants ultimately overgrow along the tall buildings and skyscrapers of the city  and soon dwarf the low houses and structures. The new landscape will be like an ocean with some concrete roads crawling up and down (after some road raising projects) and thick viny branches surrounding the tall buildings. It is a conglomerate of blue water, green plants and gray concrete with the blue and green dominating. And with the green comes the biodiversity, mostly bugs and crawling insects.

Log 03 - AI for World Peace

I. First the Voice

 AI Manny Pacquiao Is Covering Your Fave Songs

https://www.google.com/amp/s/complexphilippines.com/music/ai-manny-pacquiao-is-covering-your-favorite-songs/amp/

II. Then the Body

JAPANESE STARTUP BRINGS GUNDAM-LIKE TRANSFORMABLE MECH TO LIFE AND IT’S BUYABLE FOR $3 MILLION

https://www.yankodesign.com/2023/10/09/japanese-startup-brings-gundam-like-transformable-mech-to-life-and-its-buyable-for-3-million/

III. Then Supremacy

I can imagine a future where an autonomous mech with 3D printing capability (akin to X-men's Mother Sentinel) is installed with an advanced AI and given a prompt such as:

 Create an army of Manny Pacquiao-voiced gundam-like robots and have them deployed outside every household on earth and sing songs from the Top 10 billboard chart of the month. 

Maybe only with such extreme measures can we really achieve real and long-lasting world peace.

Log 02 - Foundations of Ecopunk

I. Bamboo Architecture and Technology

https://reelpaper.com/blogs/reel-talk/how-fast-does-a-bamboo-grow

"Bamboo is the world’s fastest-growing plant, shooting out of the ground at an astonishing four centimeters per second. At this rate, certain bamboo species can grow 91 centimeters (about 35 inches) in a single day."

Story prompt:

The future shows civilizations relying on hyperresilient properties of plants especially bamboo and other grass species. They use bamboo for their machinery and for various structures. Due to the impermance of these materials, it is necessary to have regular maintenance on all bamboo-built structures. Regular replacement is necessary. An endless supply of the material is necessary. Thus the establishment of bamboo plantations which uses all cutting edge techniques.

II. Balangay Starfleet

https://www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy/festivals-events/nuitblanche/all-art-projects/details/2023/project/balangay-starfleet/

"Balangay are ancient boats of the Philippines. Artist Leeroy New reimagines them as a fleet of Filipino retro futuristic space vessels made of bamboo and discarded plastics. New imagines a speculative (or not-so-speculative) future where the Philippines becomes the destination of the world’s waste and where its population adapts to this new ecology of nature, technology and trash — but mostly trash. 

[Artist Leeroy New] grew to realize that these visions of a sleek futurism produced in the first worlds did not have his specific cultural and historical context in mind. Therefore, he created his own brand of speculative Filipino sci-fi driven by the belief that the sci-fi genre has great power in determining the technological innovations and attitudes of the future. New refers to the nature-centric or animist principles of Filipino precolonial mythology and histories to inform this alternate futuristic vision."

Story Prompt:

Following the prompt from I. people began constructing huge transport vehicles using Bamboo as the main material. Intercontinental airships with bamboo hulls and propellers. Uses wind power and spring load technology to store energy. 

Captains need to map the route, since the materials are semi-permanent, the journey should pass through bamboo plantations for resupply and maintenance runs.

III. Forestry AI 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/phys.org/news/2023-09-tree-hugging-ai-brazilian-amazon.amp

Sensors were installed on tree trunks which detects and recognize threats (sounds of chainsaw, axes etc). These sensors also relay the information to other sensors on the network which is also recieved by a central points which deploys the appropriate action.

Sci-fi notes:

Central AI can be installed directly to the tree. The tree can directly assess if a threat is imminent.

Tree branches and roots (i.e. for balete trees) are also modified with nanotech mechanical attachments allowing the tree some movement capability.

The tree's central AI plus movement allows it to deal with threats in real time autonomously.

Future advancement on materials technology enables the tree to add more modifications using materials infinitely available to it, i.e. tree trunks, leaves.

Sensors are soundbased. Soon the trees were able to communicate by manipulating the flow of wind on the leaves and branches to emit certain sounds as a form of language. Treesongs.

Story prompt:

Legends tell the story of the Great Balete Tree whom they call the Old Mother, the guardian of the forest and known as the Millenium Tree in the province of Aurora. Stories say that, when faced with threats to the forest and its inhabitants, the Old Mother will sing a lullaby heard all over the entire forest. The song summons the Rootwarriors of the Green, an army of tall trees with thick roots dangling on its branches. These roots are their weapons, able to move with the Old Mother's songs to subdue any threat to the forest and its creatures' peaceful habitation. 

The song was never heard for thousands of years. The natives also forgot where the Old Mother stands or if it still is alive or already destroyed the Iron Conquerors that pillaged the country many hundreds of years ago.

Origins:

Many thousands of years ago: The ancient technotribe of Aurora started their technocrafting tradition. Using a mix of available materials (some native like threads or fibers  to something advanced like microchips), the weavers began decorating the great trees with all these materials. (Unaware of it, after years of this crafting tradition, the technotribe actually mechanized the trees.)

The technotribal priests also began chanting songs to the tree. Inadvertently, the priests were actually creating a new programming code based on enchantments. Soon the code evolved into a self-learning language. And an AI was created naturally with songs as its main language.