We so-called baby boomers in Southeast Asia are in a period of relative peace. For a while, wars had been confined to parts of the Middle East, northern Asia, Africa, and Central and Eastern Europe. But now, the threat of war engulfing the Philippines has grown apace, exacerbated by issues like climate change, resource depletion and a Chinese imperial imperative that is blind and deaf to international law and censure.

Some say that our war with China has begun and the actual shooting will begin as early as this year, 2024. In addition to the regular confrontations that have of late escalated in the West Philippine Sea, they cite evidence of ongoing infiltration and subversion of our country. The maritime confrontations are the proverbial tip of the iceberg and as soon as the first shot or missile is fired, peace will be the first casualty.

Knowing how real the threat of a shooting war breaking out at any moment is, how prepared are we for war? What are we doing to prepare for war?

In the long term

In the short term and medium term, we are beefing up our military assets and facilities and forging mutual defense ties with traditional and new allies. In the long term, we should continue to pursue our economic development, specifically of our industrial base, so that it will serve as the basis for standing up to the Chinese colossus.

The legal option has been exhausted and many observers say the diplomatic channels are useless, with hundreds of diplomatic protests unheeded. Even President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has publicly stated that fresh approaches, a “paradigm shift,” to address the issue must be found.

China has become even more belligerent, facing ever more political setbacks in its campaign to regain Taiwan and cow the Philippines. With the election of an anti-unification leader in Taiwan, the unprecedented ire China vented on the Philippine President for sending a congratulatory message to new Taiwan President Lai Ching-te had an air of panic about it.

For all parties involved, it is now or never. China can only grow weaker relative to the headwinds of resistance it is encountering. And while the Philippines can never keep pace militarily, neither should it keep on losing face.

The Chinese have leapfrogged to become a physical threat to our civilian population and small military contingents on Pagasa and Ayungin. They are able to do so precisely because they have extended their reach by occupying and fortifying our more outlying reefs and rocks. That this happened at all is clearly because of our weak State, lack of manufacturing ability, and weak military. 

Fortunately, the administration of President Benigno Aquino III had enough brains and balls to bring our case to an international tribunal and gave us a decisive victory on that front.

Now we will need more brains and balls to see that victory through. That it could come from a Marcos is a pleasant surprise. If his father’s supposed war exploits and decorations had minimal credibility, maybe Marcos Jr. has a finer sense of history and of his pivotal role in lifting us from the lower rungs of the international pecking order.

We do not want him—or any other Philippine president, for that matter—to lead us to war but even just “going tactical” can have far-reaching, even unforeseen, results. While we have of late shown resiliency and resoluteness in countering China’s so-called gray zone tactics, these will never reverse the inroads China has made, and we will never enjoy or be able to exploit the resources of our exclusive economic zone.

Tactics

Even as an overarching strategy, a master plan, no doubt exists, tactics often dictate the tempo and outcome of war. For example, many observers say that Hamas probably did not foresee the massive Israeli retaliation for its Oct. 7 raid. But while Hamas is paying a tremendous price, and the inhabitants of Gaza are bearing the destruction of their lives, the myths of Israeli invincibility and technological superiority are forever gone as a result of that bold and desperate incursion. And the establishment of a Palestinian state, the process for which had of late gone moribund, has now gained greater and louder international support. Not to mention the escalation of the war into a brewing regional, multifront conflict.

In fact, going tactical or asymmetric is all we can do. We are not a big geopolitical power and will not be in the foreseeable future. But other Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia and Vietnam have stood up to the Chinese bully, and now China is loath to take them on full scale. What do they have that we should have, too? A strong, decisive government; a stable and growing industrial base; a strong military; and the decisive factor, a population ready for when the sh-t hits the fan.

Prepping should be in everything that we do: building multipurpose infrastructure like wide roads as emergency landing strips for multirole jet fighters like the Saab Gripen that our military wants to acquire; subway tunnels and underground parking garages that can be used as bomb shelters, storage areas and emergency medical facilities; and reinforcing community structures like churches, schools, warehouses and government buildings with multipurpose “safe rooms” that can serve as shelters and storerooms.

In addition to our earthquake and fire drills, we can have drills to prepare for bombardments and even nuclear blasts and their aftermath. We should incorporate and strengthen first-aid training and fighting skills like arnis in our schools, companies and government offices.

We must reinforce patriotism. Not in a preachy way, but in ways that suit the message and the medium to the audience. We can strengthen direct indoctrination by teaching geography, the provisions of Unclos (or the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea), the details of our victory at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, reciting the “Panatang Makabayan” at every flag ceremony, teaching our original alphabet, the Baybayin, fact-checking websites to counter Chinese propaganda and fake news… In short, giving our population any and all ideological training, and survival and self-defense skills. The list is endless.

Is there hope?

And so, we reach the existential question: Is there hope for us? Is there hope for humanity? Each generation has to go through war, hot or cold, localized, regional or worldwide. Well, our parents met and begot us. Maybe they did not even think of hope. Maybe there was only that cosmic spark, that indescribable tingle and twinkle in their eyes as they beheld each other that led to our conception and birth.

Thus we stand. Shaped by war. Confronted by war.  We grasp at straws and engage in wishful thinking and try not to think of the worst. And rightly so. Because we are confronted by the worst, we must think of the best. And, of course, answer for ourselves: What do we do when the sh-t hits the fan?

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There is much talk these days about how artificial intelligence or AI could threaten human existence. AI is feared to achieve such a high degree of self-learning that it will surpass human intelligence and may consider us a threat and turn upon us. Really now? 

Certainly, the importance of AI in our lives is impossible to underestimate, let alone ignore. From the most basic AI functions like running the refrigerator and the car, to using complex algorithms that shape decisions based on massive amounts of data, to virtual autonomy in controlling highly automated systems from manufacturing to warfare, to language learning and interacting in an almost human way, AI has become indispensable to modern life. That is why if something goes wrong in those smart chips embedded in our phones and appliances, or in bigger networks like banking and transport systems, we lose many of our conveniences and our technology-driven way of life is seriously impaired.

Throughout human history, technological advances have always carried benefits and the potential for human destruction, self-destruction included. AI is not any different. With impact compared to (or even greater than) technological advances like the discovery of fire, the wheel and the assembly line, the technological leap of self-learning AI offers many positives as well as tremendous threats.

But it’s not as if we have not faced tremendous threats from our environment and technological advances or, worse, from our ill motives or misuse and undoing. Whatever goes into deep-learning AI is there and will be there because we humans put it in there, whether consciously or subconsciously. 

Related: My understanding of economics

How many people have died in fires? How many people have been killed by wheeled vehicles or even just by wheels? How many lives, nay, entire human populations, have been dehumanized and exploited by the industrial revolution and the assembly line? Rhetorical questions those, but they’re half the answer to my “Really now?” question.

The other half is the answer to the question of consciousness, and even if AI does attain a modicum of consciousness, so what? The very word “artificial” means it is “not natural.”

The most basic requirements for real, enigmatic consciousness are two: being organic and being able to experience emotion—in a word, sentient: to perceive, experience and feel and learn (sometimes not all the time) and recall (not all the time either). Remember the definition of human beings taught in Catholic school? That we are embodied spirits. Thus, to use Zen terminology, there is the phenomenal world, the world of matter, the transient world, and there is the world of nonmatter (if I may call it that) or the empty infinite—both of which we inhabit and both of which we manifest. From spiritual embodiment and the corresponding intelligence come the greatest signposts of consciousness: self-awareness and the awareness of others.

Can AI be self-aware? Can it be conscious of others? It is not organic, is it?

The human will always be the greater threat, not AI.  There is no weapon deadlier than the primitive human brain. The capacity to kill in order to survive, to defend or expand one’s territory, to kill for self-interest or pleasure, to kill oneself—this is a characteristic shared only by humans and other sentient creatures.

AI is just a tool. Just like any tool, it should be an extension of our humanity, our perception, our ability to influence our environment. If and when the world flips and the tool AI makes human consciousness its extension, that will be the day. It will be like the tail wagging the dog or the sun revolving around the earth. 

When AI becomes our master, we will be fully deserving of our pathetic fate, when we shall fully demonstrate that we are not only rudimentary but also—worse—painfully stupid.

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