The Automonk

The Automonk patiently paced the hall, chanting:

अमर प्रकाश, अंतर्ज्योति

in a muted manner that failed to reverbate in the austere marble hall. The phrase, Amar Prakash, Antar Jyoti - Eternal Light, Inner Flame, was derived from analyzing thousands of religious texts and millions of hours of ceremonies through a bespoke neural network designed for the Automonk. Eyes closed, the hooded figure of brass and steel gave the main hall of the monastery a cold, ascetic background noise. A couple of small groups of devotees sat equidistantly apart, some reverently conversing, others with eyes closed and prayer beads in hand. The whine of the air conditioning was faintly audible, otherwise, no other noise permeated the hall.

The Fall of Math marked a significant waypoint in the decline of humanity. Resume at 0:55 ⏵ The scientific surety of previous generations was no longer guaranteed. Driven mad with uncertainty, most researchers decided that computing models driven by artificial intelligence were the only ways to make progress in a non-deterministic universe. This strategy was wildly successful. Knowledge advanced rapidly. With the help of artificial intelligence, decades of research crystallized at a previously unimaginable pace. But then, humanity’s cumulative knowledge reached an asymptote. Returns on research efforts vastly diminished. Scientists became convinced that no more grand unifying theories - hallmarks of previous centuries of scientific discovery - were left to uncover. No one is certain why this happened. The most popular theory is that artificial intelligence can only create new knowledge and discoveries based on existing theories. Once existing solution spaces were exhausted, new discovery became impossible.

The Automonk came about during the initial flurry of invention following the Fall of Math. A philosophy professor, known by the initials HG, constructed the robot after observing that the vocation of priesthood had gone extinct sometime in the last century. Unable to determine for certain why this occurred, HG instead constructed several copies of their machine and distributed them to various monasteries in an attempt to revive religion.

Trained on thousands of religious texts and millions of hours of religious ceremonies, the Automonk attended to idols with periodic ablutions, confidently paced the hall, and sat quietly, as though meditating.

अमर प्रकाश, अंतर्ज्योति

अमर प्रकाश, अंतर्ज्योति

अमर प्रकाश, अंतर्ज्योति

Pale sunlight floods the hall. The gentle whisper of a well-oiled door hinge is audible. A man enters the hall uncertainly, a small pack draped across his shoulders. The Automonk, unperturbed by design, continues:

अमर प्रकाश, अंतर्ज्योति

अमर प्रकाश, अंतर्ज्योति

अमर प्रकाश, अंतर्ज्योति

The man sits cross-legged in a corner, away from fluorescent lights, and quietly observes the proceedings. At a seemingly precise time, the Automonk silently rises and proceeds to the altar. It performs ablutions and begins chanting a new sloka more loudly. The patrons shift their attention to the ceremony. The Automonk draws a curtain around the deities and retires behind. After a few minutes, it folds away the curtains to reveal the freshly adorned deities. It resumes pacing, this time changing mantras and accompanying its recital with the jangle of small hand cymbals.

The man sits in the forgotten past. The past that was deemed irrelevant by technology, discarded, and then forgotten entirely by humanity. Religion was originally discredited and defeated by Science. Yet the irony is that both have been cast away now, as ways of understanding the universe. Both relics, misunderstandings of Reality.