Features

Traveling in Russia for UNESCO and more of life in Paris

Published

3 years ago

2023/06/25

Thilina Walpola

At IPDC Conference in Tashkent with UNESCO Director General M’bow

(Excerpted from volume ii of the Sarath Amunugama autobiography)

In the final years of the gerontocracy that ruled the Communist Party and the USSR we received the green light to have the annual general meeting of the Internatioal Programme for the Development of Communications (IPDC) in the Soviet Union. This was a special plus for the IPDC because till now its main backers were the Third World countries and the Nordic group. The Soviet delegation which included the general manager of Tass News Agency as well as Zassousky of Moscow University and several top brass from the Foreign Ministry managed to convince the old men in the Kremlin that it was in their interest to ally with the many Third World countries associated with UNESCO and IPDC.

As if to reinforce their Third world connections it was suggested that the meeting be held in Tashkent – the capital of Socialist Uzbekistan. The USSR had already built up Tashkent as their window to Asia. For instance, the Tashkent Film Festival was well known in Asia and Africa. The city had the infrastructure to mount a global conference. Preparatory work for the meeting was assigned to me and my office. My counterpart was Sasha, an official in the USSR Embassy in Paris, who was charged with UNESCO relations.

We struck up an instant friendship as we had to travel many times to Moscow together to finalize arrangements for the meeting. Since it was a high level UN conference M’Bow himself would attend it. Having received a battering from the western press the DG looked forward to the choreographed welcome he was bound to receive in the USSR. This was a difficult time for him since the spat with the USA had led to him being demonized in the Western media.

He discovered too late that it was not possible to win over the western media if you take on the Jewish lobby. Once the press begins to demonize you, it becomes difficult even for political leaders to help you. M’Bow was beginning to go down the slippery slope and he found that the popularity of the IPDC among all political camps gave him a chance to mend fences. But the Reagan administration did not approve of him on the Israeli issue.

The US left UNESCO, which created a gaping hole in our budget. Japan came to the rescue by increasing its contribution. But there was a price tag to the rescue act. It began to suggest changes at the top and very soon M’Bow was replaced by a Japanese Secretary General.

Kremlin

While preparations for the Tashkent meeting brought me to Moscow many times, I also had to negotiate some tricky points with the Communist Party bureaucrats. One such issue was regarding visas. Any UN meeting presupposes the issuing of visas to all participants recommended by it. The host country cannot impose any conditions regarding the travel and security of the participants once they are within its borders.

All arrangements for board and lodging of participants must be approved by us. All this had to be handled sensitively as the US had added several anti-Communist hardliners to their observer delegation perhaps hoping to sow confusion. In all probability these delegates would not have been issued visas if they had applied directly to Moscow. Among these hardliners or ‘cold war warriors’ was Alan Weinstein, a University Professor who had published a lengthy volume presenting evidence to prove his thesis that the killing of John F Kennedy was the act of a ‘lone assassin’ and was not a conspiracy.

Weinstein was considered to be a USSR watcher for Reagan. He was joined in the journey to Tashkent by an alcoholic Californian journalist Nossiter who was a favourite of the US President. It looked very much as though the US delegation was expecting some mishap which could be highlighted at home in their ongoing effort to vilify the United Nations. So we had to be extra careful in our preliminary arrangements.

While in Moscow I took time off for sightseeing. The city was full of old dynastic buildings. The multi-coloured churches with their onion like domes were an architectural wonder. The massive Red Square in the Kremlin with a lit up lone red star looking down from the highest building was an inspiring sight to me, who as an undergraduate at Peradeniya, had pored over books written about the historic Red revolution of the Bolsheviks led by Lenin.

To my pleasant surprise my guide to the historic sites of the city was Ordzhonikidze – the great grandson of a fellow Georgian revolutionary and comrade of Stalin. The original Sergo Ordzhonikidze was one of the heroes of the revolution. He was rare among the early leaders to die unscathed by the terror launched by Stalin. Stalin named one of his battle ships after him. However the latest research has thrown doubt about the manner of his death.

My guide was a young man well versed in the history of the revolution. He took me to the Museum of the Revolution which narrates the history of that epochal event. Communists have no hesitation in rewriting history to fit their current preoccupations. For example in all the old photos of revolutionary leaders, Trotsky had been air brushed out. Since I was familiar with the original photos from Isaac Deutscher’s books I asked my guide about it.

His answer shocked me. He told me that he had not even heard of such a name. He added that none in his generation knew of Trotsky. We then visited the Lenin Mausoleum to view Lenin’s embalmed body which a writer has described as a ‘communist relic’. By this time Khrushchev had ensured that Stalin’s sarcophagus which had lain side by side with Lenin’s was removed from the viewing hall. The Russians are obsessed with sarcophagi.

In the basements of the old churches with onion domes – of the Russian Orthodox Church – in ancient boxes lie the remains of church leaders of the past years. The communists have buried the remains of ancient kings but have left the churchmen alone in the crypts. I remembered that Moscow is only a part of the story. The revolution took place in St Petersburg with its Winter Palace.

Much later, on an official visit there with President Mahinda Rajapaksa I was able to imagine the drama at the beginning of the Russian Revolution. The ship ‘Aurora’ which figures largely in history because the sailors mutinied and threatened to bombard Petersburg in support of the revolutionaries was, we saw, moored in Petersburg harbour. But Moscow became the new capital. Ordinokidze and I motored to the outskirts of Moscow to see last ditch defences Stalin had set up to prevent Hitler’s tanks rolling down to take the beleaguered capital which housed Stalin and the Central Committees.

Soviet Tanks and soldiers had made a heroic stand there and driven back the Nazis. After the guided tour we lunched at Moscow’s famous five star restaurant `Matryoshka’ on Katuzovsky Avenue, which was a popular meeting place of the Moscow elite. I went back to my Hotel Moskva and got ready for the highlight of my tour, the visit to the Bolshoi Theatre to see ‘Swan Lake’ danced by the world famous Bolshoi Ballet. I had seen ‘Swan Lake’ in Paris, Berlin [called ‘Schwansee’ in German] and London but the Bolshoi version was the most breathtaking, both for the dancing and Tchaikovsky’s music.

After this encounter I was ready to fly back to Paris. My friend Sasha of the Paris embassy then introduced me to a touching traditional Russian gesture. He brought a home cooked loaf of bread wrapped in a bandana. His wife, who was a teacher of English in a University, had baked the bread. In the past in Russia when a family member or friend undertook a long journey his loved ones would cook him a loaf of bread, wrap it and hand it over so that he would not go hungry. I too was given that touching honour and was greatly moved.

Promising to come back, I took the Air France flight back to Paris and home after a wonderful experience in Soviet Russia. By a coincidence seated next to me on the flight was Bala Tampoe who was one of my heroes from University days. We talked and on the following day I took him out to lunch in a posh hotel close to the ‘Le Monde’ office where Bala had an interview with a French journalist.

Tashkent

The Tashkent meeting was quite a victory for the newly formed IPDC. The international situation was moving towards dialogue and nations were looking for signals, however small they may appear at first, of a thaw in the Cold War. The USSR was in a state of paralysis after a period of rule by geriatric leaders. Gorbachev was in the wings and soon ‘Perestroika’ and ‘Glasnost’ was to emerge to shake up the Communist world.

As mentioned earlier Ronald Reagan sent a delegation of right wing hardliners to Tashkent. They were carefully handled by the State Department officials who came along with them from Washington. They came expecting a frosty reception but the USSR and our staff made sure that they felt comfortable as they were invited to many meals, and especially drinking sessions, in the best Tashkent restaurants. According to American Foreign service officers, their report to Reagan was conciliatory.

Sensing the value of this meeting M’Bow himself attended the conference. He was treated with great respect by the USSR authorities, which was a contrast to the way in which he had been treated by a visiting US under-secretary. At the meeting, defying expectations of a boycott, western delegates who provided most of the funds, were happy that IPDC was short on rhetoric but had successfully collected funds and launched many projects to improve communications facilities in the poorer nations.

The USSR also by selecting Tashkent had signaled that they were on the side of the developing nations. Tashkent was their gateway to Asia and the “third world” countries. They had invested heavily in providing hotels and conference centres in the city. Though we were put up in the best hotel we got a shock when an earthquake hit Tashkent and we had to run out to the open in the night till the tremors subsided. It was a comic sight to see the distinguished delegates congregating on the lawn in their night clothes. Later we were assured that such tremors were not exceptional and the hotel was built to be earthquake proof I doubt whether our seasoned diplomats bought that story in its entirety.

Samarkand

After the grand finale of the meeting USSR authorities had arranged an excursion to Samarkand for the participants. Samarkand has been described by a poet as “a rose red city half as old as time”. It had been the cradle of the Mughal, which later became a famous centre of Islamic learning. We saw one of the oldest Universities of the world with its warren like rooms for the young scholars who then traversed Asia and the Middle East propagating the Islamic faith.

They were also the early scientists and astronomers who advanced learning in mathematics and tracking of changes in the sky and stars. The world’s oldest telescope to observe the skies was located in Samarkand. The Tashkent meeting brought me even closer to the Asian delegates to UNESCO and IPDC. Among them was G. Parthasarathy, the head of the Indian delegation. GP was close to the Nehru family having been the PMs roving ambassador. He was India’s Ambassador to Vietnam at a crucial time when Nehru was called upon to be a mediator in the growing political crisis in that country. We became close friends with consequences that I will describe later in this chapter.

The UNESCO top brass was pleased with our management of the conference. M’Bow held a reception for the staff and thanked them. When the inevitable cuts foIlowing the US withdrawal came, IPDC was not touched. We were encouraged to keep up our ties with the State Department Officials in Paris who were themselves unhappy about the withdrawal but could do nothing about it. They assured us that eventually the US will return and that is what really happened later. In the meanwhile, USAID with whom we had excellent relations continued several of our projects bilaterally with those countries concerned.

Rue Jean Daudin

As stated earlier with the arrival of my family in Paris I moved to a spacious flat in Rue Jean Daudin which was close to UNESCO headquarters and my office in Rue Miollis. This was a posh quartier in Paris being close to the Eiffel Tower, Trocadero, the Ecole Militaire and Champ de Mars – the most famous park in Paris. The shift of residence from a ‘Red’ working class district to the heart of upper class Paris gave me an opportunity of experiencing different historical cultures of that ancient city.

The topography of Paris is highly segmented on the basis of social class. As a jogger in my new locality I could run past the military school which had produced a Napoleon as well as all the military leaders of World wars including De Gaulle. In fact paratroop commanders led by Generals Salan and Massu, who opposed De Gaulle’s change of policy on Algeria, attempted to assassinate him in front of the Ecole Militaire. This real event forms the backdrop of the famous thriller ‘Day of the Jackal’ which became a bestseller.

I ran past the Invalides – a hospital for war veterans established by Napoleon, which is now a war museum. From there I would reach the Champs de Mars and the Tour Eiffel. Then I would go past the Trocadero, down the steps near the Musee de Homme and back to my home in Rue Jean Daudin. It was a daily chore which not many people would have had the privilege of enjoying. But it was also saddening because my route was dotted with plaques commemorating the resistance fighters who had been put against the wall in those locations and summarily executed by the Gestapo during the Nazi occupation. From time to time old ladies – relatives, girlfriends and surviving comrades-would hobble up to those monuments to lay a bunch of flowers as remembrance of those sad times past.

I then got down to the task of finding schools for my two daughters who were delighted to be in Paris at the best time of their young lives. Ramanika who was 18 enrolled in the American University of Paris while Varuni who was 15 joined the British school of Paris which was located out of the city in idyllic surroundings. The British school bus was parked at the Trocadero and the students, who were mostly from the posh quartiers, had to come there by car or metro.

Varuni would take the Segur Metro to Trocadero first with her mother but soon on her own, and catch the school bus to the suburbs with her mischievous schoolmates who were mostly drawn from UNESCO and embassy families. Occasionally my wife and I visited the school to inquire about Varuni’s progress. We were accompanied by Navaz as an interpreter and two other Sri Lankans. The school management would have been horrified to see a delegation of Asians descending on their school, all intent on following the early baby steps in education of their new entrant Varuni Amunugama.

But both children adapted themselves well and would merge easily with their new friends who were up to their usual pranks in class and on school tours to England, Ireland and parts of Europe. They were both on great demand as ‘baby sitters’ to small children of the super-rich like Bank Directors, Ambassadors and Supermodels who paid them handsomely. With the money so collected the two girls traveled through Europe by train on their own.

In Geneva they were looked after by Jayantha and Maureen Dhanapala. In Rome they stayed with Mahinda Ranaweera and his wife who were UNESCO functionaries there. In Germany they were guests of my wife’s cousin who was married to an embassy official in Bad Godesberg. They were popular ‘baby sitters’ because they spent part of their allowance buying chocolates for their wards.

We also had many Sri Lankan friends staying with us. Namel and Malini Weeramuni, our friends from way back, toured France with some companions in a caravan and I arranged a flat nearby for them to stay while visiting Paris. Lester and Sumitra Peries were regular visitors to Paris. Earlier their good friend Vernon Mendis, who was our Ambassador, had entertained them. They also had friends in the French film industry, some of whom were associated with the Cannes Film Festival.

Sumitra’s film `Loku Duwa’ produced and acted by Geetha Kumarasinghe was selected under a special section in Cannes called ‘Un Certain Regard’ which was a considerable achievement for both Sumitra and Geetha. A lot of work went into making a shorter version of the Sinhala film, subtitling, striking extra prints and launching of a publicity drive in the French media. All this was done and `Loku Duwa’ was screened to an enthusiastic audience.

On another occasion Sumitra visited Paris and stayed with us when one of her films was presented at the Nantes Film Festival. Richard Ross and his wife Jane who were our close friends when they were in Colombo as attaches to the US Embassy, were in Paris serving in the US embassy. They were living on a houseboat moored on the river Seine. Dick and Jane invited us for dinner on their boat. It was a fun party with plenty of drinks and as the music increased in tempo, we were scared that an inebriated guest would jump into the river.

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Features

Beyond traditional jobs: Why Sri Lanka needs to facilitate the gig economy

Published

20 hours ago

2026/09/25

Thilina Walpola

Image courtesy Oxford University

by Kapila Chinthaka Premarathne
Head of the Department of Agricultural Systems and a Senior Lecturer in Agricultural Economics at the Faculty of Agriculture,
Rajarata University of Sri Lanka

Beyond the Graduate Unemployment Number

Sri Lanka’s economic recovery has improved macroeconomic stability, but youth unemployment remains a significant labour-market concern. Around 43% of Sri Lankan youth aged 15–24 with postsecondary education are unemployed, the highest among the Asian economies compared in the IMF analysis, compared with about 36% in Bangladesh and 13.2% in Thailand. This reflects a problem of skills mismatches and the difficulty of connecting higher education with changing labour-market demand. The concern goes beyond unemployment itself. Sri Lanka has invested heavily in educating its younger population, yet the conventional labour market is not creating enough opportunities to convert these qualifications into income. Many young people possess degrees, technical knowledge and growing digital familiarity, but remain outside formal employment because suitable jobs may not exist in the right place, at the right time or under conditions compatible with their circumstances. This makes it necessary to think beyond traditional employment models and explore new ways of connecting Sri Lanka’s educated youth with economic opportunities.

This is where Sri Lanka needs to reconsider how it understands employment

Employment has traditionally been viewed through the employer–employee relationship, with qualifications leading to a formal job and regular salary. While this model remains important, digital platforms are creating new ways to generate income, allowing individuals to work for multiple clients across geographical boundaries without permanent employment. Sri Lanka therefore needs to look beyond simply creating conventional jobs and consider whether it is building the conditions for its educated population to participate in the growing global market for digital services.

The Opportunity of the Gig Economy

The gig economy extends far beyond ride-hailing and delivery services. Digital platforms increasingly connect skilled individuals with opportunities in software development, design, accounting, data analysis, digital marketing, translation, online education, research and consultancy. This is particularly relevant to Sri Lanka, where a highly educated population faces a relatively limited domestic market for specialised skills. Digital platforms can overcome geographical constraints by connecting Sri Lankan workers directly with international clients.

As highlighted in my previous LSE South Asia article on women and the gig economy, such work should not replace formal employment but can create additional income opportunities when supported by appropriate skills, digital infrastructure, training and institutional support. A skilled person in Anuradhapura, Jaffna, Batticaloa or Monaragala could potentially serve clients in London, Melbourne or Dubai without first relocating to Colombo. This makes the gig economy relevant not only to employment but also to Sri Lanka’s emerging digital services-export strategy.

A Digitally Familiar Generation

Sri Lanka’s younger generation is growing up with smartphones, social media, online learning, digital applications and digital financial services, giving them a level of digital familiarity that previous generations did not have. However, digital familiarity does not automatically translate into digital employability. The challenge is to transform everyday digital use into productive skills such as data analysis, artificial intelligence, software development, digital marketing, financial analysis and online professional services.

Sri Lanka therefore needs to move young people from being consumers of digital services to producers of digital value. Universities, vocational institutions and training providers can play an important role in converting existing digital familiarity into marketable skills that connect young people with both domestic and international opportunities. This is increasingly important as technological change and AI reshape labour markets and intensify the need for skills that match emerging forms of work.

The Gender Dimension

The gig economy may be particularly relevant to women, who often face barriers to conventional employment arising from childcare, eldercare, mobility, social expectations and rigid working arrangements. For mothers and women living outside major urban centres, fixed working hours and daily commuting can make formal employment difficult even when suitable jobs exist.

Digital gig work can provide greater flexibility, allowing women to undertake professional assignments from home or their communities and potentially serve international clients without relocating. As discussed in my earlier LSE South Asia article, this opportunity is most meaningful when supported by digital infrastructure, skills training, virtual work hubs, mentorship and appropriate institutional support. However, flexibility should expand women’s economic choices rather than simply add paid work to existing unpaid household responsibilities.

Pressure on Labour-Market Opportunity

The value of a job cannot be judged by salary alone, as commuting, working hours and household responsibilities can significantly affect its real economic value. Flexible digital work can potentially reduce some of these costs by allowing people to work from home or nearby digital hubs and participate in employment on a part-time or project basis. While gig work cannot solve all household pressures, a more flexible organisation of work can create additional employment opportunities while helping households manage their limited time and resources more effectively.

A Possible Third Option Between Unemployment and Migration

Sri Lanka’s migration and brain-drain concerns highlight the need to explore employment opportunities beyond the domestic labour market. While overseas migration will remain an important individual and economic choice, digital work can provide another pathway by allowing skilled Sri Lankans to serve international clients without physically leaving the country. Software developers, designers, analysts, researchers, translators and consultants can potentially earn from global markets while remaining in Sri Lanka. Digital gig work cannot eliminate migration or reverse brain drain, but it can create an additional option between domestic unemployment and physical migration—working for the world while remaining in Sri Lanka.

Recognising and Making Digital Work Reputable

A major institutional gap is that conventional systems are designed around salaried employment, while a freelancer may earn from multiple clients without a single employer or salary certificate. This can make legitimate digital workers difficult to recognise when they seek loans, leasing, insurance or business finance. Sri Lanka could address this through a voluntary digital-worker or independent-professional registration mechanism, providing a recognised economic identity based on qualifications, verified skills, platform activity and documented income, without creating unnecessary bureaucracy.

Such recognition should also make digital income bankable. Banks could assess verified platform earnings, bank transactions, contracts, invoices, tax records, savings and repayment history alongside conventional employment documents. A standardised digital income statement could further help workers demonstrate their financial capacity. The key shift is from asking “Who is your employer?” to asking “Can your income be verified and is it sufficiently stable?”. This would allow successful digital workers to build financial credibility and use their earnings to access credit, acquire assets and develop their own businesses.

Digital Payments Are Part of the Labour Market

Access to reliable international payment systems is essential if Sri Lankans are to participate effectively in the global digital economy. Recent developments in PayPal’s local banking arrangements, including its partnerships with Sampath Bank and Commercial Bank, indicate progress in this direction. However, the broader priority should be a regulated and efficient digital-payment ecosystem that allows workers to receive international earnings, transfer them to Sri Lankan bank accounts, document their income and meet relevant financial and tax requirements with minimal friction. International payment infrastructure is therefore not simply a technology issue; it is an essential component of Sri Lanka’s emerging services-export economy.

Building Infrastructure Outside Colombo

Digital familiarity alone is insufficient without reliable internet, electricity, computers, software and suitable working environments, particularly in rural and underserved areas. To ensure that the gig economy supports regional development rather than becoming another Colombo-centred opportunity, Sri Lanka could establish regional digital-work hubs through universities, vocational institutions, libraries and public-private partnerships. These hubs could provide connectivity, equipment, training, mentoring and assistance with platform registration and international payments. If graduates must migrate to Colombo simply to access such infrastructure, the geographical advantage of digital work is significantly reduced.

From Freelancer to Entrepreneur

Gig work should not be viewed as an end in itself. A person may begin with small online assignments, develop regular clients and professional credibility, and eventually establish a small digital enterprise. This creates a potential pathway from graduate to freelancer, professional service provider and entrepreneur, allowing individuals to create markets around their own skills rather than waiting for conventional vacancies. Universities can support this transition by teaching students not only subject knowledge but also portfolio development, market identification, client communication, digital platforms and contract management. A degree demonstrates educational attainment, while a professional portfolio demonstrates what a graduate can offer to the market.

Facilitation Must Be Matched by Protection

Promoting the gig economy without appropriate safeguards could simply transfer employment risks from institutions to individuals. Digital workers may face uncertain incomes, weak bargaining power and limited social protection. Sri Lanka should therefore facilitate digital work while also ensuring opportunities for independent workers to build savings, access insurance and participate in portable social-protection mechanisms. Flexibility should create greater economic choice without compromising long-term financial security, particularly for women.

A regional Example from India: Think Globally and act Locally

India provides a useful regional example of how the gig economy can be approached as a policy issue rather than simply as informal or temporary work. NITI Aayog has estimated the size and future employment potential of India’s gig and platform economy and has developed recommendations covering employment generation, skills, financial inclusion and social protection. More importantly, India has begun creating institutional mechanisms around these workers. Its e-Shram portal provides a national database of unorganised workers, including gig and platform workers, creating a recognised identity through which workers can potentially access employment, skills development and social-security services. India has also explored platform-led skills development through skill certificates, skill passports and on-the-job training, while NITI Aayog has proposed cash-flow-based lending models that could allow platform workers to demonstrate creditworthiness through their earnings rather than conventional employment or collateral.

Social protection has also entered the policy framework. India’s Code on Social Security, 2020 formally recognises gig and platform workers and provides a basis for schemes covering areas such as accident insurance, health, maternity, disability and old-age protection. India is still developing and refining these arrangements, and Sri Lanka need not replicate the Indian model.

However, the experience demonstrates an important policy lesson: the gig economy can be supported through a system that identifies workers, develops their skills, makes their income more visible to financial institutions and extends appropriate social protection. Sri Lanka could develop its own simpler framework suited to its smaller economy, beginning with recognising digital workers and building the institutional conditions that allow their skills and earnings to become part of the formal economy.

Rethinking Employment and the Next Opportunity

The 43 percent figure for educated young Sri Lankans should encourage a wider discussion about the changing nature of work. Sri Lanka will continue to need conventional employment through firms, industries, farms, professional organisations and public institutions, but the changing labour market also requires new opportunities to connect educated Sri Lankans with global digital markets. The gig economy can provide an additional pathway to increase female labour-force participation, reduce the pressure for migration and brain drain, and connect Sri Lankan skills with markets beyond geographical boundaries.

This does not require a complicated bureaucracy. It requires recognising legitimate digital workers, facilitating access to international platforms and payment systems, allowing verified digital income to support credit assessment, developing portable social protection, and strengthening digital infrastructure and skills beyond major urban centres. Better data on digital workers would also help policymakers develop evidence-based interventions.

The future of work is therefore not only about creating more jobs, but about creating more ways for Sri Lankans to work, earn and build livelihoods while continuing to live and contribute in Sri Lanka. The gig economy should be recognised as part of an emerging digital labour market and services-export economy, where workers can build professional identities, earn internationally, access finance and eventually develop their own enterprises.

Features

Are religions getting redundant in the modern world?

Published

21 hours ago

2026/09/25

Thilina Walpola

by Dr Upul Wijayawardhana

We are living in an era of astonishingly rapid scientific advancement. From the time Apple launched the ‘iPhone’ in January 2007, the first targeting the mass market, smartphones have taken over the world, making them indispensable. According to the latest statistics, there are around 8.1 billion mobile phones with 7.4 billion active smartphones, for the world population of 8.25 billion. Except for a tiny minority of the very poor, most people have at least one smartphone.

We are now entering the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and smart robots. Recently, a ‘Chinese’ robot ran 100 metres faster than Usain Bolt! Though Alan Turing proposed the idea of ‘Thinking Machines’ way back in 1950, the real AI boom commenced with the release of the generative AI chatbot, ChatGPT, by OpenAI in November 2020. Number of technology firms in the US as well as in China have joined the race, China catching up very fast, quite unexpectedly. There is a frenzy at the moment, raising expectations, as the imminent floating of these companies is likely to value the two leaders, OpenAI and Anthropic, trillion dollars each!

However, trouble is brewing in the AI field. On top of the concerns raised by environmentalists regarding the huge power drain by AI centres, there are recent reports of some AI models hacking independently into other systems, without human input. Worse still, a senior researcher at Anthropic, who has previously worked for OpenAI as well, resigned in early September on ethical grounds stating that the way the two companies are fast-tracking AI poses an existential threat to humanity. Surprisingly, instead of a rebuttal the head of Anthropic supported his view, soon joined by three more heads of leading AI developers. Whilst they agreed on slowing progress, President Trump has claimed that slowing is totally unnecessary as long as a super intelligent President like himself is at the helm! There does not seem to be an end to Trump’s grandiosity! He was joined by Tony Blair. In contrast, King Charles held a summit with representatives of all AI developers to find a way AI could be developed without a threat to humanity. That is how wise leaders act!

Less sophisticated AI tools are already in widespread use and installed in computers, laptops and smartphones. Some of us are using these automatically. However, the more advanced AI tools like ChatGPT can change even reality. For instance, AI can generate videos hardly distinguishable from real ones. What you enjoy watching on YouTube may be just the creations of AI! Some people use AI to write articles; only a few of them admit that they do so. Very soon we may be reading stories AI creates and listening to music, courtesy of AI. Technology seems to be fast becoming the new religion? Or, will the existential threat move us more towards religion?

Religion, perhaps, is as old as humanity itself; various belief systems evolving and disappearing coupled with the fortunes of the associated civilizations. Just like AI, religion is also a creation of the human mind which our ancestors did to explain many phenomena which appeared, at that time, to be supernatural. Starting with Animism, perceiving the divine in the natural world around, humans went on to Polytheism, believing in many gods like in Hinduism, culminating in the concept of Monotheism.

World’s oldest religion, Hinduism, still in wide practice, is devoid of a founder or a single text. The earliest scriptures, Rigveda, is considered to be around 3,500 years old but archaeologists have discovered symbols of importance to Hinduism as far back as 7,000 BCE. Though it is considered to be Polytheistic, it can be argued that it was the precursor of Monotheism, the concept of a creator God, as Brahma was the creator in the triad, Trimurti, Vishnu being the preserver and Shiva being the destroyer. It seems to be a sensible balancing act; create, destroy and repair with improvements.

It is pretty obvious that as science expands, the importance of religion contracts but it is hardly likely religions would be totally redundant. We have no choice as to which family we are born to and that invariably determines what your religion would be, if any. Religion is the first brainwashing a child encounters and most remain in the same faith, often trying to defend even the indefensible, but some change through conviction or conversion due to one of many reasons. Further, religious rituals have social values and religious practices often come to one’s solace at times of distress. Therefore, many will continue with the religion they were born to but with declining enthusiasm, at times. However, some religions seem to be facing problems like falling attendances in places of worship. With education and tech savviness expanding, one would expect the youth to be less enthusiastic about religion but the converse is true in some religions, some youth becoming very militant unfortunately.

While most religions make you subservient to a supernatural power, the Buddha was wise and bold enough to remove those shackles. He proclaimed that one’s destiny is in one’s own hands. However, many Buddhists appear to attach greater significance to rituals than to practising the Dhamma.

Buddhism as a religion may become less relevant as the frontiers of science expands but the Buddha Dhamma, especially Abhidhamma and Vipassana, would receive increasing recognition, the Buddha remaining an authority on consciousness and the mind.

Scientific progress should be for the betterment of society but AI developers are taking huge risks, taking massive loans threatening the world economy, for one aim: profit! Some do not seem to care even if their actions pose an existential threat to humanity.

Perhaps, if the Four Sublime Attitudes (Sathara Brahma Vihara) expounded by the Buddha; loving kindness (Metta), compassion (Karuna), empathetic joy (Muditha) and equanimity (Upekkha) are adopted as universal values, the world would become a safer place to live in, with or without AI.

Features

‘The Bullet that Missed’

Published

21 hours ago

2026/09/25

Thilina Walpola

Tales of Mystery and Suspense 21

by Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha

Another book that is part of a series, today—one that is fun without the brooding concentration on criminality in different forms that marks the Rebus novels. This one about the Thursday Murder Club, is a romp as its two predecessors were interspersed with deaths and what might be deaths.

The Bullet that Missed

begins with a meeting with the presenter of ‘South East Tonight’, a programme about the area, in which Coopers Chase is situated. The meeting is held because the club has decided to look into the murder of the producer’s assistant, Bethany Waites, whose car was found at the bottom of a cliff ten years ago. There was blood in it, but the body was never found.

Or, rather, the book begins with an account of Bethany Waites deciding, on the night she vanished, to meet someone in connection with a case of massive fraud that she had been investigating, after sending the producer, Mike Waghorn, a message that she had found new evidence though he had no idea what it was. The night she died, she sent him another message: “I don’t say this often enough, but thank you.”

CCTV cameras showed her leaving her place, but then the vehicle vanished, before being sighted near the cliff, with two people in it. Investigation of the fraud had led to the imprisonment of a woman, Heather Garbutt, though it proved impossible to pin anything on Jack Mason, the mastermind for whom she had worked.

The Club conducts investigations on several fronts, including through Connie Johnson, the drug dealer they had helped imprison in the earlier book. The psychiatrist Ibrahim, the most respectable member of the Club, interviews her in an attempt to get her to find out more from Heather, who is in the same prison as she. They also investigate the CCTV record of the night Bethany vanished, and deduce that she went to an apartment block and exited from its other side, and that is why she was not seen leaving the town. But some time had elapsed between her being seen in the town and then on the cliff.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth has been kidnapped, along with her husband, and taken to a house in Staffordshire, where she is told by a man called the Viking that she must kill a former KGB agent now in London, who has a profitable career in money laundering. The Viking tells her he will inform Viktor that she was responsible for stealing the diamonds, the story of which is told in the previous Murder Club Mystery, and Viktor will then kill her.

Elizabeth, who has an affair with Viktor, knows he will not kill her, but when the Viking says he will also send Viktor a picture of Joyce, she decides she must act, and goes to see Viktor, and fires when she gets him in the bathroom. But, of course, she fired into the ceiling, and Viktor is then taken to Coopers Chase, to stay with Joyce until they have dealt with the Viking. And Viktor then enjoys the camaraderie of the retirement home so much that he wonders whether he too should settle there.

Elizabeth does trace the Viking, or rather her husband does, for he has noticed rare books on the shelves in his library, and an antiquarian book dealer friend managed to find out who bought them. But before they could confront him, he comes to Coopers Chase, for he has seen the bullet hole in the bathroom of Viktor’s flat and realized he was fooled.

But he cannot bring himself to kill Joyce straight away, and she knocks him out with a drug in a cup of tea. When he meets Viktor, they both decide to fall in with the plans of the Club.

Before this, Heather has been found dead in her cell, with a note saying that ‘they’ were going to kill her, and only Connie could help. Before that she had admitted that she was frightened to name the man behind the fraud. Jack Mason said the same, after Ron had won his confidence. The Club had deduced by then that the body was buried in the garden of Heather’s house which Jack had bought, after she had been jailed, and digging reveals a gun and money, but no body. Jack tells them that the mastermind had said that Bethany was buried with a bullet with his DNA on it.

The Club is now working with the Chief Constable of Kent, Andrew Everton, who writes thrillers himself, but in the form of e-books. He is in search of a publisher, and delighted when Mike Waghorn puts him on his programme, as is Donna, who is substituted at the last minute for Chris.

The Club finds out whom Bethany visited in the apartment block—Mike’s assistant Pauline, who tells them later what she and Bethany had been doing. But this is after the man behind the fraud has been unmasked up in the house in Staffordshire, where he was trying to hire the Viking and Viktor to find the money that he had stashed away, using accounts that he could no longer trace. He has also confessed to murdering Bethany, hoping this will persuade the two money launderers to help him, but it turns out that he did not do this. Nor did he kill Heather, the incriminating note having been placed in her room by Connie, who decided that Heather’s suicide should be treated as murder so that the person who had been blackmailing her should be found out.

It was Jack Mason’s murder that was brought home to the crook. It turns out that Bethany, her appearance altered by Pauline, has vanished, to a new life in Dubai, where she has taken control of the missing millions. She has gone there because the threat, she received through the bullet she was looking at in the preamble, was to Mike and she wanted him out of danger.

Yet another whimsical conclusion to a whimsical book with enough loose ends left hanging for another sequel.