Reconciliation with Nature through the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Abstract

The people of Bali offer sacrifices daily for the peace they experience with nature. But nature is not at peace with the people of Bali, or anywhere else, because people use technologies of past industrial revolutions that harm the balance with nature, and nature is responding with harm to humanity. This paper asks how can we change, using the capabilities of the fourth industrial revolution, to placate nature. Misuse of technology is not confined to Bali and the Balinese, but to all humanity. After describing some key ways we do nature harm by misuse of old technology, and nature’s retribution (including climate change, air pollution, plastics, abuse of land and water) the paper suggests some distinctly Balinese and Indonesian ways to address them, and a summary of the political and administrative changes that this would require. It concludes with thoughts on the relevance of this for the rest of the world.