Fourth Way Perspectives
The Increasing Use of Electricity
Chapter XLV of Mr. Gurdjieff's First Series of All & Everything is entitled, "In the Opinion of Beelzebub, Man's Extraction of Electricity from Nature and Its Destruction During Its Use, Is One of the Chief Causes of the Shortening of the Life of Man." Recall that Gurdjieff wrote the First Series "to destroy, mercilessly, without any compromises whatsoever, in the mentation and feelings of the
reader, the beliefs and views, by centuries rooted in him, about everything existing in the world." What are our unconscious beliefs and views about
humanity's use of electricity and the resulting consequences?
In this chapter, Gornahoor Rakhoorkh reveals his conviction that Okidanokh, the cosmic-substance formed directly from the emanation of the Most Holy Sun Absolute—the abode of our common father creator—is essential to both the arising and maintenance of all life forms. Rakhoorkh comes to a deeper understanding of Okidanokh thanks to his being-Partkdolg-duty. On certain days his active mentation unexpectedly diminished, and so Rakhoorkh began to seek the causes of this by attending to both himself and what proceeded around him. This conscious division of attention revealed that the action of a dynamo (i.e. an electrical generator) was the direct cause of his weakened active mentation.
After hearing Rakhoorkh's scientific explanations, Beelzebub relates how our methods of extracting electricity (e.g. dynamos) destroy the omnipresent Okidanokh. Speaking of humanity, Beelzebub states, "At the present time they name the result of the blending and the mutual destruction of two parts of this omnipresent substance [Okidanokh] 'Electricity.'" That is, the simple extraction of electricity destroys Okidanokh. This would seem to cover everything from nuclear power plants to solar panels to electric vehicle batteries to shuffling one's feet across a carpet, albeit with a wide variation in the amount of energy produced.
Needless to say, electricity is purposively generated so that it can be utilized. So Okidanokh is destroyed...for what purpose? Humans use electricity for "naively egoistic aims" and "never have they destroyed so much of it as in recent times." If we could stop for a moment and observe, from an ordinary point of view, what can we see regarding humanity's electricity usage?
According to the Boston University Institute for Global Sustainability, the total amount of global electricity generated in 1900 is estimated at 66.4 terawatt-hours (TWh). This total has grown to 29,165 TWh in 2022, an increase of more than 40,000 percent. Another way of looking at this is to note that in 1900 electricity represented just 0.1% of all energy used globally—in 2020, it had grown to 22 percent. Further, the projected demand for electricity continues to increase dramatically. In 2023, the projected demand for new electricity in North America was twice as large as that of 2022.
Boston Institute for Global SustainabilityA major factor behind this is the increase in data centers—physical warehouses of computer resources required by information technology systems to store and process data. The rapid adoption of AI, an increase in businesses moving their computing to the cloud, and recent growth of digital currencies are all fueling a dramatically increasing demand for data centers. Data centers require a large amount of electricity for computing processes, as well as electricity for security and equipment cooling. One study found that a single modern data center uses the same amount of electricity as 80,000 households. Another study warns that the AI industry could consume as much electricity as all of the Netherlands by 2027.
If we observe impartially, do we find our society, and ourselves, using an increasing amount of electricity for "naively egoistic aims?" In the case study "Anatomy of an AI System," AI scholars Kate Crawford and Vladan Joler explore the magnitude of the vast network of resources, including electricity, required to drive the infrastructure underlying a single Amazon Echo device. As the authors succinctly state:
- Put simply: each small moment of convenience—be it answering a question, turning on a light, or playing a song—requires a vast planetary network, fueled by the extraction of nonrenewable materials, labor and data. [Emphasis added.]
Gornahoor Rakhoorkh expresses the ultimate and lawful effect on the whole of creation resulting from the production of electricity:
- The destruction in the presences of the planet and of its atmosphere, of the Omnipresent cosmic-substance Okidanokh is almost equivalent to the conscious destruction of all the labors and results of the First-Sacred-Cause of everything that exists. [Emphasis added.]
These studies, of course, do not account for or even suspect a sacred substance–Gurdjieff's Omnipresent cosmic substance Okidanokh. Therefore, the ultimate and lawful effect on the whole of creation resulting from the production and misuse of electricity remains unknown to scientists, as Gurdjieff calls them "learned-beings-of-new-formation." To begin to bring this wholistic understanding to fruition within ourselves would require investigations undertaken from an entirely new point of view and understanding. That is, where the investigation begins within the third state of consciousness: self-consciousness and working towards the fourth, objective state of consciousness.
—Colan Leo Baldyga
Notes
1.
Gornahoor Rakhoorkh reveals. G.I. Gurdjieff,
All & Everything, 1155–58.
2. Okidanokh. Gurdjieff, 138.
3. Abode of our common father creator. Gurdjieff, 192.
4. Action of a dynamo (i.e. an electrical generator). "Dynamo," Wikipedia, 03/01/2023, https://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Dynamo.
5. Never have they destroyed so much. Gurdjieff, 1159.
6. Institute for Global Sustainability. "Energy Production and Consumption," https://ourworldindata.org/energy-production-consumption.
7. Total amount of global electricity. Ricardo Pinto, Sofia T. Henriques, Paul E. Brockway, Matthew Kuperus Heun & Tania Sousa, "The Rise and Stall of World Electricity Efficiency: 1900–2017, Results and Insights for the Renewables Transition." April 15, 2023, 126775. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2023.126775.
8. Projected demand. The demand for electricity outstrips the global capability to generate electricity and the capability of the electrical grid to deliver it.
9. A major factor behind this. "Amid explosive demand, America is running out of power," The Washington Post, 03/07/2024, Retrieved from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/03/07/ai-data-centers-power/.
10. A single modern data center. "Investing in the rising data center economy," McKinsey & Company, 01/17/2023, https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/technology-mediaand-telecommunications/our-insights/investing-in-the-rising-data-center-economy.
11. Another study warns. "Warning AI industry could use as much energy as the Netherlands," BBC, 10/10/2023, https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-67053139.
12. Each small moment of convenience. Kate Crawford and Vladan Joler, "Anatomy of an AI System: The
Amazon Echo as an Anatomical Map of Human Labor, Data and
Planetary Resources," AI NowInstitute and Share Lab, (September 7, 2018) https://anatomyof.ai.
13. Possibility of nuclear fusion. "Warning
AI industry could use as much energy as the Netherlands," BBC, 10/10/2023, https://www.bbc.com/news technology-67053139.
14. Destruction in the presences. Gurdjieff, 1158.
15. Learned-beings-of-new-formation. Gurdjieff, 577.
