Limiting access to knowledge through destruction, policies and hooligans alike

This article traces and comments on recent events in which books have been destroyed to train AI and manufacture sole authorship over rare content from across the world, books destroyed by hooligans in the name of having “anti-national content”, and, finally, book censorship.

In July, 404 Media reported that rare books are being bought by big tech companies in order to train AI. These rare books are scanned and then destroyed. The knowledge produced by humans is being stored away for producing AI slop and to acquire a monopoly over who gets access to the knowledge. A world where every entity, be it joy, misery, or entertainment, is at a payable distance — from music to films to organic, non-adulterated food to medicine and now to knowledge. These rare books are either out of print or the last of their copies; by scanning them, preserving their knowledge and creating a monopoly over it, the big companies are creating a scenario like Fahrenheit 451.

Digital colonialism in the past few years has significantly increased. Every single individual carries data that is required by AI companies to train their bots to produce more realistic, human-like content. Written or visual AI content needs existing human-manufactured words and human datasets for it to work; acquiring control over millions of copies of rare books gives companies a new form of colonising ordinary people and their right to fine education. These rare books include legal entries and copies that were never digitised, so not only is it the destruction of history and culture and age-old human-written and edited works, but also the prevention of people in the present from acquiring actual truth. It is creating gaps in knowledge so false narratives can persist.

28th August, Maqtoob reports “Bajrang Dal workers on Thursday assaulted members of a civil society group who had gathered in an Ahmedabad garden to read books by Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai and Holocaust victim Anne Frank...” At a peaceful gathering, posters read “Ban the censorship, not the books”, and this was enough for Bajrang Dal hooligans to object, chant “Jai Shree Ram”, intimidate and violate the peaceful protestors.

The existing education system in India has many drawbacks as it is, but the current government and the New Education Policy ensure that the youth remain oblivious, uneducated on matters of significance and lack the ability to critique anyone in power. By banning books or endorsing massive censorship, as recently seen across Kashmir where there had been a massive crackdown in libraries, the authority is directly limiting access to a wider narrative and reality, and through hooligans like Bajrang Dal it is indirectly showing that the authority can summon up physical violence against a simple but liberating act, such as reading, if official censorship doesn’t work.

Sonia Gandhi’s upcoming autobiographical book was not published by Penguin India; allegedly, the publisher demanded the removal of a few paragraphs for it to be published. The autobiography is now published internationally by Penguin Random House; for both Penguin India and Penguin Random House, the parent company is the same: Bertelsman. Why is one publisher demanding removal of passages and the other is publishing worldwide? Clearly, the company itself has no issue regarding the content of the book. This raises the question of interference by people in authority.

Limiting artistic freedom is quite on-brand for the censorship authorities: when they cannot find a legitimate issue with one's art, limit it, censor parts as opposed to a complete ban, give a choice, so that, in the end, the argument does not revolve around the ban itself and direct accusations are made against the authority. Censorship allows the authority to refute arguments for a complete, unreasonable ban; censoring parts can be excused through arguments that the content instigated communal disturbances, promoted uncultured tradition or had harmful effects on the youth.

In recent times, internationally and domestically, we have all seen the manipulation of media and essentially the destruction of the same. Books are paramount to critical thinking, learning about history, which essentially helps in critiquing the existing authority, and building oneself. By destroying and limiting access to books and subsequently knowledge, the world leaders are set to make human bots in incredible numbers. The big companies and government bodies are not merely preventing the masses from seeking knowledge, but they are creating gaps in knowledge for the younger generation by maligning academic courses. If academia lacked resources and innovations before, now it has been infiltrated by false narratives and a list of books that do not threaten the existing powers. From destroying books to train AI to hooligans destroying books of Anne Frank (a holocaust victim) and Malala Yousafzai (an educational activist) to refusal to publish autobiography and demanding removal of passages, we are seeing predictions, or should we say prophecy, of Ray Bradbury becoming truer by the hour.

Sufia Siddiqui is pursuing a Bachelor's degree in English from Jamia Millia Islamia.

Edited by: Sritama

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this Publication are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of The Jamia Review or its members.