Smart Ocean: Impacts of technology on marine life
Ocean of Consciousness awareness raising event inspired by whales featuring Dr. Marsha Green from Ocean Mammal Institute
The above video from the December 2021 solstice event is an awareness-raising program introducing the topic of safety for whales and marine life who will be impacted by the military and commercial expansion of technology into the ocean via the Internet of Underwater Things (IoUT).
Commercial interests and the armed forces view an internet-connected ocean as essential for their operations. But the impacts on marine life are not being considered.
The Internet of Underwater Things will consist of underwater sensors that communicate with one another and with relay stations on the surface of the water. These stations will in turn communicate with satellites and/or ground-based 4G/5G infrastructure on land.
This vast ocean-based network will be integrated into Systems Warfare — 21st century warfare that weaves together the different branches of the military into one coordinated AI web of destruction.
The IoUT will also play an integral role in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) “arms race” we are currently witnessing play out in the US, China, and other nations.
In what’s known as Dual Use Technology, the Internet of Underwater Things will also be used by the private sector for its purposes: mining for minerals on the ocean floor, seismic drilling, monitoring oil and gas pipelines, global trade, surveying shipwrecks, and scientific research.
Sonar waves and anthropogenic noise interfere with whales and other marine mammals’ ability to tend to their needs. High intensity sonar, around 240 decibels, used by the US navy, can cause deafness, bleeding in the brain, stranding, and death in whales.
Disoriented from the unrelenting sound that can permeate the ocean for hundreds of miles (and in the case of low frequency sonar, thousands of miles), in a desperate effort to escape the sound, whales fling themselves onto the shore and die.