[Tech Thoughts] We need to be more responsible if we’re taking the Pax Silica route

The Pax Silica route, as I imagine it, seems like it can potentially be a boon, but I worry that we aren't doing our utmost to be responsible about developing the country and using our resources accordingly

Pax Silica, the US-led alliance aiming to secure supply chains for artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and critical minerals, is getting the Philippines on board with turning us from a country that handles the assembling, testing, and packaging of semiconductor components into a “Golden Node” in this network.

“By joining Pax Silica, the Philippines is ensuring that our mineral resources and strategic location are not simply supporting global industries from the margins, but are actively harnessed to build the industries of the future,” Finance Secretary Frederick Go said.

The Pax Silica route, as I imagine it, seems like it can potentially be a boon, but I worry that we aren’t doing our utmost to be responsible about developing the country and using our resources accordingly.

Who ‘exploits’ our rare earth minerals

A coalition of science- and tech-based groups have urged caution and opposition towards blindly accepting the promises of taking the Pax Silica route.

The Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment, AGHAM Advocates of Science and Technology for the People, and the Computer Professionals Union are part of the STOP US War (Scientists and Technologists Oppose the US War) coalition, which opposes an “imperial US” and the wars it plays a part in.

When it comes to using our rare earth minerals, the value proposition is that we are able to take advantage of our natural resources to make us richer by producing high-tech stuff, but there’s the worry that the US might use our natural resources to enrich themselves while we accept scraps. There’s also the concern that our natural resources might be used to make instruments for war.

The data center conundrum

One of the other problems foreseen with Pax Silica is the conundrum surrounding our hosting of AI data centers as part of the Pax Silica network.

The concerns with these tend to be more environmental in nature. Aside from issues with powering data centers, there are concerns regarding heat expenditure and cooling. There are also environmental and health effects from having an energy-guzzling data center spewing all sorts of potential pollutants into the air and water.

For example, Elon Musk’s xAI installed 59 natural gas turbines for its Colossus 2 data center project in the US state of Tennessee without securing federal clean air permits, based on communications between regulators and xAI representatives. This brought about concerns of causing lung disease in communities near the off-grid power plants.

Doing things responsibly

It becomes important to do things responsibly if we’re planning to follow the Pax Silica route. We need robust protections for the environment alongside making sure people aren’t hurt or otherwise disadvantaged by the Philippines taking this path toward progress.

Australia, for example, is taking steps to ensure its data center industry can be brought up responsibly using a whole-of-government approach, rather than sectorally.

They’re making an “Office of AI” to manage the development of standards for operation, as well as force data centers to be net producers of energy while limiting their water usage.

According to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, “Up until now, our response has been issue-by-issue, sector by sector.”

“This is our time to decide what AI looks like here in Australia. It is not a question of if or when AI will transform our economy, we are past that,” Albanese added.

I hope the Philippines can take inspiration from that.

I hope the Philippine government will use its will to ensure Filipinos — especially those who would be most affected by the creation of a data center or whose land might be used to search for rare earth minerals — benefit not just in terms of monetary gains. I would love to see a whole-of-society gain where people’s rights are intact, their health is assured, and the country prospers well enough, even if it’s at a pace more modest than AI would have you believe could be gained. – Rappler.com