The first point of interest is the ICARUS project of the Max-Planck-Institut für Verhaltensbiologie, which aims to create a global network of interconnected sensors mounted on birds, animals, and insects. These sensors have the unprecedented capacity to collect rich telemetric data from Space, thereby creating an 'internet of animals'.
The other point of departure is a famous proverb in the tribal and Adivasi communities of central India that roughly translates to 'Those who dance will survive': 'Jo nachi so bachi'. Dancing together is an approach to survival and growth against all odds of nature and humanity. Dancing here is not what Mahashweta Devi, amongst others, had sufficiently warned us about, as the flaccid cliche of the urban imaginary.
It is exciting to imagine the potential of the super-intelligence of the hyper-animal of the ICARUS project. Millions of organisms are connected across their phylogenetic clades, allowing us to observe their choreography from Space. We can then decode their dance and predict earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tornados, tsunamis and even the next pandemic reliably and objectively.
On the other hand, the Jo Nachi So Bachi technology of Adivasi dancers makes the same promise but without any demonstrable, objective, and quantifiable data. After all, the Adivasi communities in many parts of central India have successfully navigated diverse natural phenomena and, to some extent, also survived the onslaught of modernity.
During this phase of the Early Warning System project, we will consider both approaches to telemetry, namely, 'becoming sensor' and 'mounting sensor'. We will start to think together in the theatre on how to reconcile these approaches or prepare ourselves to mourn the loss of one in the interest of the other.