“Robots may soon travel and conquer K2 and other highest peaks of the world. They will probably be able to do that at night and follow the most difficult route,” says Marek Kamiński in the interview conducted by Monika Redzisz.
Monika Redzisz: The way from reaching the Earth’s poles to the world of robots and artificial intelligence seems quite long and unobvious.
Marek Kamiński: Not as long as you might think. I was thinking about what else I could do in my life. I have always wanted to do things I believe in, things that in my opinion matter. I’ve come to the conclusion that the most important problems we face today are climatic changes and environmental degradation. If we don’t change the way we live, we may soon get wiped out from this planet.
It is very important to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. On my way to the poles the only thing I left behind was ski tracks. So I asked myself a question: Is it possible these days to travel without leaving anything behind, without leaving a carbon footprint? In search for the answer to that question, last year I organized my first electric car journey from Poland to Japan. I visited 9 countries and covered the distance of 30 thousand kilometers in 144 days. I was the first man to have used an electric car to get from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok, Russia. Everyone told me that I wasn’t going to get even to Moscow, to say nothing of Siberia. “There are no charging stations out there! Give your head a shake!” they said. But I like challenges.
I took a closer look at the map of Siberia in Google maps and I saw a thread of light. And light means electricity. The only question was how to get connected to the power grid. You can say that in my journey I followed the light. I managed to drive across Siberia with the help of good people who made the light and electricity available to me. Japan was more problematic. Although charging stations were literally everywhere, you could charge your vehicle only with credit cards issued in Japan.
A humanoid robot called NOA is the embodiment of artificial intelligence. During the journey it will have a lot on its plate.
Be it as it may, I have proven that it is possible to travel without negatively impacting our planet.
So what is the purpose of another next expedition?
If we want this world to survive, we need to change our habits. It’s not only about waste sorting; we need to try not to produce it and to live more sustainably. The motto of my next expedition is: “Power4Change”. To face such a challenge, we must be really strong. This expedition is based on three pillars: singularity (artificial intelligence), sustainability and social empowerment.
How will your journey translate into the change of our habits?
During my travel I will be collecting resolutions made by people I will meet, for example: “I will stop driving combustion engine cars”, “I will reduce plastic consumption”, “I will not eat meat for one month”. Those declarations will be our fuel. They will be converted to kilometers; I will not go any further if I don’t get a required number of those. If I don’t find enough people of good will, I will be stuck in one place. I want to show that the future of this planet is in our own hands, that it is worth switching to low emission or public transport and to reducing meat consumption. Finally, based on the resolutions made, we will recalculate all numbers, assess the results of this expedition and see by how much we have managed to reduce carbon dioxide emission.
How will people know about it?
At the beginning of the year we are going to build a community on Facebook and in other social media. It’s a pretty difficult task; we will have to create both a global and a local project at the same time. Ludwig Wittgenstein said: “Limits of my language mean the limits of my world.” The project in Polish shall be launched only in Poland, but the project in English will be more global. But how to convince local communities we will meet on our way that our expedition is important? We still haven’t found the answer to that question.
We? Who is going with you?
My companion NOA, a humanoid robot. It is the embodiment of artificial intelligence. During the journey it will have a lot on its plate. It will be fitted with air, noise and artificial lighting pollution sensors. In every country we are planning to visit, it will carry out measurements of air and water, examine the carbon footprint, and check whether the energy consumed by people comes from renewable energy sources or not. I would also like NOA to collect all the resolutions and convert them to kilometers, register all information about the expedition, and write a book about it after we get back home. We are now filing an application with the National Center for Research and Development regarding modern software that will make it possible for NOA to perform all her tasks.
What do you think it will be like to travel with a robot?
I guess we will find out soon! We will be together for 8 months. For me, this expedition is experimental futurology, an attempt to see what we will have to face in the future. In the past I had to deal with being alone; now I will have to deal with the company of an Other. I think it is going to be an interesting experiment. How will I affect NOA’s personality? What impact will NOA exert on my psyche? My condition will also be monitored. It will be the first travel of a robot around the world in history. What will the machine learn from that? We’ll see. Robots may soon travel and conquer K2 and other highest peaks of the world. In winter, at night, following the most difficult route…
An electric car is a symbol of clean energy. But it is not entirely true. It consumes electricity which, at least until now, has been generated from coal. The production of car batteries is not very eco-friendly either…
We cannot build an ideal world or generate ultraclean energy at the drop of a hat. But we have to start with something.
As a matter of fact, travelling is ecologically questionable. We often hear hypocrites saying “We are very eco-friendly” and one week later we see them flying on holiday to New Zealand, leaving a massive carbon footprint behind them.
Obviously, it would be better to stay at home and go everywhere on foot and it would be best to stop breathing. After all, life is CO2 emission. But let’s not be absurd. Life is about other things. But you can travel in the most eco-friendly way possible. Railway seems to generate the smallest amount of emissions. Unfortunately, I have to travel by plane and solar planes have not yet been invented.
In the past I had to deal with being alone; now I will have to deal with the company of an Other. I think it is going to be an interesting experiment.
In what other way would it be possible for me to get to French Polynesia, where I am to deliver a lecture next week? It’s not about going back to the stone age – although I have friends who say that they would love to live in that era. I, too, have wondered if I would prefer to be a Neanderthal, but I am here and now, and today the objective of people should be to live in the most sustainable way possible.
Do you think we can change? Do you believe that we are ready to forsake so many comforts and pleasures like eating meat, going on holidays to exotic islands, driving cheap combustion-engine cars, using disposable plastic containers?
Obviously, one expedition will not change our current situation but you have to keep trying. People often ask me whether it is worth going to the pole as the pole has already been reached by someone else. I myself went to one pole four times and three times to the other. So is it worth going there? With our polar expedition with Jasiek Mela we raised over 700 thousand zlotys and bought prostheses for 60 people. Not only did Jasiek overcome his own mental and physical challenges, but also gave hope to many disabled people around the world. And this is why my answer is: if you can help at least one person, you have to try your best.
For you, personally, in what way is this expedition different from the previous ones?
It is of a completely different nature. The polar expedition was a sports challenge. The idea was to break the record. Now, it’s different. It is not my individual achievement – it’s a joint undertaking of all people who will participate in it. It’s a social project. I am more worried about not being able to create a community than about not being able to go around the world. I’m just a tiny rock but I want to trigger an avalanche.
The world has been explored. What does being a traveler and an explorer mean today?
I grew up believing that the outside world is to be discovered. But my expeditions have taught me that the most important thing is to overcome your own challenges. Expeditions are like an iceberg. You can only see its tip, the rest is hidden under the surface. Roald Amundsen, the first explorer to have reached the South Pole, wrote that preparing expeditions was the key to his happiness. Robert Peary, the first man to have reached the North Pole, said that a polar expedition is similar to a game of chess where all movements are planned 3 years in advance.
Before going to the North Pole, where I had to walk 700 kilometers on frozen Arctic Sea, I spent months running around the Tri-City Landscape Park, dragging heavy tires, because I had to prepare to pull 150-kilogram sledges at minus 60 degrees.
The poles, Mount Blanc, the Amazon River – it’s all just a scenery. To be honest, I travel internally, and external travels are only a manifestation of this. The biggest secret is hidden within ourselves.
Marek Kamiński was the first man to have reached both poles in the same year (1995). In 2004 he did it again together with Jaś Mela, a disabled teenager. He has conquered Spitsbergen, Mount Blanc and Mount Gunnbjørn, the highest peak of Greenland. He has crossed the Gibson Desert in Australia and walked along the route of over 4,000 kilometers from the tomb of Immanuel Kant in Kaliningrad to the grave of Saint James in Santiago de Compostela. Last year, within the No Trace Expedition, he drove an electric car from Poland to Japan. He calls himself “a traveling philosopher”.
On 1 May 2020 he is scheduled to start his new journey; he is going to drive around the globe in an electric car with a humanoid robot fitted with artificial intelligence. He’s setting off from the Reform Club in London, where from Phileas Fogg, the protagonist of Jules Verne’s “Around the world in 80 days” embarked on his journey. He will leave Europe to head for Turkey from where he will travel to Iran (or Uzbekistan) and then to Pakistan, India, China and South Korea. He will embark on a ship to sail to Japan and cross the Pacific to get to the United States. He is then expected to sail across the Atlantic to Morocco and go back to London.