The Lebanon blasts a headwind for civilization

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Pagers, once popular but now obsolete, are remembered for ushering in mobile connectivity. This week, they made news again when over 30 people were killed and nearly 3,000 injured in a series of pager explosions in Lebanon. The blasts spread fear across the Middle East and raised concerns globally.

How did pagers turn deadly?

According to MTV Lebanon, the pagers were detonated remotely. The Financial Times, citing two former Israeli government officials, suggested two possibilities for the explosions. Either some malware caused the lithium batteries to overheat and explode, or it could be a supply chain attack, with the devices rigged with small amounts of explosives at some point in the production line.

Reuters, quoting a senior Lebanese security source, reported that Israel's spy service had modified the pagers at the production level, embedding a device to trigger an explosion when receiving a remote code. This advanced technology made the explosives nearly undetectable, allowing the blasts to be triggered within seconds.

Whether through bypassing detection or remotely triggering explosions, the attackers utilized technology to achieve their deadly objectives – planting explosives in pagers, remotely controlling thousands of units, and causing nationwide explosions within a matter of seconds, resulting in mass casualties.

Ironically, the extensive use of pagers among Hezbollah, the Lebanese armed group, had stemmed from security concerns. According to The New York Times (NYT), Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah had repeatedly accused Israel of using mobile phone networks to target its senior special force leaders. In a televised speech in February, Nasrallah had urged his supporters to "bury" their phones, warning them, "I tell you that the phone in your hands, in your wife's hands, and in your children's hands is the agent."

The NYT, citing intelligence officials, reported that Israel had invested millions of dollars in developing new technologies to hack into phones, activating microphones and cameras remotely to spy on their owners. This is why had Nasrallah insisted that Hezbollah members use pagers for communication. Yet even the pagers became "lethal weapons."

Just one day after the pager blasts, walkie-talkies used by several Hezbollah members were also remotely detonated, killing at least 20 people and injuring about 450. Other reports indicated that some mobile phones, laptops and even solar panels in Lebanon had also become bombs.

The incidents highlight a growing threat: Any communication device can potentially be turned into a ticking time bomb.

A headwind for human progress

Technological advancement is a hallmark of modern civilization, but the mass explosions of communication devices in Lebanon have dealt a heavy blow to this very symbol of technological progress.

Technological progress has always been accompanied by a competition between good and evil, light and darkness, progress and regression. While technology can facilitate human civilization, it can also plunge humanity into an abyss. Nuclear power, for example, plays a critical role in addressing climate change, achieving net-zero emissions, and accelerating energy transition. Nuclear technology is vital in areas like cancer treatment, food security and environmental pollution control. However, the destructive potential of nuclear weapons is catastrophic.

The pager explosions were an attack carried out through technological means with such a far-reaching impact that it has left everyone concerned. Perhaps now we can better understand why some countries, in their pursuit of technological cooperation, insist on scrutinizing "backdoors" and examining the "backgrounds" of companies. But if fear of technology continues to grow, could humanity regress into an era of isolation and zero innovation?

In the time of rapid change, we can only hope that the global community will forge a broader consensus that enables civilization to stride forward rather than regressing to primitive self-isolation and zero technology.

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