When talking about technological innovations and progress, one seldom yields to discussions around philosophical narratives. This rejection or flattening of the human element seems all the more pertinent when the discussion shifts to digital technology and its extensions such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality and augmented reality, amongst other manufactured simulations and experiences. Even as such spaces largely continue to be designed and discussed with little consideration and compassion for myriad sentient emotions, their interfaces, nonetheless, parallelly continue to accumulate spurts of human reactions in distinctly evident forms.

The moment you create the ability in a mechanism to not follow the obvious laws of physics and chemistry and have the option to trigger a reaction to it in different conditions, that’s the beginning of artificial intelligence. – Anand Gandhi

This negation can perhaps be attributed to the designation of newer manifestations of technology as completely novel inventions, or something that did not exist, even in essence, previously. However, the veracity of such a claim can easily be contested when one views the mechanism through which some of the most antiquated tools were manipulated to function, as desired. While the wheel may often be considered a primitive invention and the provisions of artificial intelligence modern, both are mechanisms that have been configured to embody some agency that allows them to act in dissonance with the laws of nature and life. Mumbai-based filmmaker, entrepreneur, media producer, innovator and systems researcher, Anand Gandhi, attests to this sentiment, in a conversation with STIR, “Artificial intelligence is an ever-evolving framework. The moment we put ‘if’, ‘then’, or, ‘else’ kind of a system in any machine, in any entity that is not us, that’s the beginning of artificial intelligence. The moment you create the ability in a mechanism to not follow the obvious laws of physics and chemistry and have the option to trigger a reaction to it in different conditions, that’s the beginning of artificial intelligence.”

Gandhi, one of the speakers at the Shiv Nadar Foundation presented event, Synapse Conclave 2024, which was held on February 24-25, 2024, in Gurugram, Haryana, spoke extensively about the power of narratives and the utilisation of artificial intelligence to navigate through the philosophical questions that people typically ponder upon. Synapse Conclave 2024, a two-day science tech conference, is founded and curated by Indian journalist Shoma Chaudhury. In an attempt to platform myriad voices and perspectives on tech, nearly 40 individuals from varying disciplines—actors, Nobel Laureates, technologists, ethicists, philosophers, inventors, artists, economists and more—spoke on the impact and relevance of technology in their corresponding disciplines. The event was organised by Lucid Lines, an international science and technology platform, with STIR as the amplification partner.

Gandhi, in a talk moderated by Shoma Chaudhury, pondered upon the work within Memesys Culture Lab, a new media studio and systems think tank founded by him. He also touched upon his role as a narrative engineer and on the idea behind MayaVerse, a medium that intends to ‘create a story for the 21^st century.’ During the 30-minute discussion, Gandhi, introduced by Chaudhury as the sci-fi Valmiki, enunciated the power that stories hold and the way narratives can be weaponised to both manipulate viewpoints and guide dreamers, as well as the potential of tales as mediums to update our consciousness and serve the 21^st century.

Elaborating upon the idea behind MayaVerse, the Indian filmmaker shares, “MayaVerse is the answer to all the questions and responses that I have had the chance to synthesise and distil during my lifetime. It is the sum total of all the questions that all of us have been asking our entire lives: Who am I? Where am I coming from? Is there a purpose to my existence? What do we do with our power and ability? What do we do now that work is going to be taken away by machines? Do we still have any purpose?” The platform, four years in making and scheduled to be launched at the end of 2024, came out of this need identified by Gandhi to upgrade our stories.

Gandhi also refers to the unique human ability of having foresight and hence, the ability to envision a utopian future. “The fuel of foresight is hindsight, the ability to draw and record data that can be passed on generation after generation so that every generation does not have to start from scratch,” Gandhi shares. “Hindsight is the fuel, foresight is our greatest ability and the machine, the engine that enables this is insight. The relationship between the three is what we call a story. Story, hence, is a simulation engine, a priority machine, it’s our species' unique ability to update and upgrade our genetic software,” he adds.

If you go to any story-telling session of human enterprise, for the past several decades, or even centuries, there have been people really just exchanging methods of attracting more attention and addicting [sic] the behaviour of other humans. – Anand Gandhi

On the question of upgrading our ‘genetic software’ and updating our mythological references, Gandhi exerts the unanimous shift in human morality and needs, across time. While most folkloric tales label good and evil as two explicit entities, a more recent conundrum faced by our civilisation pivots on the availability of resources and their manufactured scarcity, on the politics of attention and addiction, and more such issues that can easily be solved with the technological advancements currently in place. “Most people don’t know how to create systemic solutions for a world that has systemic problems. Older mythologies don’t serve that problem. They tell us what to do for local justice, but are unable to address contemporary issues such as climate crisis, the existential threat on humanity etc.,” Gandhi shares. MayaVerse was born with the intention of creating fantastical, immersive and experiential stories that do not shy away from addressing conflicts and can serve as an inspiration for individual introspection and systemic change.

Emulating and enhancing upon the absurdist science fiction series OK Computer (2021), the dramatically festooned tale of greed in Tumbbad (2018), the deeply visceral, introspective and beguiling stories within Ship of Theseus (2012) and an engaging and subtle representation of the Butterfly Effect in Right Here, Right Now (2003), Gandhi presents the idea of MayaVerse: “We have started stimulating a planet where we can answer some of these contemporary questions.” Upon its launch, the narratives will be made available in various different formats, namely games, books, graphic novels, films and more.

Click on the banner video to view our conversation with Anand Gandhi - about his films, process and the presence of AI in creative realms.

Synapse Conclave 2024 focuses on science, technology and society, exploring the exciting and troubling implications of age reversal, gene editing and big data. STIR as an amplification partner brings you a series of conversations from the lineup that warrant further reflection.