Fiction Today and Forever

Fiction has thrilled humanity inspiring us in to improbable adventures. Every ethnic group has fictional tales and stories that captivate the imagination of their past, present and future. The cultural fabric of our tribe is also interwoven with tales filled with mystical characters plotted by our ancestors. They are equally unique, intriguing and thrilling. Today, our generation is mystified by characters such as the wizards of Harry Potter; Andrew of Bicentennial Man (1999), a sentient and emotional robot educating and upgrading himself and finally convincing the World Congress to recognize him as human; and Dr. Will Caster of Transcendental (2014) who uploads his consciousness into the quantum computer where he goes on to disobey death. All these characters are potent of future realities.

When neuroscience and artificial intelligence advance, transhumanism could become a reality. When we could experience more than three dimensions, a round square or virtual reality swaps our very reality. When all A Priori conditions are turned upside down. When education, cultivation, driving, and all sorts of activities would be sourced to sentient machines. Will our tales and narratives stand the test of such a possible future or will these factors be a detrimental force? Will it even matter at all, I wonder?

Yesterday’s fiction is today’s reality and today’s fiction would be our reality tomorrow. There is nothing fictional but fictional realities, and the immortal human seems to be in the making however nascent it may appear now. The future could be weird and strange too. So, it concerns the very indemnity of our existence and survival of our unique culture, the inevitable adaptation we cannot escape. The role of this generation is to create a confluence of our ancestral tales with our present fictional schemes. We should fortify a carrier which would revive our fictions from generation to generation. We would have to recreate our ancestral fiction’s keeping the spirit of the tale intake. Hope our grandfather Madungkashii and grandmother Samutingdangpui are talked about by immortal beings.