Don Quixote’s Paradise

It is the year 2074. Yes, the world is still around, and so is the human race. It has been over a century since Malaysia received its mandate to self-rule. Technically, we should be in a utopia with so much sunlight throughout the year and a chirpy tropical climate devoid of depressing, chilling winters or debilitating natural calamities. A potpourri of food options is available 24/7 at our fingertips and delivered to our doorsteps with easy-access drone servers. We should be the happiest people in the world. In reality, however…

https://borderlessjournal.com/2024/05/14/don-quixotes-paradise

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

On a collison course?

3 Body Problem (Miniseries; Season 1, 8 episodes )

Adapted from the Hugo Award-winning novel by Liu Cixin

There is an episode in the original Twilight Zone series titled "Where is Everybody?" in which a person wanders around a township with no soul in sight. Enveloped in 'The Great Silence,' he runs around like a headless chicken, looking for any sign of life. That must surely be a veiled reference to Fermi's paradox. With so much wasted space around us and after so many years of searching, why can't we contact any lifeform elsewhere in this widespread Universe? With time, the possibility of the presence of more and more solar systems is being suggested. Surely, someone somewhere must have picked up our radio signals by now. What if they are advanced enough to pick up gestures of friendship. Or maybe they have already made visitations before if one believes the ideas mooted by Erich von Däniken about ancient aliens.

Conversely, if a civilisation is indeed more advanced than us, wouldn't it want to dominate us? Come to think of it, our announcement to the Universe may be counterproductive as it may put us at risk of being run over.

This is exactly what happens in this story. An alien race, the San-Tis, from a distant planet, Trisolaris, in Alpha Centauri, four light years away, are looking for an alternative home. Their planet is unstable, and they are looking for an alternative home. A signal from a Chinese scientist comes in. The Trisolarians grab this opportunity. They send advanced minuscule computer programmes called 'siphons' to Earth through accelerated methods (breaking light barriers) to retard science on Earth while San-Tis conquer our planet. Reaching Earth takes over 400 years because they have not breached the light-speed barrier. 

Meanwhile, scientists are committing suicide as science results are going haywire (Science, as they knew, is dead). The gist of the story is trying to save Earth from the inevitable space invasion. In the midst of all that, there is death, murder, love, deceit and friendship.

I do not claim to fully understand the science behind the story. It skips me why the scientists decided to commit suicide, as scientists are generally resilient and have the in-built capacity to resist adversity. 

I understand that the 'three-body problem' is a physics/ mechanics conundrum. Predicting the path of two bodies with gravitational pulls towards each other can be done by looking at their trajectory, pulling forces, and a pre-determined point of reference. In a three-body model, the path looks chaotic and appears like they may collide at any time. It is more difficult for scientists to foresee. This is the exact problem San-Tis has. Their three suns (hence the name Trisolaris name for the planet) cross paths, leading to destructive outcomes. There was the need to colonise.

The series is mired with controversy even before its release. Its producer, who helped to bring it to Netflix, died of poisoning in a business dispute. The Chinese Government is not pleased with its altered storyline, choice of casting and the adverse depiction of China. Under the guise of diversity, the Chinese are cast as villains, and the White man comes to the rescue.

(P.S. The novel is the first of a trilogy. Dark Forest and Death End will follow, as this sci-fi has geeks talking.)

(P.P.S. Food for thought: Are our efforts to send probes and time-capsules counterproductive? Like how flaunting our boarding passes online will expose our personal data to prowling eyes and unsavoury characters, will it attract space imperialists?)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Father of the bride's headache!

Good evening. A warm welcome to everyone here. A special welcome to Raphael and Maggie. Selamat datang to the rest and Marc’s family and friends. I guess Marc’s family and friends are no longer Marc’s alone. They are ours, too. Accept our humble salutations. 

In the Indian tradition, more often than not, they want their firstborn to be a male. Back in the 90s, when Divya was born, friends would give unsolicited advice. “It’s ok. The next one will definitely be a boy.” - as if we asked for an opinion, as if they knew, as if we cared. Then Tania was born, and they again gave a sigh. 

And again, as if we asked. Rinse and repeat. That is until Keshav and Danny rolled along.

30 years on, I can stand proud and say they have done well in their own right. 

Many years ago, my friend was getting married. As the main event was over, he saw his father-in-law give a sigh of relief, caressing his chest. He was heard telling his friend, “Ahh, my big headache is over!”  

My friend only understood what he meant 10 years after being married to his father-in-law’s headache. 

We would like to believe it’s our loss and Marc’s gain… of a headache. 

Marc and Divya, jokes aside, you are stepping into a new phase of life. We all just want to wish both of you clear skies and sunny days ahead. There will be rainy days ahead, but don’t fret about it; try singing and dancing in the rain instead. From what I see in Indian movies,
it must be fun. 

Good luck in your future endeavours. 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Ideas transcend borders!

Monalisa No Longer Smiles (2022)

An Anthology of Writings from Across the World

Editor: Mitali Chakravarty

My father had an uncanny ability to read faces. No, he does not identify people's medical risks, personality traits or even the prediction of their future. He could tell a person's origin, caste and creed. He was proud of his achievement and held steadfast to the idea that caste division is a necessary tool for society to progress. 

He would choose where he ate and sometimes refuse invitations to people's homes or even functions of people with questionable status in the caste hierarchy. 

My mother tried to knock some sense into him that the whole world had moved on and things had changed. But he was having none of it. She even reminded him about Periyar EV Ramasamy's speech when he visited Malaya, to leave all the bad discriminatory habits they acquired in India and move forward. But no! He was unmoved and reasonably contended with his way of pigeon-holing people. 

I convinced myself that things would change when I grew up. People would become more learned and open-minded. I assumed that religion would take a back seat as science was slowly answering all the loose ends of knowledge then. 

How wrong I was. 

In the 21st century, the present turned out to be a far cry from what I perceived the future to be. People are congregated in factions. They found ingenious ways to divide and subdivide tribes so that one would dominate the other. Religion has made a comeback in a big way. Fundamentalism has taken root. Putting aside the science and symbolism behind worship and beliefs, believers are more focused on the ritual and blind following of the herd. 

The space between the haves and the have-nots is ever-widening. Materialism has crept into all crevices of our lives, and the future does not look bright. 

Against this gloomy background, this anthology tries to make its readers that there may be hope if we try. 

Borderless Journal, Editor Mitali Chakravarty's brainchild, is hopeful that the world will indeed be one whose borders will be torn down and where everyone will live as one. There would be no discrimination against people by caste, politics, or creed. There would be no wars to show the dominance of one over the other. 

Trying to recreate past glory and relive past grandiosities is no use. In God's creation, everyone is supposedly created equal, so why is there a clan of oppressors and oppressed, the powerful and the weak. Through art, literature and storytelling, this anthology, from its interviews with famous moviemakers, thinkers, poets and writers, from its fiction, 'Monalisa No Longer Smiles' and 'Borderless Journal', through its editor, Mitali Chakravarty, tries to create a possible world where borders do not matter. Ideas transcend borders. 

https://borderlessjournal.com/our-anthology/

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The mirror looks back!

Black Mirror (2023; Season 6, E1-5)

Created by: Charlie Brooker

A mirror reflects the light wavelength that hits it. That is what it is meant to do. Logically a black mirror cannot exist. A mirror that absorbs light (appears black) will not be much of a mirror.

The way I look at a black mirror is that it is like a two-way mirror. When the viewer views a conventional mirror, he sees a reflection of himself and his antics, plain and clear. In a black mirror, however, unbeknownst to him, his duties, actions, inactions, body language, facial twitches and grimaces are noted, not by himself, but by a third party. A two-way mirror is a misnomer, actually. It cannot be viewed both ways, as it is reflective on one side and transparent on the other. It gives the appearance of a mirror to those who see the reflection but allows people on the clear side to see through, as if at a window.

Interestingly, even a conventional mirror is viewed with scorn by traditional societies. They were worried that it may suck part of their souls. The same goes for cameras and photographs capable of reproducing an accurate representation of a person.

Most modern gadgets which transmit information come with a monitor that can be gazed into. Since its introduction, whether in a television set, desktop screen, mobile phone or i-pads, people have been worried about mind control by those in power.

There is no doubt that modern devices are capable and are already collecting data on human behaviour, spending patterns, political leanings and predicted responses. We also know digital component providers can make calculated moves to trap and influence our decision-making and behaviours. Data on human predictability is now a saleable commodity.

Since the first season, the Black Mirror series has painted a bleak dystopian future for mankind, primarily due to technological advances. Man of the future had unwittingly signed away their liberty and freedom with disastrous outcomes. Essentially, thinking had been outsourced to artificial intelligence (AI). Human beings are 'moronised'.

This much-awaited season came out with a bang after a hiatus of four years. The scary thing is that, over the years, since the first episode's release in 2011, we are slowly seeing some of their predictions coming true. Drone technology, technology-based mercenaries, chatbot-controlled central administration and trivialisation of the human mind is slowly but surely materialising.

Boy,  the new season came out with a bang with five episodes with different settings. The first two episodes deal with how TV streaming affects the day-to-day running of our lives. One includes the folklore of werewolf in it. Another two are set in the past but with a component of sci-fi. My favourite is 'Demon 79'. Set in 1979 UK, when the economy was in the doldrums, and racial discrimination was high. A lonely, bullied shop assistant has a demon manifest in front of her to offer a deal to save her from miseries. The catch is that she has to kill three people.

The episode 'Joan is Awful' is every netizen's nightmare. What if all our daily actions and inactions are digitalised and streamed for everyone else to judge? This could be a possible danger of quantum computing.

With so much documentation of crimes available in our archives, everybody can be a documentary maker. In 'Loch Henry', another engaging episode, the protagonists find out the hard way that sometimes our own backyard is not so squeaky clean.

With our lust to consume news on the trivialities of the rich and famous, we have created a fleet of money-hunger paparazzi who would at nothing for a fistful of dollars, not even to a werewolf attack in 'Mazey Days'.

As space travel becomes accessible to whoever can afford it, there is a lingering reluctance because of the long period of absence from loved ones. In an alternate 1969 universe, in 'Beyond the Sea', scientists devised a way to periodically transport a replica astronaut back to Earth. Unfortunately, trouble brews when one of them is murdered by a mob on Earth. 

An engaging season, highly recommended, 4.5/5.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Pleasure in pain?

Crimes of Future (2022)
Director: David Cronenberg

Despite all the good deeds attributed to Tipu Sultan in fighting the British and planting the seed of nationalism amongst the people of Bharat, the Muslim monarch is infamous for signature torture. He would slice off his enemies’ noses. There was a time in South India when many defeated Hindu soldiers with gaping nasal openings on their faces. 

It is said the peddlers on market squares of old India were trying to insert prostheses to correct the victims’ nasal defects. Two visiting surgeons from the UK saw this during their visit to exotic India and decided to write it up in medical journals. That was the birth of rhinoplasty and the conception of cosmetic surgery. 

Tipu Sultan

Soon everybody found something wrong with their appearances; too fat, too plain, too Asian-looking, too unalluring, lines of ageing or even too short. Everything could be corrected if one were daring enough to go under the scalpel. The fear of surgery itself was a put-off to potential customers (not patients since they were not technically sick).

For those who braved the procedure or danced the nectar of joy of improvement of their perceived looks, an enhancement to the first cut became the norm. In a way, the first cut was not the deepest but became a stepping stone to many more to follow. As experience had proven, it soon became an obsession, no longer a therapeutic correction. In the real world, repeated nose jobs have resulted in necrotic nasal cartilages and the nose literally dropping off one’s face! If the rumours about Michael Jackson were true.

The movie tells us of a not-so-distant future where humans develop tolerance to pain, and somehow people do not get infections. The human body constantly evolves and is able to produce synthetic organs. A group of people can digest plastic. Because pain is ‘pleasurable’ and is tolerated well, surgical incisions and public displays of self-mutilation replace traditional sex. In this topsy-turvy world where growing new organ is an art form, the authorities try to register new organs!

Kosaji, after his nose job

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

We are left with memories, only memories!

After Yang (2022)

Written & Direction: Kogonada

When we show our respect to elders and the departed, we are not offering to revere the physical body or the 'soul'. We are showing reverence for the memory of their lives. Besides reenacting the good times we had spent together, we give due recognition to the memories they imbibed through their time on Earth. At the end of the day, that is all we have or bring back, the data of events. It is assumed that we humans learn our lessons from situations. By showing our salutations, we hope some of these lessons will be transferred to us at a metaphysical level. Everybody's learnt experience is different, and we respect that. We are in no position to judge what was done or should have been done.

This seems to be the message at the end of this sombre and sedate sci-fi drama. It is set sometime in the future when humanoids do domestic help and nannying. The cloning of humans has entered the mainstream. The job of providing domestic support is done by companies delving into AI. 

Jake is the protagonist, a somewhat emotionally detached man who runs a speciality tea show which does not really have a roaring business. His nihilistic view of life worsens when his helper, Yang, an AI who had been a great help in caring for his child, malfunctions. 

Jake and Kyra's daughter, Mika, are adopted. Her Oriental features, compared to her parents, Occidental and Negroides, make her a troubled child. Yang was there to help her fit in, using the analogy of bud grafting, where a stem from another branch is transplanted upon another tree. 

Yang was a re-conditioned model. Even though he is still under warranty, the company that sold him went bust. The franchise holder suggests trading in for a newer model. Jake wanted to keep Yang as Mika was yearning for him. So, Jake had to source clandestine avenues to fix him up. Unfortunately, Yang was beyond repair. A chip suspected to be spyware from China was, however, found implanted in him. 

Long story short, spyware was a banned memory chip developed to improve humanoid performance. Due to privacy issues, or was outlawed.

Interpretation of the chip revealed an avalanche of fond memories that Yang had accumulated throughout his existence, even during his previous stint as a carer.

We forget how much so many people in our lives help us in our day to day. We also forget how much we make up our helper's life as much as they did ours. Those umpteen days and nights they spent with us cannot mean nothing. It is not merely a business transaction. The human touch and care that is transferred mean more than that.

The small things that we do in our lives, no matter how trivial, when crystalline in the moment of time via photo images from a pillar for us to appreciate the life and times that pass us by.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.