In Philosophy, Theories of Causation deal with the relation between cause and effect. In Fiction, time travel deals with the relation between cause and effect that gives different results, which unfolds the story. Both deal with the philosophical idea of what it is, what it can be, and how it will be. This blog attempts to blend the two ideas as it is in my Alternate History novel, Expedition to an AlternateSwarajya , where the subcontinent remained uncolonized. The effect is dependent on its cause, or is it not? That is the question Dr Deepika Rao asks herself when she learns about Dr Eric Noble’s operations with time travel. Is it a Fixed Timeline, where you cannot change the past since the present is inevitable? Is it a Dynamic Timeline, where changing the past would modify the present? Or is it a Multiverse Timeline, where this change can happen with an alternate past which would branch out an alternate reality at present, keeping the original timeline intact? Dr Deepika Rao disc...
We are in the middle of a new AI revolution that is going to change media forever. This could give a push to the saturating and plateaued social media. It could also make it even more difficult to reach a wider audience due to higher competition. To contemplate and guess what may happen, we must understand how changing media changed societies and civilizations. It does three things – unites a type of people, divides or polarizes a group, democratizes a previous media system, and makes content more local, but reduces wider reach. Creation of Insiders, but also Outsiders Invention of Languages When early humans invented languages, they became more organized and developed tribes and societies. But this also clearly defined the concept of an ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’. When they came in contact with tribes which didn’t speak their languages, the idea of insider and outsider became clearer. This also led to clashes and cultural feuds. Invention of Writing Systems When...