A big responsibility lies with science fiction creators

"If you were in your 20s, what field would you pick to gain expertise in?"

This was the last question asked by the host of the above interview to two of the most influential thinkers of this generation - Yuval Noah Harari and Daniel Kahneman.

Daniel said he would want to understand the human brain and the artificial brain (AI), which makes total sense and something I would have said too. But, it was Yuval's answer that surprised me. Above all things, he said he would want to learn to tell sci-fi stories.

It sounds absurd at first. For someone like Yuval Noah Harari, a historian whose books have changed the way his readers think about the past, present and future, the desire to learn storywriting and filmmaking seems like a hobby he wanted to pursue in his childhood but couldn't. It can't be serious, right?

But, if you have heard him speak enough and understand how his mind works, it makes perfect sense. Yuval has always said that humans think in stories. This was a major theme in his debut book, Sapiens. He has often said that stories are how humans have been able to communicate ideas of religion, victory and art over generations. We, as a species look out for stories in the most mundane of happenings. We look out to be inspired, to be influenced all the time. But we won't be moved with a boring monologue or a stack of facts, howsoever meaningful they may be. We yearn for stories that captivate us.

Yuval's ideas are revolutionary. When I read his books, I could not stop thinking for days. Yet, very tiny fraction of world's literate population has ever bothered to read his books. Those who have, they don't necessarily like it. Because they are non-fiction books, and they lack spice. For his ideas to have any real impact, he would have to make them accessible. To expand the reach of this work, Yuval has released a graphic novel version of his Sapiens and is working on a children's book on the same theme. His frequent interviews on YouTube are also directed towards the same effort.

It is one thing to make things simple and comprehensible so that enthusiastic learners are able to consume ideas with little cognitive load. It is a completely different ball game to take your ideas to those who care the least. These are the people who will watch video game streams on YouTube all day but don't have the faintest idea of what a Yuval is. Yuval has been trying hard to figure out the best way to serve his ideas in a way that is appealing to the masses - like broccoli toppings served on a pasta.

This is probably why Yuval wishes he could make films and TV shows. There are important conversations he wants to start and he is looking for creating references and frameworks through films. Alien uprising, robot wars, AI taking over the world are themes that may be fun to think about but really far from reality and thus, don't have any real impact on the world. There is far bigger chance of AI taking up all jobs and making humans irrelevant than an AI assembling an army of bots and killing all of humanity. If there were writers who would turn the former into an interesting story, they would be initiating a much needed debate and contribute to shaping the future in many ways.

Yuval lauds Black Mirror and views it as the future of realistic and impactful sci-fi filmmaking. I second Yuval's enthusiasm for a responsible sci-fi genre and I can only wonder what the sci-fi industry has in store for us. Let's wait and watch.