AN Week 2

This is the Week 2 submission for Animated Narratives.

Week 2

Prompt: What if synthezoids were the first form of evolved highly intelligent life forms on earth?

I first created a mind map of what the world would look like if that happened. I established some rules and scenarios of what the bigger picture would be.

To start with, I’d like to explain what synthezoids mean with respect to this setup. They are beings that evolved into existence (much like humans in the real world). A synthezoid is recognisably humanoid with similar biological processes, but is composed of metal alloys (also available on the planet). They look humanoid, but have evolved in a way that they are more machine like in operation. Their operation is much more logic and result oriented and are devoid of emotions like humans are. This results in a society which is devoid of hierarchy and everyone works towards a greater goal. This also gives way to more expansion (beyond the planet) and faster progress without costing the resources of the planet.

They become the dominant species of the planet. Their source for energy is primarily the sun and do not need to eat like humans in the real world.

They coexist with other species on the planet. They believe in maintaining a balance and using what is needed rather than using things for selfish reasons. Sustenance is something they believe is logical to use as a criteria to make progress. Studying different species with non harmful methods lets them evolve themselves in ways a human could never with their body. Body augmentation and accelerated evolution is a result of these experiments on themselves.

Creation of humans is something that happens in this world because of synthezoids. They create humans in their image, but they are created through organic matter (carbon based, so that they are more easily perishable and controlled by the synthezoids). They use humans in everyday work force, sports, entertainment and experimentation. They start using humans for these tasks as they realise they have the ability to make decisions which are not always based on what should be done, but rather what needs to be done. Therefore, some tasks depending on what they are, are assigned specifically to these humans that they created. But as time progresses, humans evolve as well. Through experimentation and observation, synthezoids realise humans have some things they do not. And as a matter of fact, neither does any other species : Complex emotions, dreams and ambition.

All this is a derivative of the information drawn out from the mind map I created from the prompt that I came up with with respect to this week’s premise.

This work examines the idea of what would happen if synthezoids were the dominant species on this planet. Not only that, they are the species that came to be as a result of billions of years of evolution, and humans were something that they created in their image (rather than the other way around in the real world).

By using the concept of a mind map, I was able to create the rules and expectations for this fictional world. This idea works beautifully for an animation show (in my head) with limited episodes, probably 12 episodes, 20 mins each.

After deciding on the ‘What if’ question for this week, the project that helped me create this mind map the most was this game called Detroit: Become Human (2018) which explores something similar, but kind of in a reversed setting, where androids created by humans are exploring the idea of free will, ambition and dreams. Something else that helped me work on a mind map was Bryn’s mind map from this class. Having missed the first two weeks of class, referencing his work on how to make a mind map really helped me implement this concept.

Coming into this course, I wanted to start off with simpler ideas to see how they can be explored through animation. But the ‘what if’ prompt allowed me to explore something more complex that I thought would work perfectly for a longer animated show. Though this is just a mind map which serves as the building blocks for a story, I would start the story from the perspective of a synthezoid who is working on the experimentation, study and genetic creation of humans in this world. This would give a unique perspective on concepts such as free will, consciousness, intelligence, complex emotions, ethics and morality, but not from the perspective of a human. Though the perspective of humans would affect the way this particular synthezoid would eventually view the world. Depending on how the story would progress, it could also work brilliantly as a story oriented interactive game like Detroit: Become Human, where the choice of each player would affect how the story progresses differently (meaning there can be multiple different outcomes based on your choices).