Designer’s Notes: Replenish
We at DX have been fascinated by the idea of a brain-machine-interface for a while.
So being able to dive into a world in which a fully functional Neuralink interface has been developed was a blast. But the decision to explore this concept in this particular story had deeper origins.
The amazing Tia Kansara approached us with a unique concept: a World Replenish Index. And in our initial brainstorming sessions for this story we imagined a world up-ended by WRI- where environmental rejuvenation rather than economic profits drove political and economic endeavors. Individuals would be connected to The Intelligence (A ubiquitous AI) which would track their impact — and purportedly instilled collective empathy for the world. In order for the WRI to be feasible and operate to the highest fidelity, The Graft had evolved into a near-perfect brain-machine-interface via Neuralink (See Radha’s story for more on The Intelligence and The Graft! )
After a few mind-expanding conversations, a good dose of research, and sketching brains in vats, we came to a brain-machine-interface design based on a mix of reality and conjecture about the future of accelerating technologies in the field of neuroscience. My initial sketches leaned on classic motifs of mechanisms on the temple, supposedly to access the temporal lobe and link into rational thought — but with further research we were inspired by an existing neural mesh injection process and the idea that the internal jugular vein provides a direct access route to the neurological tissues of the brain. I strongly believe, however, that for mass-adoption the process must be (at least seemingly) non-invasive and the user must be given a feeling of control.
The “therapy” we came up with involves a device that pushes a nano-bot serum through the epidermal layer while simultaneously attaching (semi-permanently of course) a “beauty mark” receiver that connects to The Intelligence. This solution travels through the blood stream and into the cranium, where it learns the biological topology of the user’s brain and lays over it, concretizing to form an artificial neural network that allows them to ascend into modes of thought and feeling currently unimaginable to us. It is this strange new realm, and the mixture of an outside AI, that bring up existential questions about what it is to be human- and what it will mean to be human, in our approaching future.
While the Neuralink Interface defines the internal and intra-personal communication of this world — the design criteria that truly has reformed the physical world and our character’s place in it is the WRI. In that vein we knew that The Interface used by our characters would prominently feature their personal scores. We looked at existing VR/AR user interfaces, and explored the implication of being connected to a greater world of minute environmental influences and interactions.
We imagined how the artifacts we create would be defined by the WRI — how would Edmon’s home be retrofitted to meet the new Replenish standards? How would autonomous vehicles and cities be redesigned to increase efficiency, encourage bio-diversity, and even mimic the cellular structure and growth seen in nature?
Not only that — but what sentiments do our characters have about this technology? In designing the world of a science-fiction story we have to remain aware that everything must feed into the motivations and tensions we’ve set up, and I find that the best way to think about this is to consider the tech in the world to be foils to our characters. Or even more precisely: The tech is a character. And in Edmon’s view, it is his enemy.
I am so excited for your thoughts on this story and the associated designs — as I think we have hit on two extremely pressing issues we face as a society: our changing climate and our acceleration toward an AI dominated future. How can we be sure that we approach this future consciously?
First, we imagine.
I cannot wait to hear your theories on this story and our future!
