A Short Discussion on Story Transition (Parivartan – in Hindi)

At Indiansciencefiction.groups.yahoo.com in 2009 by some Sci-Fi giants

Dr. Arvind Mishra

Friends,

Zeashan is my favourite sf writer who writes stories in Hindi.I just saw this story Parivartan (Transition) by him and thought you would also enjoy reading it ! But I am recommending this story with a purpose -to suggest an alternative end of the story as its drop scene was not somehow liked by me .I have suggested the author also to explore other poossible ends to the story and if possible rewrite it or write a sequel of it.

Would you be kind enough please to help the writer?

arvind

Cyril Gupta

Hello,

An unexpected twist at the end! Didn't see that coming at all... The

story brought a smile to me... Heh... Just need to know this, if

D'souza was indeed a robot, why did his makers have to make him

anatomically complete.... Unless he was intended to serve the purpose

that he was being put to by the protagonist' s wife. Ahem...

:) I think we need a backstory to the story... Cause that bit is

unexplained. ..

Weirdly I found the story funny... What that the intention?

Cheers Zeashan!

Cyril

Dr. Arvind Mishra

D'souza was not a robot but an Android-a humanoid in all respect !

Tinkoo Valia

Ending was the reason I loved the story. Rest of it was rather mundane,

but ending made my day when I saw part 2 yesterday night.

Dr. Arvind Mishra

One more thing about Zeashan ' s story -its a diversion from typical Asimovian robotics premise ! Not just one but two humans have been shown to get murdered by a robot ? Is it Ok with you all ? It was the reason why I was a bit uncomfortable with the end ? Any caveat for/from Zeashan's side?

Cyril Gupta

I don't the Asimovian rules should be considered Universal. The three

laws of Robotics, and also the zero'th law were invented by Asimov so

that he could concoct his stories around them. In other science

stories there can be assassin robots, so the laws don't have to hold,

not on everybody.

I really don't think that Zeashan's story has a problem because it

violates the Asimov's robotics laws. Just that a lot of the backstory

is missing so there's a certain amount of abruptness, but surely if

there was backstory then the ending would become expected and the

surprise will be ruined.

It seems that in Zeashan's story, the robots are first-class citizens

of the society (judging from the way the protagonist treats them early

on, and then at the end). They're sentient and have similar urges and

emotions to a human being.

Regards

Tinkoo Valia

There are far too many stories of killer robots out there - most often

as war machines.

And have you seen Jack Williamson's "With Folded Hands"? Even robots

governed by "benign" laws can do far too much damage to people around.

Unfortunately, this widely read classic doesn't seem to be online.

Asimov's Three Laws are only one of the many robot behavior premises

examined in fiction.

PS: Incidentally, Asimov tells us in one of his anthologies that his

robot stories began with ideas from Eando Binder's "I, Robot". And

Binder tells us his story is a reaction to Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein"

- that man's man-like creations need not be bad! Comic book version of

Binder's classic is online:

Cyril Gupta

Has anyone read Ray Bradbury's Marionette's Inc? That's another story

in which a married couple deceives each other using Robots, and though

the man doesn't get killed, he does witness a Robot who falls in love

with his wife...

As for killer robots, there can be nothing beyond the Berserkers who

are Death incarnate, and of course if you read pulp science fiction

then you can think of Daleks, and the Cybermen of Dr. WHO.

So I guess there's enough precedent for Zeashan's story that it

doesn't seem at odds to the established scientific norms, and even if

it were I think we should welcome it, because any new perspective on

science and its impact should be entertained. :)

Dr. Arvind Mishra

So congrats Zeashan ! your story get across well in a rogourous peer review! You come out with flying colours ! Thats graet...keep it up !

‘Electric Rioters’ Explained.

A reply by a SciFi fan Ms. Reema Sarwal on the questions raised by Mr. Swapnil Bhartiya on my story ‘Electric Rioters’. (See the previous post)

Swapnil ji,

I was completely flabbergasted by your point nos. 3 and 4 !

>>"The movement itself will raise suspicion among authorities."

I'm amazed at your utopic faith in the authorities! ! They notice NOTHING. I repeat, nothing. They wouldn't notice if you transported a rocket from Point A in the Himalayas to Point B in Tamil Nadu via road.

We're talking "authorities" who don't see entire colonies being built on ground surface in the capital city of Delhi. What chance do they have, given a millennium, of having a single clue about an underground laboratory being built below a Tribal temple in the heart of a jungle? Whatever made you dream of such a thing as land acquisition in this case?

I'm also not sure what makes you talk of a "factory" -- I read it as a fairly usual lab, though advanced, with some computers, 2 human-sized glass capsules, 2 beds, medical equipment, and some laser machinery -- pretty much humdrum for SF. Besides, our scientist is employed at a high position in the government, he could easily steal most of the stuff he needed from his official lab and contacts -- that's something we obviously expect of him! He's surely not a "normal" govt. employee if he can't even do that much.

As for point no. 4, to protect urban "citizens" from "uncivilized" tribals, the orders would be loud and clear -- shoot to kill. I particularly liked the satire at the beginning of the story when one cop suggests that the entire tribal community should be exterminated. That's one of the reasons I said it was a good story-- it captures the attitudes and mindset of our society.

What was Unexplained in ‘Electric Rioters’ ?

Mr. Swapnil Bhartiya, a reviewer and chief editor of Sci-Fi online magazine kalkion.com raised some questions on my story ‘Electric Rioters’

Hi Zeashan!

As I said earlier good story, that too when delivered on Demand model. I found certain points unexplained.

1. As Reema ji said, a scientist has a completely different mindset. He/she is not a planner/schemer -- rather sometimes he/she may not even know what to do with his creation. Its the corporation, which tries to find a purpose of that creation. It would be better if an evil corporate with whatso ever purpose deploy a scientist to achieve something.

2. There was no apparent reason for which he would want to destroy people. What would he achieve?

3. Setting up such a huge factory would need state-of-the- art infrastructure, talent, man-power, land acquising, transporation of equipment, import/production of such equipments, and then HUGE funding. The movement itself will raise suspicion among authorities. So, as per logic this is not feasible.

4. Why only dead Tribals? If you shoot in leg, then also you can capture someone?

5. Why machine gun? Why would he need a machine gun? He did not need any defense? Also if he did then a pistol will do?

6. It was even better to kill them through electric man instead of a gun?

These are some points :-)

It was fun reading it, otherwise.

Sci-Fi Story on Demand

The story ‘Electric Rioters’ which you read before, I wrote in Hindi on the demand and concept of a SciFi fan Reema Sarwal. She raised a question whether a human can be electrified?

After completing the story I received some valuable comments on my story :

Reema Sarwal’ Comment :

Zeashan ji, Thank you for writing this story on demand !! As usual, it shows your excellent command over an intriguing setting and a racy plot that makes for an interesting read !

Um, isn't it strange that the scientist should be so careless as to be electrocuted by his own slave? But more importantly, history proves that scientists, however mad, never wish to rule the world - that's not at all what they want from life - they're happier doing more research! And in this story, there is no revenge motive either (for the scientist) to make it sound probable, nor is he doing it for some other controlling organization.

The story also makes me feel very sad because the scientist cannot think of any productive use for his invention and such a good invention too, which could have been so good for the tribe in many other ways than saving them from the outsiders, and it is then lost to the whole world !

That said, it is still a pretty good story as it addresses the all-important issue of preserving natural habitats in such a unique fashion.

Thanks again!

Dr. Arvind Mishra’s Comment :

I must admit that I have an inherent inability to be non judgemental whether a particular story is good or bad .Reema has indeed raised certain logical points which I trust shall be suitably addressed by the writer-but one thing which I appreciate is the writer's ability to accept the challenge to write a story on a given theme and Zeashan has not dissappointed us. In Hindi pulp novels there has been a stereotype of a mad scientist desirous of ruling the world and Zeashan has just followed the trend –

but I APPRECIATE Reema's outlook also which portrays a scientist as an angel ! ( Being one myself ! ha ha ! ) .Thanks Reema for having such a nice attitude towards scientists !

The pitfalls apart I like the Zeashan's specific style the way he makes the plot to have an errie environment reminding me of the famous Tilism stories of CHANDRKANTAA SANTATI. 

Is it worth to Search Science in Mythology?

My friend Swapnil Bhartiya reply:

There is no point in debating Mythological issues. Trying to find science behind it is like beating the bush, we need to move on. Even American magazines have clearly said they don't want stories re-searching facts behind Biblical stories. Imagination is a human capacity and whether its Hanuman flying or Pushpak Viman, they are just the imagination of people of those times and there is no need to call the Lord Indian Superman or see facts behind him.

While I am aware scientists are trying to find the secret behind Sanjeevni booti (I read a news article), or relics of Dwarka, but that is for scientists with equipments, we writers are not properly equipped or have resources to peel down -- if we try that would be injustice.   

Fantasy towards Science

Indian Sci-Fi writer Dr. Arvind Mishra view on science fiction :

Let we discuss the very hybrid nature of SF –the marriage of science and fantasy, the unison of seemingly two opposite humane attributes.  But how to define SF academically? I am too little an authority to attempt doing such an academic exercise but there seems no harm in making at least a try? Isn't it? We are already familiar with many literary forms of social fictions i.e. stories, novels, novelettes etc, which depict several shades of our society in a lucid and interesting manner. 

The themes and plots of such social fictions are based only on past or present happenings related to man and his society. That is why the oft repeated adage, "literature is the mirror of society". Science fiction on other hand is the portrayal of man's future. And here lies the difference between social and science fictions, notwithstanding the many similarities of both the genres as they entail identical ways of storytelling, selection of a theme and structuring a plot around it and above all engaging the readers with a continuous and sustained flow of suspense leading ultimately to the climax of the story. 

But the million dollar question still remains unanswered, “how to honour this genre by giving it a proper and intelligible academic definition"?

Is soul a special form of energy?

This is an interesting question for sci-fi writers as well. One of my friends scientist Dr. Chandra Mohan Nautiyal views on this topic :

Concept often Soul is not supposed to be material.  So it can't have mass.  The difficulty is that science is not so advanced as to be able to answers all questions.  We still don't know why matter should have gravitational property.  If there are positive- negative charges, North- South poles, then why don't we have opposite gravity i.e. attractive and repulsive variants of gravity?  Is quark the ultimate unit of matter?  Can there be gravity without mass?  Neutron may be electrically neutral over all but what about internal distribution?  It has magnetic moment after all!  Electrical and magnetic fields act at a distance and have electro-magnetic waves.  Are their gravitational waves?  If not, how does one body detects another and attracts?  Is and why is gravity inherent to mass?

Photon can behave as waves as well as particle (the famous wave- particle duality). Photon has zero (rest mass) i.e. when still, its mass is zero.  It has no charge hence free from Columbic interaction.  As particle, photons can be scattered.  This means that it changes its direction (exchanges energy/ momentum) on collision.

Soul doesn't have a shape or figure. For reflection, deflection, scattering, there has to be a field or matter to cause them. The position of mass may be different from position of the field.  It's like this:  a magnet on a table may have a magnetic field above the table. 

For magnetic field we require a magnet, for electric field we need charge (e.g. electrons, which have mass), or for gravitational field, mass .  We see an object if our eyes receive photons from that object.  The photons may be generated in the object or scattered/ reflected by the object.  Theoretically, energy source can lose energy as photons.

Will the Human be Able to Create His Own Micro Body within 20 years?

When I raised the said question after finishing my story “UnderEstimate”, famous Sci-Fi writer Dr. Arvind Dubey (Lucknow, India) said :

Not twenty years from now, its in front of u . Pof Yamanaka from Quoto university in Japan has done it. He introduced four transcription factors in a normal cell of adult mice to convert it into an adult pleuripotant cell, I mean a cell which can create a whole animal. What are these adult pleuripotant cells, of course a micro body. If y any means it can be transported to longer distances, Zeashan’s prophecy turns into a reality. However his perception of micro body is different from this, so what, Jules Verne was also having a different perception for the voyage to the moon, which later turned into the reality later on. Well done Zeashan, congratulations.

Here is the original news

Shinya Yamanaka Reprograms Human Adult Cells

Into Embryonic-like Stem Cells

Breakthrough accelerates new avenues of stem cell research

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – November 20, 2007 – Acclaimed stem cell researcher Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD, has reported that he and his Kyoto University colleagues have successfully reprogrammed human adult cells to function like pluripotent embryonic stem cells. Because it circumvents much of the controversy and restrictions regarding generation of embryonic stem cells from human embryos, this breakthrough, reported in the journal Cell, should accelerate the pace of stem cell research.

Last year, Yamanaka, who is also a senior investigator at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease (GICD), reported that he and his Kyoto colleagues had reprogrammed mouse skin cells into pluripotent stem cells, laying the foundation to apply this methodology in human cells.

In this earlier work, published in Cell, Yamanaka and his colleagues identified four genetic factors that resulted in the reprogramming of adult mouse cells into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells capable of developing into any kind of cell. This summer, he reported in Nature that these iPS cells could even form a new mouse, making them functionally the same as embyonic stem cells. According to the new research, those same genetic factors used with human adult cells resulted in iPS cells which are nearly indistinguishable from human embryonic stem cells.

“The rapid application of this approach to human cells has dramatically changed the landscape of stem cell science,” said GICD Director Deepak Srivastava, MD. “Dr. Yamanaka's work is monumental in its importance to the field of stem cell science and its potential impact on our ability to accelerate the benefits of this technology to the bedside. Not only does this discovery enable more research, it offers a new pathway to apply the benefits of stem cells to human disease.”

“Dr. Yamanaka and his group have made yet another extremely important contribution to the stem cell field,” said Richard Murphy, interim president of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). “Their results open the door to generating alternative sources of pluripotent cells from patients, which is a major step forward. However, much work still needs to be done to fully characterize and understand the capacity of these induced pluripotent cells to study and to treat human diseases.”

While Yamanaka's work would seem to eliminate the need for controversial research on human embryos, both he and Srivastava emphasized that research must continue. “We are still a long way from finding cures or therapies from stem cells and we don’t know what processes will be effective,” Yamanaka said.

CIRM's Murphy added, “Dr. Yamanaka's work, which uses viral vectors to introduce into cells pluripotency- associated genes, further emphasizes the critical need we have to continue working with naturally occurring human embryonic stem cells, which remain the gold standard against which all alternative sources of human pluripotent stem cells must be tested.”

According to Yamanaka, the next steps will be to understand how these cells can be differentiated into other types of cells and ultimately how they can be used to study disease models and as potential therapies. “We are now finally in a position to make patient-specific stem cells for therapies without fear of immune-rejection and to make disease-specific stem cells that will reveal the underlying cause of many human diseases” he said.

Prof Shinya Yamanaka

Under Estimate - A short Review

A short review on my story 'Under Estimate' by SciFi writer Dr. Arvind Mishra

The above captioned science fantasy of Zeashan is an attempt to rationalize whether a man could leave its body and travel beyond in its 'energy' form ? Such descriptions could be found in many of our scriptures where sages have been shown to possess this amazing power of leaving temporarily their bodies as and when required to meet some noble causes and then return /enter back to/into their original bodies.

They have also been shown to even occupy some other vacant [dead] bodies when such needs arise. Termed as 'Parkayaa Pravesh'[entering the other body] this phenomenon of our folklores have fascinated us since long.

Now here is a science fantasy on it ! A daring task accepted and successfully carried out by Zeashan.