Coincidence?

Unexpected intersections, cosmic alignments, and the invisible hands of fate and AI

In our April workshop, we were reminded of how often things in life are shaped by forces we may not necessarily see or even be aware of—and how many different forms such forces can take.

The sinister side of AI

First, we discussed a draft of a film concept treatment delving into the sinister side of artificial intelligence. The treatment was rooted in expert computer-science knowledge, but in its current form experimented with combining fictional and nonfictional characters and story lines to explore bigger implications. In the story, seemingly unrelated people and professions come into deep contact with each other, apparently through synchronicity, but as the story progresses, suspicions arise as to the underlying role of AI in warping human experience in certain directions. This was an especially unusual text for us to explore. In the end, we wondered if mixing fiction and nonfiction creates more problems than it solves, or whether there's a way to pull it off so that audiences can suspend disbelief and confusion and experience a profounder kind of narrative journey than usual.

Are chance encounters just chance?

Second, we provided feedback on the draft of a personal essay on the topic of coincidences. In this piece, the aim was to use personal experience as a springboard towards exploring what science can tell us about chance encounters. Are there cosmic forces we have yet to discover, or can we already explain the mysteries with what we know about nature and probabilities? The essay included several autobiographical memories woven together. In the draft version, not everyone experienced them as equally powerful. Sometimes, we thought, trying to give an encounter a mysterious air can unintentionally obscure the significance of the event. We agreed that the perplexing nature of happenstance is relatable, but that revising the text a bit to build tighter storylines for conveying them might also make for more impact.

Image: Asih Wahyuni, Vecteezy