By: Chander PrakashA genie is out of the bottle. Is it a one-way ticket to dehumanisation, or merely an appendage for the younger generation — a tool for immediate solutions and a vehicle for the make-believe satiation of desires and ambitions?The speed at which AI is evolving suggests that many of our current perspectives may become obsolete far faster than we can imagine.We are on the verge of creating a parallel universe.The metaverse is already in place and evolving, and it may soon leave the shores of the human dimension behind. Its citizens will be guided and goaded along by a robust, interactive and accessible virtual force of unbelievable dimensions.A god — the Multiverse God — dispensing blessings in the form of solutions at the blink of an eye. A god that offers solutions, not sermons; that does not rebuke but instead presents options to continue the game.On a lighter note, are we about to witness a massive migration of earthly citizens — along with their philosophies and gods rooted in human belief systems — abdicating their reservoirs of spirituality to the world of the Multiverse God and its prophets?A world in which the boundaries of morality, creativity, inquiry, rights and responsibilities are all surrendered to an unknown, virtual and abstract identity.One world: the metaverse.One philosophy and one human-machine kind: the metamind.One God: the God of the Metaverse, the ruler of all thoughts and destinies.“Hark, now hear the angels sing”—we may be about to herald the arrival of the “Multiverse Baba”.A disturbing and potentially dangerous thought, yet one moving faster than lightning and capturing the imagination of the young—those who love to flirt with the unknown, immersed in the sudden acquisition of borrowed ideas, identities and philosophies.Eureka moments may soon be led by our AI “Pied Piper”.(Writer is a bibliophile and patron of a prominent bookstore)
