Technological Singularity in Sujatha Ranganathan’s En Iniya Iyanthira and Meendum Jeeno

Abstract

The research paper aims at exploring the narrative aesthetics of Tamil science fiction in which the author takes twenty-first-century politics in India within the context of technological singularity. The article presents the political situation and totalitarianism in the age of technological singularity. The research focuses on the social impacts of artificial intelligence’s ability to read, learn, think, and act against its pre-programmed mechanism. A robotic dog struggles to restore a democratic political system from autocracy. The dystopian fictions “En Iniya Iyanthira” and “Meendum Jeeno” written by Sujatha Ranganathan depict the cognitive power of super intelligence behind a woman’s political actions to protect the people of India from exploitation, and corruption to create a better future. The paper demonstrates what a world without individual freedom looks like under the digital surveillance system of a totalitarian regime. The paper raises the question of what happens when a robot develops its rationality and mimics human behaviour. In these fictions, humans attempt to destroy the robotic dog. The robotic dog reaches a standard where nothing can destroy it. The paper explores the ways the robotic dog gains the knowledge to understand and practice the concept of humanity. The paper concludes with the post-humanistic conflicts between a woman and a robotic dog in emotional, ethical, and political aspects.

Keywords

• technological singularity
• totalitarianism
• post-humanism
• sujatha ranganathan
• en iniya iyanthira and meendum jeeno.