Rewilding the Night

by Kalyani Tupkary and Alija Blackwell

We sensed the futures of extreme heat before anybody else did. Digital holobooks our elders show us help us memorize tales of a time when mornings were cool, and the afternoons were warm - not deadly. Rising temperatures made the days unbearable—only the nights could sustain us.

Our neighborhoods around Yotta NM1in Panvel were hit first, with ripple effects from the Middle Eastern and North African regions to the larger world diasporas. The heat generated as a byproduct of energy-intensive technologies like Gen AI and their massive data centres became so severe that frontline communities near the largest facilities were forced to migrate.

Now, the jugaad hibernaculum cooling pods we carry with us on our migration journeys help us sleep. Rest has become sacred - a ritual timed not by biology, but by necessity. During the hottest hours, people enter deep, hibernation-like states. Pods regulate body temperature and heart rate, ensuring survival during the heatwaves. Dreams, influenced by the constant hum of solar generators and recycled air, are eerily lucid, deeply reconnecting us to the natural rhythms of the earth. Nervous-system aided design powered by generative AI helps us heal from relics of a world we no longer touch in our nocturnal existence.

In subterranean cities, lights flicker to life at dusk, casting a bioluminescent glow over marketplaces, schools, and offices. We imagine the tickle of grass between our toes. The streets bustle with activity as workers burrow through the night, their skin breathing through eco textiles grateful for the brief reprieve. Emerging from the more rigid aspects of AI, we envision nourishing bureaucracies rooted in collective governance. Together, we rewild the night.