MACHINES HAVE JUST LEARNT HOW TO THINK The dance between what we can imagine and what is possible is a delicate one. Optimism, no matter how latent in logic, often finds itself wrapped in the shameful garments of hype. Grand ideas appear absurd when measured against what we believe. This is because we comfort ourselves…
Our souls, like waterways, reveal themselves in gradations of being: there are streams—crystalline and clear, where sunlight shines through to the shimmering stones beneath the surface; and there are rivers—tempestuous in their temperament, and as you traverse their serpentine paths, you can find both rapids that roar and a silent stillness somewhere that, if you…
IT was nothing. IT was everything. IT was nowhere and IT was everywhere. IT stretched from shore to horizon, from planet to heliosphere, and from every galaxy to the edge of the universe. Yet, it occupied no space at all. Many aeons ago, an ape-like creature that inhabited a pale planet in an old unremarkable…
Although proverbs are cherished for their elegant brevity, wit, and their perceived truths, they possess an inherent unfairness. Proverbs oversimplify our experiences and cast a broad, unyielding judgement on those who do not conform. This is despite the fact that the truths that they bare are always incomplete. This is also why it is easy…
Hope and Despair Since becoming a republic on 12th December 1964, Kenya’s political landscape has oscillated between optimistic epochs of a bustling democracy and dark interludes of authoritarianism. As with many African nations, ours started with the celebration of our independence from British colonial rule. But this joy waned fast when our first president, Jomo…
A frightful foreboding filled the room as Adira stood before her mother. Her cheeks were ruby red with anger, and her mother’s skin was glowing in the sunset’s scarlet lights. Both women held onto their waists and leaned forward as if bracing themselves against the other’s attack. While watching the two squaring off, one would…
Kenya’s 2022 General Election has been a roller coaster of lauded firsts, lousy mishaps, laughable decisions, bitter political rhetoric, an orchestral revelation of open secrets and recently, a vicious court battle whose culmination is awaited with anxiety across the East African region. I explore a dataset compiled by members of the public that contains the…
[This piece was submitted to the Future of Life Institute as part of a global AI World Building competition. The full submission containing more material was selected among the top 20 finalists. If you are reading this before June 15 2022, like the finalist announcement on Twitter and send us your feedback via the main…
I wish I could see you as vividly as I see my reflection in the mirror. I wish you were here. Right now. I wish you could hear me as clearly as I hear my thoughts. Technology has not yet provided the tools for me to reach out to you in the future, and neither…
I arrived in Kilifi at the break of dawn on the midnight bus from Nairobi. In the final moments of the trip, as the bus crossed the Kilifi Bridge — the longest bridge in the country — I caught a grand mural of colours as the sun reached above the ocean to claim the skies,…