What is Sattora?

Sattora is a creative outflow from my on-going inner spiritual quest. It is my attempt to imagine the world that today's children and young adults will inherit, one shaped by scientific and technological changes that elicit both wonder and uncertainty. Yet while the future remains unwritten, timeless truths endure.

Herman Hesse's masterpiece Siddhartha stirred my soul as a teen. It was required reading for an English class called “On Lily Pond”. Nearly two decades later, I decided to read it again, this time in the quietude and spaciousness of sabbatical as a stay-at-home dad. Meanwhile, ChatGPT publicly released and I became utterly fascinated then increasingly moreso concerned about the rampant growth of artificial intelligence. In the morning, I meditated then mindfully read paper pages from Siddhartha. The rest of the day, the incessant stream of AI activity absorbed me into glowing digital screens. And that’s when it all came together: the idea to reimagine “Siddhartha” in the 21st century through a creative synergy of man and machine. I would use my cultivated inner awareness combined with the latest tech and AI tools to learn, write, think, and create something timeless and valuable.

Sattora is a philosophical sci-fi tale set in Hawai’i in the 2050s and a young man and his lifetime companion android who both come of age in a world infused with breathtaking intelligence. I hope to reimagine Siddhartha's themes in a relevant and compelling narrative for the next generation. How will people fulfill their quest for enlightenment in an age when technology and humanity seem poised to converge? What will they make of life, love, and their place in a world transformed by science far beyond our ability to predict?

The young people of today will be the leaders and innovators of this new world, as I once was reading Hesse's luminous novella. The Sattora story aims to give voice to the hopes and fears of this generation, while reminding them of the timeless drive to seek truth that resonates across eras. The tale invites us to imagine what is possible when we reconcile past wisdom and future progress - within ourselves, and as shapers of what is to come.

At its heart, Sattora affirms that whatever the future may hold, love, purpose and meaning remain—as does the eternal human spirit. The next era of change will be defined not by machines alone but by the stories we craft about who we want to become. This is one vision meant to inspire young people to reflect on how they will steer the future, and what they will carry forward from the truth-tellers who came before.

While tomorrow's world will be born of innovation beyond our ability to foresee, some voices echo across generations. My hope is that Sattora leaves its young readers with a sense of wonder and responsibility in equal measure - and a reminder that their choices will resonate in the fate of life on Earth itself. The future will be what they make it, as I once sought to do reading Hesse's masterwork, moved by its timeless question: "Have you also learned that secret from the river; that there is no such thing as time?"