Humans in the Loop (2024)

 

👻 The Ghost in the Machine is an Adivasi Woman

4 Surprising Truths About AI from Humans in the Loop (2024)

Introduction: The Myth of the Autonomous Machine

We are often sold a seductive myth about Artificial Intelligence the myth of the autonomous “black box.” In this techno-fetishistic narrative, AI appears as a pristine, self-actualizing monolith of silicon and logic. It supposedly evolves through mathematical elegance, detached from human friction, culture, and labour.

Humans in the Loop, directed by Aranya Sahay, dismantles this illusion with striking precision. The film follows Nehma, an Adivasi woman from Jharkhand who enters the repetitive and emotionally demanding world of AI data-labelling. Through her experience, the “ghost” in the machine is revealed not as a mystical intelligence but as precarious, invisible human labour.

The film positions AI at the intersection of digital capitalism, cultural erasure, and epistemic power. By reframing the technical term “human-in-the-loop,” Sahay exposes how technology mirrors and reinforces existing social hierarchies. This blog engages with the film using the worksheet’s framework: pre-viewing themes, cinematic analysis, and post-viewing theoretical critique through Apparatus Theory, Marxist Film Theory, Semiotics, and Postcolonial Cultural Theory.

🎬 Pre-Viewing Framework: Context & Core Themes

Before analyzing the four key takeaways, it is important to situate the film within its thematic context.

AI Bias & Indigenous Knowledge Systems

AI bias is not merely a technical malfunction. It emerges when machine learning systems are trained on datasets shaped by dominant cultural assumptions. In Humans in the Loop, bias becomes visible when Nehma’s lived ecological knowledge does not align with the rigid classifications required by the AI system.

The film reframes bias as cultural conflict rather than technical error. Indigenous epistemology rooted in relational understanding of land and community—clashes with algorithmic abstraction. This exposes epistemic hierarchies: systems that decide whose knowledge counts.

Labour & Digital Economies

Digital economies depend on invisible labour. Data labelling, content moderation, and annotation are essential to AI systems, yet these workers remain unseen. The film foregrounds this invisibility, revealing how the intelligence of machines is constructed through repetitive human effort.

Politics of Representation

Representation operates at two levels:

1. The representation of Adivasi identity.
2. The representation of technology as neutral and objective.

The film challenges stereotypes by portraying Nehma as technologically competent yet culturally grounded. It destabilizes the binary between tradition and modernity.

🎥 Takeaway 1: AI Bias is a Cultural Conflict, Not a Technical Bug

In Silicon Valley discourse, bias is treated as a glitch—an outlier to be optimized away. Humans in the Loop challenges this framework. Bias, the film suggests, is the violent friction that occurs when lived indigenous experience is forced into rigid algorithmic categories.

Set in Jharkhand, Nehma’s ecological world is shaped by ancestral ties and environmental nuance. When she trains the AI to “see,” the system fails to recognize her landscape. This failure is not accidental; it is ideological. The algorithm’s architecture reflects a worldview that excludes certain cultural realities.

Through the lens of Representation Theory, we understand that the machine determines which identities are digitizable and which are erased. Bias becomes an act of structural exclusion. The inability of the AI to accommodate Nehma’s knowledge is a reflection of global power hierarchies.

Technological failure, therefore, becomes political design.

🎥 Takeaway 2: The Invisible Labour Behind Your Digital Life

The film’s mise-en-scène visualizes invisible labour with haunting clarity. The organic textures of forest life contrast sharply with the sterile glow of computer screens. Natural rhythms of village life are juxtaposed with the mechanical repetition of digital work.

From a Marxist Film Theory perspective, the film exposes digital capitalism’s extraction model. The AI system—celebrated as autonomous—relies on thousands of hours of manual sorting. Labour is commodified yet erased from public view.

Editing rhythms reinforce this critique:

• Slow, immersive pacing in village scenes
• Mechanical, repetitive cuts in workplace sequences

The viewer feels the emotional weight of monotonous labour. The “magic” of automation is demystified. The machine’s intelligence is revealed as accumulated human exhaustion.

🎥 Takeaway 3: Epistemic Hierarchies—Whose Knowledge Counts?

At its intellectual core, the film interrogates epistemic hierarchies—the structures that privilege certain forms of knowledge over others.

Nehma’s indigenous ecological knowledge is sophisticated and relational. However, the AI system demands simplification into binary categories. Her understanding must be flattened to fit algorithmic logic.

Using Postcolonial Film Theory, this can be read as digital colonization. Just as colonial regimes dismissed indigenous epistemologies as primitive, algorithmic systems subordinate lived experience to computational rationality.

This hierarchy implies that technological objectivity is superior to cultural subjectivity. The film exposes this assumption as ideological rather than neutral.

In forcing Nehma to distort her knowledge, the system performs ontological erasure. Complex truths are discarded for “clean” data. The machine does not learn her worldview; it disciplines it.

 Takeaway 4: The Human-in-the-Loop as Political Metaphor

The technical term “human-in-the-loop” refers to systems that require human supervision. Sahay transforms it into a metaphor for structural entrapment.

Nehma’s personal struggles—family responsibilities, economic precarity—are inseparable from her digital labour. She is not empowered by being “in the loop”; she is confined by it.

From an Apparatus Theory perspective, both cinema and AI function as ideological machines. They frame reality and shape perception. In the film, the technological apparatus mirrors broader societal power structures.

The loop becomes:

• A cycle of economic dependency
• A mechanism of knowledge extraction
• A metaphor for systemic inequality

Rather than depicting agency, the film shows subordination. Nehma’s culture fuels the system without transforming it.

🎬 Cinematic Language & Formal Analysis

The worksheet emphasizes film form, and Humans in the Loop uses cinematic devices strategically.

Mise-en-scène:

The forest symbolizes relational, living knowledge. Office spaces represent abstraction and control.

Cinematography

Wide shots of landscapes evoke openness and continuity. Close-ups of screens create claustrophobia.

Sound Design

Natural ambient sounds contrast with mechanical clicking and digital notifications.

Editing

The alternation between organic and mechanical rhythms structures the viewer’s emotional experience.

From a Formalist perspective, these aesthetic choices are not decorative—they construct meaning. Form embodies ideology.

Ethical & Political Questions

The film invites urgent reflection:

• Who defines valid knowledge in AI systems?
• Can algorithmic systems adapt to cultural specificity?
• What forms of labour remain invisible in digital economies?
• Is technological neutrality a myth?

The film suggests that until epistemic hierarchies are dismantled, AI will replicate structural inequality.

Conclusion: Beyond the Algorithm

Humans in the Loop dismantles the myth of the autonomous machine. It reveals that every algorithm carries the fingerprints of its creators and the labour of marginalized workers.

Nehma’s story reminds us that technological progress is often built upon invisible exploitation and epistemic erasure. The “ghost” in the machine is not artificial intelligence it is human endurance.

The film functions as a mirror for our own digital consumption. As users of seamless AI services, we must question:

• Whose knowledge was flattened to create this efficiency?
• Whose labour remains hidden in the loop?

Until technology recognizes and redistributes power, the loop will remain incomplete an echo chamber of inequality disguised as innovation.

Journey Beyond the Surface: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

Word Count

Approximate Word Count: 950–1100

Abstract

This blog explores Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne as a pioneering work of science fiction that combines adventure, scientific imagination, and philosophical depth. The novel follows Professor Aronnax and his companions as they journey beneath the oceans aboard the submarine Nautilus, commanded by the mysterious Captain Nemo. Beyond its thrilling underwater exploration, the narrative addresses themes of technological advancement, rebellion against imperial power, isolation, and the relationship between humanity and nature. Verne’s visionary depiction of advanced submarines and deep-sea exploration anticipates modern scientific developments, establishing him as a foundational figure in speculative fiction. The blog highlights how the novel remains relevant today for its scientific foresight, complex characterization, and enduring commentary on freedom and moral responsibility.

Keywords

Jules Verne, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Captain Nemo, Nautilus, science fiction, underwater exploration, 19th-century literature, adventure fiction, imperialism, technology and imagination, oceanography, rebellion, isolation, marine life, speculative science

 

When we think of science fiction today, we often imagine space travel, robots, or futuristic technology. But long before rockets reached the moon, one visionary writer dared to explore the mysteries of the ocean. That writer was Jules Verne, and his groundbreaking novel, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, remains one of the most influential adventure stories ever written.

Published in 1870, this novel is not merely a tale of underwater exploration it is a powerful blend of science, imagination, philosophy, and adventure.

🌊 The Story: A Voyage into the Unknown

The novel begins with reports of a mysterious sea monster attacking ships across the globe. To investigate, Professor Pierre Aronnax, his loyal servant Conseil, and Canadian harpooner Ned Land join an expedition. Instead of discovering a monster, they encounter something far more extraordinary: a futuristic submarine called the Nautilus.

The submarine is commanded by the enigmatic and brilliant Captain Nemo. Once aboard, the trio embark on an unforgettable journey beneath the oceans of the world from coral forests and sunken cities to polar ice caps and terrifying sea creatures.

Verne’s detailed descriptions of marine life and underwater landscapes make readers feel as though they are traveling through an unseen world.

⚓ Captain Nemo: A Hero or a Rebel?

One of the most fascinating aspects of the novel is its complex central character, Captain Nemo. 

Nemo is a scientific genius who has rejected society and chosen to live beneath the sea. He despises imperialism and oppression, and the ocean becomes his refuge and weapon against injustice. Yet, he is also capable of vengeance and moral ambiguity.

Is Nemo a freedom fighter? A tragic hero? Or a dangerous radical?

Verne leaves this question open, which makes the novel philosophically rich. Nemo represents rebellion against political tyranny and blind nationalism—ideas that were highly relevant in the 19th century and still resonate today.

🔬 Science Ahead of Its Time

One reason this novel is so remarkable is its scientific imagination.

At a time when submarines were barely functional, Verne envisioned:

Electric-powered underwater vessels

Deep-sea diving suits

Underwater hunting

Oceanographic research

Advanced navigation systems

Many of these inventions became reality decades later. Verne did not simply fantasize; he studied science carefully and extended it logically into the future. This is why he is often called the “Father of Science Fiction.”

🌍 Themes That Go Beyond Adventure

Though it reads like an exciting adventure story, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea explores deeper themes:

1. Man vs. Nature

The novel portrays the ocean as both beautiful and terrifying. Humans are small compared to its vast power.

2. Isolation and Freedom

Nemo’s choice to abandon society raises questions: Is true freedom found in isolation? Or does it come with loneliness?

3. Colonialism and Power

Nemo’s hatred of imperial powers reflects 19th-century political struggles and anti-colonial resistance.

4. Knowledge and Curiosity

Professor Aronnax represents scientific curiosity the human desire to explore and understand the unknown.

🐙 The Iconic Giant Squid Scene

One of the most unforgettable moments in the novel is the battle between the Nautilus and a giant squid. The scene is intense, dramatic, and symbolic. The squid represents the uncontrollable forces of nature—mysterious and terrifying.

This episode has inspired countless adaptations in films and literature.

📚 Why the Novel Still Matters Today

Even in the 21st century, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea remains relevant because:

It promotes scientific imagination.

It questions political power and injustice.

It celebrates exploration and discovery.

It presents morally complex characters.

Modern science fiction writers—from submarine thrillers to deep-sea documentaries owe a debt to Jules Verne’s visionary storytelling.

✨ Final Thoughts

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is not just a novel about traveling under water. It is a journey into human ambition, rebellion, knowledge, and mystery. Verne invites readers to dive beneath the surface not only of the ocean but also of society and the human soul.

As Captain Nemo sails endlessly through the depths, we are reminded that there are still worlds unexplored both in nature and within ourselves.