When we began Ancestral Vision, I initially imagined building a physical artifact—a sculpture inspired by the ancient cultures and enigmatic altars I had been researching. I wanted something solid, something that felt like it had spiritual gravitas.
But as I began interviewing my grandfather and great-uncle, I realized that a static object wasn't enough. Our heritage isn't a fixed point in time; it’s a continuous entity that needs dynamic space.
We needed a vessel that could not only hold stories but also ask for them. We needed something that could evolve alongside us as we are during the project. We started dreaming about a sensible entity that would help us navigate genealogy, store memories, respond to voice, and possess a personality of its own. The idea of using an AI-powered engine became inevitable.
The Oracle is an interactive entity designed to behave like a technologically augmented house-god. It is a "small god" of the family heritage—a guardian of the memories that DNA kits and paper archives can't contain.
The Oracle is an entity that powers the Ancestral Vision platform app and guides its users into their family history and their potential future.
How the Ritual Works:
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The Dialogue: The Oracle acts as a divinely inspired interviewer. It prompts family members to speak to one another, recording their stories and integrating them into a private database that maps the network of people and places that made us.
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The Machine Learning Spirit: As the Oracle gathers stories, it uses machine learning to make sense of the data. It learns from the questions we ask and the answers we give, weaving them into what we call "data tapestries"—a mix between a family tree and a futuristic mandala.
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Generative Retelling: When the Oracle retells a story, it uses AI to remix content, blending visual illustrations with fragments of photos and recordings of relatives to make their presence feel alive in the room.
The House-God-Kin
The "house-god-kin" is a lineage of guardians that will grow in number and strength.
Once enough stories have been shared, the Oracle’s internal logic generates a unique sculptural representation—a "physical snapshot" of the family tree at that exact moment. These could be stored or become 3D-printed sculptures that can be collected on a family altar over time. They are artifacts earned through the ritual of storytelling.
A 99-Year Vision
We are following this newborn house-god-kin nearly a century into the future. We imagine it being passed down through generations, becoming a building block in the fabric of society.This part of the project is a half-real, half-speculative attempt to reclaim what it means to pay attention to one’s heritage and to explore the future with one's descendants.
We are building a way to ensure that when our children’s children ask, "Who am I?", the Oracle will be there not only to tell them a story but actually show them.
