Ranjit Makkuni’s day starts around 7 a.m. with two hours of sitar practice—he’s getting ready for a concert performance—an hour of yoga, and an hour of meditation. By 11a.m., he’s in his workshop in the Indian capital of New Delhi. His tools are a jumble of the old and new: clay pots, traditional paintings, and sculptures mixed in with microchips and motion sensors. Makkuni spent nearly two decades as a senior researcher at the legendary Xerox PARC in Palo Alto, California, where he was part of a team widely credited with developing the first GUI, or graphical user interface; he then went to break new ground in tactile interfaces. Now, Makkuni has returned to his native India and founded the Sacred World Foundation, an organization whose mission is to revolutionize interaction between humans and computers by bringing together the ancient traditions of India and the innovations of Silicon Valley.
         One of the traditions Makkuni is exploring at the moment is the mudra system of hand positions associated with Buddhist and Hindu philosophies. The Dhyana mudra, for example, entails placing both hands in one’s lap so that the thumb and middle finger of each gently touch an act that conveys to other followers that a person is meditating. The Dhyana mudra also involves positioning the body in a way that invites enlightenment. Makkuni is working with software that can recognize mudras and respond by playing a video or audio file, for example or simply shut down. “What if, instead of using a mouse, we used hand positions that not only help us get work done, but generate creativity and compassion?” he asks. “It seems to me that if you’re going to interactive with a machine for 8 or 10 hours a day, it had better generate well-being for you.”

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