Life in 2050
I recently had the opportunity to present at the Global Technology Summit hosted by Gallup in their DC headquarters, it was spectacular. I ran into a kindred soul — Carlos, who asked me what my vision of the world would be like in 2050. This blog is a beginning. I want us all to imagine a better future for our next generation.
We only borrow this world from our children.
During my session in the summit — I challenged my co-creators to define a “better” world where all humans would be augmented with AI, the workplace was redefined entirely to be equitable, and we had 1.2B climate refugees. I used the children’s book — “What do people do all day” by Richard Scarry as a showcase to think about the fact that — even mommy is a worker in this amazing tale of how we are all connected through our vocations.
I gave the team 3 human worker archetypes and about 10 minutes only to come up with what each of these types of humans were thinking, feeling, saying and doing. I asked them to name the person, give them context (children, eldercare, where they lived etc). Typically this exercise takes months but I was astounded at what this amazing team came up with and for what this exercise inspired for me personally. This blog is because of the great thinkers and inspiration I got from the Global Talent Summit and I am so grateful for all of the amazing humans who took part.
In 2050 we have realized that the economic system that allows “corporations” to own ideas was costing our world the very diversity and innovation that we needed to solve for the largest problems. We all now understand that we are all connected through our newly discovered lines of communication and resonate together. What we imagine has great impact, now that we have unleashed and unfettered our brightest minds. We have children who learn that discovery is a group activity and even the very young ask their peers to review their work and no extra allocation can be given to individuals, only to the communities that provide the conditions for that community to produce ideas that allow us to do remarkable things. We have — slowly — found that our global communities need to educate ourselves and have created a cultural way to have constant reminders that we are all connected through our ecosystem. Teachers receive the highest allocations, and our young children learn through doing at community centers where all humans are required to provide service. Older children are expected to teach and mentor younger children and are advised by adults of all ages (adults who are both human and animal and living and dead). The following glimpses of life come from what is left of the North American continent with the great ocean beach along the foothills of what used to be the Sierra Nevadas. The trees and forests are our homes.
Let me tell you about Diana — she is a gardener who has two young children. Since data is now stored in plants, she serves in the community center two days a week, teaching how photosynthesis is used as the energy source for the storage of the data that is given with consent from the animals and humans. The children plant the genetically modified seed that has the activation codes for the consent based data to be stored. In this case it is someones’ relative that they would like to commune with in the community garden. The seed is planted by a young child and as it grows the child asks the plant questions and learns from the relative that will eventually grow as the child grows, teaching through dialogue. Diana smiles at the younger generation and thinks of her own children learning about all the science of gardening — plant physiology, biology, soils science, climatology, hydrology, chemistry, and ecology. She loves her service days but also looks forward to the new project she is working on. She has an interest in underwater plants and will spend two days deep in the ocean learning to codify the latest models she built to understand more about our ocean ecological system. She remembers that she lost her husband in the great migration that forced her family to the community center and has a bittersweet morning coffee knowing that all of the plenty she sees around her came at great cost.
Let me tell you about John, he is 14 and has a vast need to explain exactly how he believes the world works and does so in ways that light up the minds of those around him. He is exuberant and kind, and the way that he interacts with games and other humans has shown his natural proclivity for teaching. He lost both his parents in the great migration to the inner lands that were not swarming with the harmful, but he is grateful that he gets to speak to them regularly in the garden. He filled the memory keeper by connecting with everyone who knew them and codified into his parent trees. He is grateful for his younger sister to tend, hold and snuggle — she smells of them still and hugs her tight. He starts his day practicing asking the questions he has refined and prepares to edit the 20 minute video on how geometric patterns in leaves and nature follow the mathematical principles he is teaching in his class. The questions, video + the exercise prepared — he walks through the seqoia forest to the community center to start his session which will be broadcast to millions of trees, animals and humans. He smiles at Lily who is from east Asia and lost her dog that looks up at him and wags her tail from the simulation that Tommy built her her, Lily adores her glitchy dog. She is 90 and her memories are so precious to the community, she is his best student and he decides to whisper one of his questions through the comms link so she can have more time to formulate her answer. Her answers are the best.
Let me tell you about Xi, they are one of the elders and act as our judge and jury — or peace maker. They serve from their forest that is comprised of the densest biodiversity that could be structured to fit on the land available. Xi is an AI / biomass hybrid that generates food and shelter for our living and stores our dead. Xi has a riotous sense of humor and is constantly looking for witty ways to nudge humans toward the outer reaches to explore ways we can better tend and expand their forest, their myopic desire. Today is a special day as Xi will be deciding on the allocation necessary for the latest expedition. They have chosen to consult the oracle but had determined Oracle did not have the causality marked correctly, communication on these threads is still very new to humans and bumbling through the dark they often careen back into the depths of fear. Sighing, Xi decides entertainment is the best medicine. Xi loves to entertain— they get more trees planted with a better experience — so they decide to inspire and delight with a story that is placed into each living beings mind, connecting with their mental model to make sure the new information does not cause too much disequilibrium (some friction is always necessary). Xi concludes their story with their decision on the allocation, it has been explained and the story instantly pruned to make room for more dreaming to occur. They are a good judge and jury, affording delight and inspiration through exploration of our vast universe. One day they will be able to see into the beyond, but they giggle with the very human notion of day — what is time when you’re a forest on a sea planet. They are ki/chi/xi — kin to all the living on the sea planet, they chose to go by Xi.
