The Future Shock(ed)!

T

he doorbell rings. I get up and glide on my automated skateboard to the door –yep, we don’t walk anymore, we just glide – to answer. It’s an e-telegram. I authenticate the delivery pad with my electronic thumb impression, and the delivery guy leaves, handing me the telegram. I switch on the telegram and its screen lights up with: “Happy New Year!!” text, followed by a lovely message from one of my friends.

As we welcome the year 2047, I can’t help but wonder how the trends from the last few decades have caught on again, as essentially happens every few decades or so. Take for example this e-telegram. 3 decades ago in 2017, nobody could’ve imagined that we will get over sending long texts over social media sites some day and the decade old tradition of sending telegrams as a personal reminder and wishes would be the new fad. But this is precisely what has happened. Nobody uses the social media anymore to wish on the festivals, everyone is into sending personalised e-letters – paper is so limited that it costs fortune to buy one; the world is almost paperless now – and the trend of e- telegrams and post cards is picking up new heights again. Wonder they shouldn’t have shut down the post offices, after all.

I go to my study and switch on the eco-simulation to convert the study into a virtual garden with simulated trees, grass, rabbits, lakes and everything. I miss the days when there used to be real gardens to walk and fresh air to breathe in and that reminds me to switch on the air purifier, as well. My doctor recommended me that I take a daily walk of 5 kilometers –by foot –in the simulated environment to tackle my high BP and diabetes. It’s so hard walking now, particularly when I’ve been using the automated skateboard to walk for the better part of the 52 years of my life. Habits!

So as I complete the walk in my tiny study –wonder what science can do to a pigeonhole, transforming it into a 150 acre simulated garden! – I’m exhausted and sit down for a little rest. The doctor should show me a little relaxation. I weigh just about 95 kilograms and that’s hardly unhealthy, considering the national average of 84 kg(s), as per the last national survey. It’s 2047 doc, grow up! Turns out, my doctor is from my father’s generation, already a lot grown up and it’s hard to argue with him.

I decide to end the marathon there itself and switch off the simulation. Back to my normal study! It’s always nice to begin the day with a nice cup of tea – that is considering you’ve already taken your medicines. So I rush to the kitchen to make myself hot tea. Turns out I’ll have to make it the silly old way. The traditional tea making kit are again the new trend in here. It comes with a pan, tea leaves, and sugar box. And you understand the method thereafter now, don’t you? You generations old, 2017 guys! It’s the new trend over the earlier automated tea makers! My niece gifted me this, saying it’s so much fun to make your own tea and then discarded my old tea maker. Poor kid! I grew up making tea this way, it’s no fun for me!!

Anyway, so the tea is ready and I pour it in the earthenware my other niece gifted me. She says, ‘It’s good for health and is a different experience altogether.’ Sure, I asked her to tell the same to my parents or to her grandmother – my aunt, who grew up with nothing but the earthen pots and clay utensils.

Anyway, I need my daily news so I go to my desk and fish out the newspaper gear with the VR box and synthetic paper screen – it cost me a fortune, but it’s worth it! As I wear the VR goggles and hold the synthetic paper in my hands, the paper turns into a regular newspaper, with the news downloaded via WiFi, now on the synthetic paper, visible through my VR headset. Why bother with a paper kit when VR does it work, right? You start bothering when you haven't touched a real newspaper in 10 years! It feels almost like the original newspaper, minus the smell of one. And so, the headlines for the day are:

1.      Not B.Tech or an MBA, the food science is the new hot: Under the new scenario, it’s been long witnessed that there is hardly any demand for working professionals in the market….

And the battery of my news kit drops dead and the kit shuts down. I hate when this happens! But I’m helpless so, I plug in the charger and wait for it to charge. And while it charges, I can’t help but be reminded of a quote, that I read decades ago:

“The difference between technology and slavery is that slaves are fully aware that they are not free!”

Well.... 

***To be continued...***