My
name is Jox, I'm 15 years old. I need to start by saying this: by no
means, is this a historical document but merely an essay requested by
my facilitator to compliment my studies. I should explain; we no
longer have things like teachers and schools, but instead orientators
as I suppose you might call them in your time. It's a much more
focused education, tailored to every individual’s needs, potential
and interests. Humanity has changed a lot and our formation and
studies no longer only comprise traditional subjects like the ones
you study such as maths, geography and history for example. In
addition we are also offered tuition in a more complete way,
involving how to deal with our emotions and keep our body working at
its optimum level. This essay is part of my emotional well being
studies where I was asked to write a letter to someone in 2016 to
explain how the world has changed. The main idea behind this exercise
is to learn how to put ourselves in someone else's place. This
practice has been part of our culture for a long time and serves as a
means to solve many of the global conflicts; its use has been very
successful in this regard since it was instituted. It might be
something you have heard about in your era but nowadays it’s used
as a very practical and effective tool in many areas such as
politics, business and personal relations.
I
love history, learning how people went about their lives in different
periods helps me get a better perspective of our current issues. In
my time it’s very difficult to get in touch with the culture and
history of your time and that's the sad part, when so much was lost.
Since the global act enabled the possibility for anyone to live
wherever they wanted, most of the old buildings and cultural
traditions have been lost. The world changed quickly and entire
urban areas started to disappear to open space for all the new
structures that were needed. We don't have cities or countryside as
you would know it. People live in communities tailored to be self
sustainable. We all have our roles and most of what is required is
produced and resourced locally. It can only grow to a size that is
sustainable to the local environments resources and
considering the impact generated. Most of the repetitive work
is mechanised, which freed people to use and develop their mental
capacities to their highest potential. We no longer have money or
what you would know as an economic market system. Our system is based
on social contribution and everyone knows their role is very
important in the continued sustainability of our population. Another
interesting idea you will have to get used to is that there is no
more ownership. Goods are shared according to different people's
needs as every single person owning all kinds of goods for limited
non regular use was unsustainable for our planet. It works similar to
how libraries do in your time to give you a better understanding of
the idea.
We
have most meals together and instead of a family that is blood
related like you are used to, we now have a broader idea, where we
are grouped more by our personalities and interests. We still have
our personal space but we don't spend a lot of time on our own unless
we really want to. We understand it would be impracticable and
unsustainable for every single human being to have their own property
entirely to themselves. Even shared resources within one family like
it is for you, would be of an unthinkable impact to our planet and
its resources.
Families
and the way we reproduce have also changed a lot. As is known to you,
human beings are different than other species as a lot of our brain
and development happens after birth in the first few years of our
lives. For that reason a lot of regulations and infrastructure was
put in place to make sure every new life has its best possible chance
of development. Stress and the environment in those early years and
during pregnancy was found to have a huge impact in our formation.
For that reason traditions like families having to have babies or
women being pressured to be mothers no longer exist. We see the act
of generating a new life as the most precious thing and for that
reason people that decide to dedicate their lives to that task are
carefully selected and that becomes their contribution to our
society. That's their job as you might say, so we can make sure all
needs in the early years are met, like physical, emotional and
psychological nurturing. This different way of thinking also helped
control the ever growing and unsustainable population that was
characteristic of your era.
With
the fast development of technology that was so evident at your time,
people started to isolate themselves more and more to the point of
social collapse. A large percentage of the population was suffering
from depression and other mental illnesses as a result of it. As I
recall you called it social media, where you would use a device to
keep in touch with people. That had a huge impact in people's lives,
became an addiction to most human beings that had access to it,
almost extinguishing face to face social activities. After years of
studies specialists concluded that being part of a real social group
improved every part of our lives and little by little the virtual
world as you know it died and changed its function. We understand
it's part of human nature; the need for contact, compassion
and social interaction. It’s the lack of these that makes
people become competitive and selfish, ruining the chances of a
cooperative fair society. I watched a film from a couple decades
prior to your year called The Matrix where that idea is explained in
a figurative way. People connected to a virtual reality that didn't
really exist but they were unaware.
Physical
aspects of the human race in my time also look very different than in
yours. I think it’s very intriguing to look at old photographs of
how different people’s appearances were. That would have been a
very interesting world to live in but I can see how that had its
challenging side too.
It's
very difficult for us to understand the idea that people had a
capacity to form a judgement or opinion of each other based on their
appearance. That's not possible now as we have similar looking
physical aspects and any traces of peoples cultures and origins are
no longer as obvious or existent. Fair white skin slowly disappeared
as it couldn't resist the increasing temperatures of the planet. Same
with the blue and green eyes, I truly wish I had seen one. I imagine
it would be like staring into the ocean or a forest. The different
colours and shades of hair are also gone. All these physical changes
over generations resulted in largely
indistinguishable appearances causing the end of all the beauty
related industry. The same happened to clothing, for us it is a lot
more about performance and enduring all the different weathers and
necessities of our daily lives than what you would call fashion.
Human
development took a massive leap forward when the governments of all
the nations discussed and decided the only possible way to sustain
humanity was making the world one. The imaginary border lines didn't
make sense any more. There were constant wars over religion, land,
political regimes and power to name a few. It was a very difficult
time in history, but one of the most important and brave decisions
ever made. The wars and fighting continued for many decades after,
but slowly people started to appreciate the fact that they had
control over their lives as never before in history. The whole world
changed quickly, masses of people started moving to different areas
of the globe. Places that had strong economies saw a considerable
influx of people. But that didn't last for more than a few years and
soon most people realised a better life wasn't really a more
comfortable economic situation.
A
global parliament was created and the world was evened up in regards
to education, health and infrastructure. That was one of the biggest
achievements of humanity. Since that time, people haven’t felt that
they have had to flee, or leave their families and friends behind to
try to find a better life or even just to survive as I have read
about in many books from your era. Those who moved, it was for
different reasons, they found some other place on
the planet that suited their personalities better or the life style
they wanted. As there were no more barriers, passports or
citizenships most people realised this was a fair world compared to
what came before, where we all have equal opportunities. A persons
future is no longer determined by the random fact of where they were
born. Every single person has the same opportunities to pursue their
dreams, whatever they are.
For
some time there was still racism and attacks from more extreme people
feeling threatened as they believed there was a need to keep a pure
race. Resistance to change is something we work a lot to extinguish
within ourselves these days. We understand life and the world is ever
changing and nothing will stay stationary for long. We are here for a
limited amount of time, our contribution needs to be towards the
bettering of the planet and all its inhabitants.
After
the global act, slowly as the generations grew up there was after a
while not a single person that didn't have a mixed background or
someone in their family that they loved and was of a different race
or culture. So it became very difficult for the separatists to
sustain and defend the idea of a pure race. The change in our
physical aspects had a huge impact in our society as we had to learn
how to value and get to know each other for other aspects like
personality, ideals, intelligence and aspirations.
For
many generations it felt like people didn't know exactly what to do
now that they could do whatever they wanted. Crime went down, but
depression and suicide levels rose. Unfortunately most people didn't
know how to dream or have goals to achieve. But with time and a few
genius pioneers our planet saw innovations and improvements never
dreamt of. Our lives and our homes changed at such a rapid pace,
tiring sometimes but most of the time exciting.
Religion
lost its appeal for most people as now we all had access to good
health systems, education and opportunities. People started seeing
that it depended a lot more on themselves to achieve things, no
longer down to luck or divine grace. That stopped most of the
violence related to religious beliefs. People nowadays are spiritual
but more in the sense of working their own minds and feelings not so
much related to something external to them. Meditation, yoga,
mindfulness and ways to relax the mind and the body are widely
practised and we learn these techniques from the day we are born. But
most of us don't even know that it all first started as a religious
practice. Although I've heard of Buddha being a history fanatic. Some
people believe there is something bigger than us, undiscovered but
not in a judgemental patriarchal way as most old religions would have
you believe. It's more a curiosity and a belief that we can't be the
most incredible creatures in existence.
Most
of us understand we don't know it all and there is still a lot to be
discovered. It would be irresponsible and arrogant to think that what
we know now is the absolute truth. An open mind is the way to the
future. We learnt lessons from ancient times when people killed the
ones that would disagree with the commonly held belief that the earth
was a flat plate just because they didn't know any different. Or just
sometime after the belief was that the Earth was the centre of the
universe. Or not too long before your time people believed cigarettes
had health benefits. Just at the right time you will also find out
many of the things you believe and had as taken as proven science
were incorrect. So the only thing I can say is keep an open mind and
don't take anything as fact. Science and the need to test and prove
theories will be of incredible help to human development. It still is
to this day.
I
don't think it would be beneficial to say much about our technology
or go into detail about how our lives are nowadays. I
believe there is a lot to be gained and learned in the journey to
achievements, almost as much as the result itself. That's why still
to this day we don't know the exact date we are going to die even
though we have the technology and means to be able to determine that.
We see how much more important and beneficial it is not to take
things for granted. As a society we work a lot on that concept, and
we have become a lot better at that but still sometimes we just go on
with our routines and forget the bigger picture, however as much as
we can, we keep in mind our time here is limited and it will end at
some point.
I'd
describe this as a hope letter from the future, to give you the
strength through this difficult time in our history and let you know
all will be ok and will work out for the betterment of all human
kind. Even to this day we have the tendency to think and dream a lot
about the future ahead of us. With that in mind it's a strange idea
for me to grasp that I am what you think about but yet have no idea
it is still to come.
In
any way your struggle is my pride, and I rest assured we will all
look back and feel astonished by all that our civilization has
achieved . If I can give one piece of advice that would be to stick
together, unite and learn how to live in a world with so many
differences. I can guarantee one day you will miss them.