Memoir

/ˈmemˌwär/ noun. a record of events written by a person having intimate knowledge of them and based on personal observation. Usually memoirs. an account of one's personal life and experiences; autobiography. the published record of the proceedings of a group or organization, as of a learned society.

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The prompt for week 26 of Memoir Monday has landed and it’s a little different from past prompts, quite literally. This requires you to project your imagination into the future instead of digging into the past but if you’re anything like me it’ll be no less fun. This one might teach you more about yourself than you think. Have fun with it! As always, thanks for your participation.

Memoir Monday has grown so much that I won’t be able to comment on everyone’s posts anymore (and get my own work done) but I’ll still be supporting your posts with reblogs, votes, and shares on my other social media accounts (X, Facebook, etc.).

For all of those who’ve regularly participated in Memoir Monday - keep going, you’re making great progress in chronicling your very own life story for future generations to enjoy.

For those who missed the inaugural post explaining what the Memoir Monday initiative is all about you can find it here.

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Now for next week’s Memoir Monday prompt:

How do you think the world will be different in 30 years?

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My answer:

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When I sat down to answer this prompt the thing that struck me first is I find it strange to be thinking thirty years into a future that I may not even be a part of. At fifty-three years of age that is just a reality.

With the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence and humanoid robots, among many other advances, I think we are at the precipice of an entirely new phase of humanity. This will be an Industrial Revolution 4.0 and it will eclipse any of the previous ones that came before it in ways that will be difficult to anticipate. Depending on the decisions being made now this could either make the world in three decades a very dystopian one or usher in an unprecedented new golden age for our species.

Our current world is already steeped in enough negativity as it is so I’ll take the utopian path…here it goes.

Where to begin? It’s 2054. Starting in 2026 AI began quickly solving a lot of the prickly and persistent problems that human intelligence didn’t have the capacity to. There were hiccups but these were overcome. In the past thirty years diseases have been eradicated, world hunger has been solved, a new class of physics has been discovered by AI that has made the modern world look more like Star Trek than reality, especially to us octogenarians.

You know what? We finally got flying cars and these drones operate themselves. We just call a car (I’m not sure why we still call them that, habit I suppose) and it arrives to whisk us away in a few minutes. This eliminates the need for maintaining all of the expensive and unsightly infrastructure that traditional cars required. No more potholes! Supersonic mag-lev trains connect cities and are used for any trip longer than an hour. Next, “spooky action at a distance” in practical form. For longer distance travel tele-portals allow us to instantaneously teleport from almost any two points on the planet. These tele-portals have been installed in every old airport in the world and airplanes and runways are a thing of the past. Traveling this way is very weird at first but you get used to it quickly. There’s really nothing I miss about air travel.

As it turns out Nikola Tesla was correct about almost everything and is now celebrated as one of the greatest humans to have ever lived. All of the secrets that the human elite had kept from the general public for hundreds of years are made available in their entirety as a masterclass for everyone to view at their discretion. Let me tell you, some of these secrets will absolutely blow your minds. Let’s just say quite a bit of those conspiracy theories were spot on and true reality is something few can even conceptualize in 2024.

We've had thriving human colonies on Mars and the moon for well over a decade. We also have open contact with not only beings from other planets but also beings from other dimensions. In 2042, Earthbound humans were accepted into a galactic coalition of other intergalactic and inter-dimensional civilizations, many of which are millions of years older than us. As it turns out they had been observing us for an eternity but decided we were finally civilized enough to initiate open contact and accepted us into their coalition on a kind of, “getting to know you basis” that will last at least another century. After this, we have a seat at their table and can join them traveling the universes observing and sometimes assisting the evolution of other primitive intelligent species. They've taught us that all life is expansive, by its very definition and is abundant almost everywhere.

Unlimited, free energy is available to everyone on the planet. Every human, when they turn eighteen has the choice to become augmented giving them massively increased brain power and a host of enhanced senses, or remain a full bio-human.

Today roughly three quarters of the population choose augmentation because they feel it gives them more opportunities and an substantially better quality of life. Due to sensory limitations, non-aug humans (or bio-humans) can only experience about twelve percent of their observable physical world.

Augmented humans are connected by a kind of neural net and communicate mostly through a form telepathy that makes it nearly impossible to lie. As a result, communication has become instant, much more direct, and transparent. In the last decade corruption, crime, and aggression have been eradicated from the aug-class.

Most work is handled in aug-communities by A.I. and robots but humans can choose to work if they wish but not for money. Universal basic income provides for a life of abundance for everyone. A.I. has designed a perfectly balanced new economy with digital currency that doesn’t fall victim to the perils of past economies like inflation. It’s now widely accepted that a human’s primary goal is to learn about and work on their own mental, spiritual, and physical health. Human life has been extended to a consistent and predictable 120 years and each person has a chance to make peace with and prepare for the inevitable. It’s been scientifically proven that physical death isn’t the end of life so it’s not feared or cloaked in sadness as it once was.

In childhood extensive testing is done to assess a person’s strengths and weaknesses. Each individual then designs a life plan for themselves that will heal them from countless centuries of generational trauma. Once healed, people then have a chance to contribute to society, or not, in any way they wish. The only rule is to do no harm to anyone else. The highest goal is to live an optimal life, whatever the individual decides this is. Human creativity and expression is valued and appreciated now more than ever.

Bio-humans are increasingly living amongst themselves in closed, self-sufficient communities outside of the cities because they find it nearly impossible to coexist side-by-side with augmented humans. The aug-class accepts bio-humans but sometimes view them as unruly, illogical, and unpredictable. These two splinters of humanity are peacefully coexisting at the moment but do so for the most part at a distance.

Based on our known history, in 2054, the world is in what most people would consider to be a better balance than it ever has been. Life isn’t perfect but it’s closer to perfection now than any of us can imagine. There’s so much more but that’s about all I can share at the moment, you’ll see for yourself soon enough. You can’t even imagine the things you’re going to experience. Things might seem bleak now but the most important thing is to never, ever, give up hope of a better tomorrow and work towards building it. This matters more than you know.

(Gif sourced from Giphy.com)

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Rules of Engagement

1. Please reblog this first post and share on other social platforms so we cast the widest net possible for this initiative;
2. Pictures paint a thousand words. Include pictures in your posts if you have them;
3. Answer each Memoir Monday prompt question in your own post. If possible, the prompt question will be published in the week prior so you'll have the entire week to answer and publish your own post;
4. Have fun with it, don't worry about getting behind, or jumping into the project at any point after we've begun; and
5. Lastly, be sure to include the tag #memoirmonday.

It's that simple.

At the end of the next twelve months we'll have created something immensely valuable together. It's so important to know our "whys" in life and there's no better way to do that than this.

Someday all that will be left of our existence are memories of us, our deeds, and words. It's up to you to leave as rich of a heritage as possible for future generations to learn from. So, go ahead, tell your stories. I can't wait to read them.

Be well and make the most of this day. I want to sincerely thank all of the participants thus far. I've really enjoyed reading your posts!

~Eric Vance Walton~

(All photos are original.)

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