Task 12 – Speculative Futures

Dystopian Narrative

This past week a massive fire ripped through the remaining boreal forest in Northern Alberta, taking with it the last remaining habitat of several endangered species. The ground is so dry that crops are failing across the province and it has been months since any substantial rainfall has occurred.  For the past several decades, the media has been controlled by a single corporation that owns the remaining oil in the ground in the province.  The last conservative government sold the interests to the little bit of water that flows from the Rocky Mountain to Coca-Cola and has been diverted into Montana, leaving the southern part of the province to become a desert.

Due to AI, social media continually feed more and more climate change denial and the pressure put on the province and country by the followers of this media made it impossible for any meaningful limits on carbon emissions to be passed. Social media companies became richer and richer as lobbyists paid to have their messaging that touted that global warming was a hoax pushed in the feeds of millions of users. The more an individual watched and read about conspiracy theories related to global warming, the more videos and news stories they would see on their feeds that put them into deeper and darker beliefs. If only we had listened to the warnings in the early 21st century telling us to alter these algorithms and make corrections for our biased programming.

Utopian Narrative

Tom, just like every generation of the past, is complaining about doing his homework. His dad is reminding him how good kids have it these day. When he was young he had to type all his work into a computer, proof reading every line to ensure proper grammar and punctuation.  All Tom has to do is just think about what he wants to write and the words appear on his interactive touch screen. There is no need to check over spelling or grammar as AI ensures that it is all correct as it quickly appears on the computer, ready to submit to his teacher. A Brain – Computer Interface (BCI) allows Tom to not only complete his homework but to control the lights and music in his bedroom, text his friends and order a pizza for supper. 

As the two continue to argue about who has it worse, Grandpa walks in and starts to tell about how when he was young he only had paper and pens to do all his homework with.  Just a few years ago, Parkinson’s had made it nearly impossible for Grandpa to walk but the same BCI that enables Tom to do his homework, has given him the ability to control his motor movements and given him back the freedom to walk again.