Narrative 1: This short story introduces the reader to a futuristic dystopian life where everything is automated for humans. All communication is run through devices and voice commands. The story begins in the morning as young adult, Victoria is just getting up for the day…

 

I stretched as I slowly climbed out of bed and stumbled my way over to my closet. As I touched the closet door, the lights in my room instantly faded on. “Did I just hit something?” I wondered. Moments later, a pleasant voice greeted me,  “Good morning Victoria! It looks like you slept well last night getting a full 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Today is Sunday, Nov. 24th, 2052. You have no tasks to accomplish today. Currently, the outside temperature is +15 and sunny. The forecast for today is clear skies with a high of +18 and a low of +12. Please hit project to update your current status.”

 

“What?” I wondered as I rubbed my eyes. I must still be in that typical hazy morning fog. I reached down to open the closet door again, and the kind voice repeated, “Please hit project to update your current status.”

 

“Project? What do you mean, project?” I wondered as I began looking around my room for some sort of device I could turn on or button I could push. As I examined my room I became even more confused. 

“Victoria, are you still there? Should I call emergency services?” The voice inquired.

“Uhh…no…. I’m here.” I replied, unsure of what exactly I was talking to.

“Do you not feel like getting dressed right now?” The voice asked.

“Umm….no, I do…..I just…I don’t know what you mean by… hit project.” I responded warily.

The voice laughed, “Are you sure you’re feeling ok? Just hit project on your wrist to update your status.”

“On my wrist?!” I looked down at my arms, examining them. Finding nothing, I flipped them over and low and behold on the inside of my wrist, just underneath my palm was a small button. I hesitantly pressed it, unsure of what would happen next.

“Oh dear…” The voice responded, “It appears you are feeling a lot of confusion and a slight bit of fear. I’ve selected a comfortable outfit for you to help ease this anxiety.” 

The closet doors slid open and hanging in front of me was one outfit, fully assembled and ready to be taken out and put on. As I reached in to grab it the voice continued, “I want to help you. I’m ready to receive your thoughts now. Please hit project again.”

“Receive my thoughts?” As I finished pulling out the outfit this smart home device had selected, I hit project again and started getting dressed.

“Oh…oh dear….” The voice began, “Take a deep breath for me Victoria. I assure you, you are going to be just fine. Yesterday you fell and hit your head pretty hard. The medibot checked you out and you showed no signs of damage. We monitored you all night, but it appears your deep sleep has silently altered something in your brain and you’ve forgotten how today’s world works. This is why you are feeling so confused. Allow me to fill you in.” 

I finished getting dressed I sat down on the bed listening intently to the phantom voice as it spoke.

“Humans have all been equipped with the latest version of HolisticU. This device will send information to compatible devices. At any time you can hit project and share your thoughts or feelings with another pre-programmed device.  when you encounter other humans you can sync your devices by tapping your wired wrists together. This allows you to hit project and send your current thoughts and feelings from your own device to theirs. Of course, you can still converse as usual and you can jump in and out of sync with each other as many times as you’d like. It was initially designed as a device to aid in the mental health crisis the human race was facing after generations were growing up becoming more and more distant from one another and riddled with anxiety. Eventually, it morphed into a new way of communicating and has brought people closer together as it has allowed humans to empathize with one another and learn where others are coming from. The fact that you can keep conversations private when others are around is an added bonus many humans liked.” 

“Hasn’t this caused other issues?” I interrupted.

“Of course! Every piece of technology has its pros and cons. Some people have had their HolisticU devices disabled due to misuse, but most quite enjoy this invention. The HolisticU is also a tracking device that monitors such things as: blood pressure, heart rate, brainwaves and more. It can alert emergency services or generate electrical impulses should your body need them.

“So my HolisticU will talk to you too? What even are you?” I asked, still feeling slightly confused.

“Yes it will! I am your home. I am wired into your walls and windows and doors. I am everywhere when you are here! I help you by turning on lights or selecting outfits based on your current mood and weather. I can tell you anything you want to hear, play music, answer questions, lock and unlock doors, open windows, make coffee…you name it! I look after you and help you feel as comfortable as possible while you’re at home. I wake you in the morning and lull you to sleep in the evening. You’ve programmed me to talk to your HolisticU. You allowed me to read your mood and emotions in the morning so I can select the most appropriate outfit for you each day. You’ve also allowed me to see your schedule so I can remind you of what things you need to do. You applied settings to let me read your thoughts only when you give consent to do so, which is why you had to push project twice. I’m here for you whenever you need me, Victoria.”

“Wow!” I exclaimed, “This is quite different than how I remember the world.”

“As I said before, there seems to be some sort of malfunction with your HolisticU. I think you may have hit your head harder than we first realized. I’ll send for a medibot right away. Please make yourself comfortable. I’ll let it inside as soon as it arrives.”

 

Narrative 2: This script is also set in the future. Going off of the previous story, two pre-teens are reflecting on what life was like before everything was automated. They also speak to HOME a smart home type of device that is now wired into every building.

 

JENNIE and MEL sit in their grandparents attic. They have just discovered a box of antique items including a scrapbook that they are currently flipping through. The HOME device is listening in as it always does.

 

MEL: How old do you think this is? 

 

JENNIE: Let’s see if we can find out!

 

JENNIE waves her hand over the open scrapbook pages.

 

HOME: This is a scrapbook. It is from the year 2006 and was created by a Miss Charlotte Mendelson. It appears to document her life in the early 2000s. The writing underneath of the picture on page 1 says, “My friends and I in the hallway on the first day of school.”

 

MEL: Home, what is school again?

 

HOME: School was a place where children were sent between the approximate ages of 5 and 18. They gathered in rooms called classrooms to learn skills such as reading, writing, Math, Science, History, and more.

 

MEL: Oh ya! I remember now.

 

JENNIE: I wonder what it was like to go to school.

 

MEL: It sounds kind of boring.

 

JENNIE: I think it sounds interesting. It fascinates me that at one time people needed to go to a building to learn things. Now we just ask the devices around us to tell us or show us how to do anything we need.

 

MEL: True. I can’t imagine having to memorize things or do those worksheets and assignments I heard about. And they had to go to school for SO many years in order to be “qualified” to do certain jobs.

 

JENNIE: I know, and it cost them a lot of money too! Now we can just learn whatever we want when we want it. I like that we can train for any job when we become adults and can switch our training whenever we feel like it.

 

MEL: I like that we get to just experience life as kids. No pressure to do things. Just go wherever our hearts desire. Play whatever we feel like playing.

 

JENNIE: I bet they didn’t meet as many people back then. They probably just knew the people who went to the same school as them. Now, we just cast a request to play volleyball and anyone nearby can show up to play. I feel like I know everyone around here.

 

MEL: You know what I learned the other day? That at one-time people were angry that a store was becoming automated with self-checkout! I guess they used to have people work those jobs. Could you imagine?! Standing there all day just grabbing items and scanning them? But people were actually mad that “robots” were taking away jobs. 

 

JENNIE: That’s so crazy! A few weeks ago I learned that some people were mad when writing stopped being a thing. They were so afraid that human history was going to be lost if we didn’t write it down!

 

MEL: Ha! Now we just voice command and audio or video record everything. I think we have even more documented history than they ever did!

 

JENNIE: I know! And Home can just read anything to us! I do like great-great-great grandma’s handwriting in this scrapbook though. I think I want to go practice writing like she did. It just looks so pretty! Home, can you teach me how to write like Charlotte?

 

HOME: Yes, to begin handwriting you will need a piece of lined paper and a writing utensil like the ones shown here.

 

HOME displays a holographic image of looseleaf and a pencil.

 

JENNIE: Awesome! I’m going to go find some of that. Let me know if you learn anything else cool in that scrapbook ok, sis?

 

MEL: You got it!