{"id":141,"date":"2021-11-29T04:05:18","date_gmt":"2021-11-29T11:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/meetec540\/?p=141"},"modified":"2021-11-29T04:05:18","modified_gmt":"2021-11-29T11:05:18","slug":"task-12-speculative-futures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/meetec540\/2021\/11\/29\/task-12-speculative-futures\/","title":{"rendered":"Task 12 – Speculative Futures"},"content":{"rendered":"

A vision for a Dystopian Future:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

It was another rainy afternoon on the coastal city of Vancouver, B.C. in the year 2051.\u00a0 35 year old Marek was deep in thought as the automatically driven electric vehicle pulled up to the 80 floor apartment building that held his living quarters.\u00a0 He really would have loved to go out with some friends tonight, but it wasn\u2019t his allotted recreation day.<\/p>\n

\u2018Arrived at destination\u2019 a dispassionate female voice chimed in.\u00a0 \u2018A reminder that nutrition rations have been delivered and that your assigned regeneration time is from 9:30 PM until 6:00 AM.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Thank you, Sirexa\u2019, Marek replied back.\u00a0 The politeness incentive that GAPPLE (Google merged with Apple) introduced 20 years ago seemed like a good idea at the time – an increasingly rude and selfish society that could earn points every time one demonstrated good manners and politeness to the digital assistant Sirexa, with the hopes that it would translate to human peers.\u00a0 It initially was to help teach the children, but adults bought into it as well.\u00a0 At first, the idea was that the points could be traded in for small rewards such as toys or gift cards at a few participating retailers, and the feature was initially embraced quite warmly by parents and the public in general.\u00a0 It became a competitive game to see how many points one could collect in a day simply from vocally asking Sirexa to drive to work, order groceries, turn lights on, check the fridge contents, etc.\u00a0 People would post their daily point scores on their social media in order to brag.\u00a0 Back then, nobody was concerned about how much control was given to the computer, or how much data was being collected on them as the computer was listening, watching, and assessing.<\/p>\n

The data that was collected over time became much more than just about \u2018please\u2019 and \u2018Thank you\u2019.\u00a0 Sirexa was keeping tabs on what you were buying with your implanted chip (which took the place of credit cards \u2013 they said it was much safer and harder for fraudsters to hack), what food you were eating (Sirexa kept track of fridge contents), where you were going, who you were interacting with over social media\u2026 And the data was constantly collected and analyzed. Eventually, newborns were automatically implanted with the chip and data started being collected right from birth.\u00a0 The computer assigned an intelligence and aptitude score based on social interactions and impromptu \u2018fun quizzes\u2019 that would pop up on the social media accounts.<\/p>\n

Marek tapped the back of his hand to the payment terminal \u2013 the implanted chip would deduct the payment from his account.<\/p>\n

In 2035, after dealing with severe food and resource shortages caused by overpopulation and several years of catastrophic pandemics, climate and weather disasters, the \u2018Decisive Initiative on Climate Emergency Symposium\u2019 (DICES) attended by all world leaders, decided that drastic worldwide measures needed to be made to preserve humanity.\u00a0 Food would be rationed and mostly sourced locally. \u00a0Travel would be limited to local areas only.\u00a0 Fossil fuels would be phased out \u2013 especially with regards to transportation.\u00a0 Population would be controlled by mandatory implanted birth control, and birth rate would be strictly controlled.\u00a0 People would have to apply to have children, and would be granted their wish if it fit with sustainable computer-generated population projections.\u00a0 People would be assigned a job where they were needed regardless of prior careers or training.\u00a0 The computer would project areas of need and match up with people with appropriate aptitude scores.\u00a0 Children in school would be placed in individualized programs based on their computer-generated aptitude and intelligence test scores that would prepare them for a vocation that was projected to be in demand.<\/p>\n

These were drastic measures, and it was acknowledged that there would be much resistance, but it was \u2018For the good of humanity\u2019.\u00a0 Enforcement would be through the implanted chips \u2013 most people in the developed world had them already so it was an easy transition.\u00a0 The richer countries agreed to share resources with the poorer ones as long as their population was connected with chips. \u00a0Everything would be recorded and controlled through these chips \u2013 work attendance, food\/resource consumption, health statistics\/medical visits, and social interactions.\u00a0 Compliance would be enforced with \u2018fines\u2019.\u00a0 Those fun points that were collected for being polite now became points for food, recreation time, travel allowance, etc. and points could be taken away as easily as they were given.<\/p>\n

Marek entered the building \u2013 no key was required as the implanted chip was automatically scanned and the door opened for him.\u00a0 He entered the elevator and another dispassionate voice spoke up.<\/p>\n

\u2018Which floor please?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2019Home please.\u2019 Marek responded.\u00a0 The computer knew which floor to stop at.\u00a0 His apartment was very small, 200 square feet, but it was all that he was allotted.\u00a0 The 55th<\/sup> floor apartment had a decent view, but not much else.\u00a0 When he got to his door, he picked up and brought in the weekly food rations left there.<\/p>\n

The evening was spent preparing and eating his limited dinner, speaking to family with a virtual reality device, and doing more virtual reality preparation\/training for his job.\u00a0 Regeneration time (sleep) was uneasy as Marek longed for the freedoms he dimly remembered as a child.<\/p>\n

A vision for a Utopian future:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

It was a typical rainy day in Vancouver B.C. in 2051 as an autonomous car pulled up to the front of an 80 story apartment building.<\/p>\n

\u2018Destination Reached\u2019 the car cheerfully chimed.<\/p>\n

\u2018Thank you Sirexa\u2019 the passenger said as he stepped out into the drizzle.\u00a0 He tapped his credit card onto the payment console.<\/p>\n

The rain was a good sign that the weather was finally in control.\u00a0 30 years ago, there had been a large series of global disasters caused by climate change that had produced severe food and resource shortages, particularly for the poorer countries.\u00a0 World leaders of all the nations met together with scientists from all around the world for a month-long summit to deal with the climate crisis.\u00a0 At this meeting of \u2018Action on Climate Emergency Strategies\u2019 (ACES), there was much talk about what needed to be done in order to meet the needs of an exponentially growing population, and an increasingly unstable and unpredictable planet.\u00a0 It was decided that more resources needed to be provided to long term solutions such as voluntary population control, eliminating plastic waste, building carbon capture plants, and sending mining robots on the moon and nearby asteroids to obtain needed minerals that were becoming too difficult, rare, or environmentally damaging to acquire on earth.<\/p>\n

The passenger, Marek, was one of the new line of \u2018virtual miners\u2019.\u00a0 His job was to sit in a room with 200 other miners with a virtual headset and hand sets.\u00a0 He was connected to one of many mining robots that was sitting on Asteroid 2021 RS2.\u00a0 When he was connected to his equipment, he could see the asteroid and move the robot as if he was actually there.\u00a0 Daily during his 8 hour shift, he would activate the robot to drill, clean, sort and package the minerals mined on the asteroid.\u00a0 Once loaded onto a space shuttle, the ores would make the trip to earth where they would be used for building, medications, garden soil enhancement, or electronics.\u00a0 At the end of their life, the electronics were recycled and the minerals and materials reused as much as possible.\u00a0 The virtual mining allowed for safe, efficient and clean operations that provided the materials without the same degree of personal risk and environmental damage to the earth.<\/p>\n

Marek opened the door to his apartment.\u00a0 His wife, Sheila came to greet him.<\/p>\n

\u2018How was your day?\u2019 Sheila asked<\/p>\n

\u2018Not too bad, I managed to drill out 2 tons of potassium ore today.\u00a0 How was yours?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Pretty non-eventful.\u00a0 My grade 9 science class is coming along quite nicely.\u00a0 They are working in their groups and coming up with some cool ideas for new possible species we could find on the new planet.\u00a0 When I hear them dictate their notes, they seem to have a great grasp on things\u2019<\/p>\n

School was held remotely because of the very long battle with the Covid 19 pandemic that eventually transitioned all teaching permanently to virtual.\u00a0 Each student had a virtual headset that placed them in a virtual \u2018room\u2019 with the other students and teachers so that they could interact as if they were actually physically together.<\/p>\n

\u2018How are they submitting their assignments?\u2019 asked Marek<\/p>\n

\u2018Oh, they\u2019re all on an interactive 3-D video that will allow the viewer to interact with the characters presenting the project.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018That\u2019s very cool\u2019 Marek said.\u00a0 I wish they were that advanced when I went to school.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Your daughter could use some help with her math\u2019 Sheila said \u2013 go check on her before dinner.<\/p>\n

Marek went to see his daughter just as she was completing an exercise on her tablet.<\/p>\n

\u2018I hear that you are having problems?\u2019 Marek said<\/p>\n

\u2018Not any more, I did a short quiz, the program targeted where my weakness was and gave me some extra steps to practice.\u00a0 I get it now.\u00a0 All I have to do now is dictate my report for English class.\u2019<\/p>\n

Just then, Sheila called them to dinner which was a manufactured chicken casserole (real meat was no longer available \u2013 it was all synthetically grown meat).\u00a0 The rest of the evening was spent on personal interest projects and discussion.\u00a0 As Marek fell asleep that night, he dreamt about mining, math, and chicken dinner.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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