I still remember when they asked me. “I can only imagine the possibilities”, I said. The future seemed bright, and for a while I thought I was right. The cure for old age was found. The cure for cancer was found. The cure for aids was found. They even found the cure for hangovers.
I lived to be a hundred but the future I lived in was not the one they promised. Wars broke out over our scarce resources, people killed for shelter, species went extinct, forests were burned down.
I lived to be two hundred, technology never stopped advancing. People were paid by the government to live in “mass v-housing”, that’s what they called them. We called them mass graves. People went in and were connected to a virtual reality where they lived out their lives, they were fed intravenously. They were essentially dead. At least to the world they were. Low resource, low cost.
I lived to be three hundred and now I’m on my way to Mars. I hear quality of life isn’t very good there. But it can’t be worse than it is here. Clouds of smog rain acid over our cities every day. There’s no such a thing as fresh air, there’s no such a thing as “animals” except for cows of course. Cows and pigs. Maybe they will inherit the Earth when we all finally die.
Here in this crowded space transport I look outside through the windows. There is space, endless space. I’m sorry for us humans. I don’t know how we fucked up so bad. There must be someone else out there who did it right. A race of people who knew how to take care of their worlds. A place where people not only survive through life but enjoy it. A world where people still sing and dance in the rain.
I can only imagine the possibilities.
