In the Year 2055: Dateline America - Back to Basics

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Well, here we go, back into the future! It’s 2055 now and I’m over 90! 50 years ago, I would have never bet that I’d still be alive. But the quality of life isn’t what I would have thought it would be. Along with the medical advances that have kept me alive, came medical advances that are keeping everyone alive longer.

With a world population approaching 24 billion people on Earth, and another 2 billion living in the space stations, you’d think we’d place a higher emphasis on communication, but we haven’t learned anything in that regard. The people of the universe are still unable to appreciate the value of good, honest dialogue. It’s a wonder we still have vocal chords. Back in the late 1900’s, even while the United States of America was still a super power, we conducted business by pushing buttons on the phone to communicate with the computers. People typed messages into their phones to their friends and when people didn’t agree about something, we didn’t talk. There were guns and bombs. Heh heh. Whoever had the biggest weapon, won the debate!

Now we have more surveillance capabilities than ever, but only the powers that be have access to most of it. Since the powers that were convinced people to have their kids “safety scanned” in case they got abducted, we’ve got a whole generation that can’t get away from “being protected”. Society as a whole is much better behaved. What with cameras at every 600 feet in urban areas and every three miles in the few areas still considered rural, a guy can’t scratch his ass without getting a citation transmitted via satellite to his Detrimental Behavior Data Base (DBDB). If you say something that’s considered bad taste, that hits the DBDB too. Once your data base gets to a certain level in the main frame, they start taking away your medical privileges. Personally, I’ve out-lived my usefulness and am just using up scarce natural resources anyway. I’m ready to meet my maker. There’s something about living like this that I don’t find the fun in.

Out of the three remaining societies on Earth and the one in space, we should have realized we wouldn’t be a super power for long. The Asian speakers just sat back quietly and watched as the English speakers had their brief era of fame to shame. We were just a young nation and society who needed to learn respect… and humility I guess. You see, we foolishly thought we held all the cards and got pretty cocky.

And then there are the Arab speakers, who probably would have eliminated each other if we would have stayed out of it and let them solve their own problems. Back before the Big War, they controlled most of the world’s oil, which powered our vehicles and heated our homes. With the advances in renewable energy sources, and that guy in Montana who figured out perpetual motion, that’s not relevant now. Oh, but the Chief English Speakers dwelled on it so much, they allowed our societies to fall into despair.

Our top scientists are up there in space with the other Multilingual Speakers, pulling all the strings and making sure no one threatens their positions of power and privilege.

The Asian Speakers are allowed to exist because they have the minds for technology and values for family. The Arab Speakers, although watched closely, still have some pretty valid religious connections, and are left to worship Allah, just in case They also raise the livestock required to sustain the world and provide mules and camels as transportation for the impoverished. We English Speakers are allowed to worship our Gods freely, and are kept around as an example to others of what happens when you don’t listen, which is a vital part of communicating. A few of us are still valued for our ability to tell the rest of the system what went wrong.

As an old-timer, I feel a moral responsibility to pass on what I think you should know. I predict that space trash will eventually wipe out the space stations along with the so called brilliant leaders of this world. Hell, we’ve been using this beautiful galaxy as a dump since even before we used up our space on Earth. There are billions of tons of used up rocket boosters and dead satellites and God only knows what else, just waiting to have impact with something.

The reason I’m sharing this information with you kids, is because I truly believe that the resourcefulness and common sense you learn by living this simple, yet difficult existence today, will prepare you to rise up once again, and lead the rest of the universe with wisdom and compassion. The Multilingual Speakers won’t be around to dictate how one must exist. When that time comes, these simple documents will guide you to do what’s right. They are The Ten Commandments, The original Constitution of the United States and Bill of Rights. If you wisely synergize what’s written here, I suspect the world will flourish… freely and peaceably.