Welcome to the year 2060.
Yes, you have just been transported 50 years into the future. The future -- that mysterious expanse in time that only exists in the imagination. Consider this the newest form of time-travel technology.
You wake up to the smell of bacon and eggs. The curtains, set on a timer, slowly open to let in the soft morning light. As you slide out of bed, a robotic home appliance folds the covers back into place and straightens the pillows.
"I'm sure there will be some sort of house robot appliance that will do the cleaning -- like if you were going to be gone it could watch over the house and take care of everything," says Mary Bauter, a junior at Ogden High School.
Justin Gray, a Roy High senior, predicts there will be "voice-activated house appliances for people that can't walk."
When you take a step outside in the future, beautiful landscapes will abound. Look into the sky, and that is where the action is, in three-dimensional car lanes so that traffic is not congested.
"I'm excited for hover cars," says Manda Perkins, a junior at Layton High. "We'll be in the sky instead of on the ground."
Amazing discoveries
If you are wealthy, however, perhaps you won't have to find the keys to your flying car. Flying does take so much time after all, and time is so precious. Even in the sky, there are stoplights to wait for and rules to follow. It is much easier to press a button and get to work instantaneously.
"(There will be) teleportation, to get people places faster," says Sarah Foster, a Bonneville High junior.
You'll wear the latest portable device on your wrist, or on your finger. Eye-screens are in the works but until then, a flick of the hand will pull up a live news feed as a projection of light shimmering in the air.
Other issues to watch for:
"I think they will be more advanced in finding a treat/cure for cancer," says junior Claryssa Decker of Layton High. "They will have better technology to make people more comfortable while they're sick and to help them get better."
Ogden High sophomore Mary Diamond adds, "I bet we'll be (able) to perform surgery on someone without even cutting someone open! Maybe we'll know more about extraterrestrial life or other universes and planets. Hopefully we won't have a pollution problem."
"More forms of energy," predicts Foster.
Perkins adds, "We'll probably have an African-American woman president by then ... They will be able to clone. Cloning will be more popular."
But Decker says, "I think there will probably be war because of debt and people wanting to change the government."
What's history?
A glance in the mirror will reveal that you aren't quite the same person that you were 50 years before.
"I'll be 78! Ewwww!" exclaimed Davis High senior Taelor Bennett.
Perkins envisions herself "happily retired, traveling to Europe consulting and assisting the top fashion designers."
Bauter will still be busy: "I will be a mom raising kids. I will be a doctor."
History class for your grandchildren won't be quite the same as it was for you. Yes, they'll learn about the Civil War and the Romans, but there is newer history to learn about too.
"They will teach about the war on terror and how we had a bad economy. The devastation of earthquakes and tsunamis and also the attack on the twin towers on 9/11," says Decker.
Perkins says,"They'll probably talk about Obama being the first black president."
"When people look back at the year 2010, they will say 'Wow, you had a cell phone back then? Those are so old!' Because the things we think are 'cool' now won't be so cool in the future," says junior Teesha Brown from Roy High.
Seeing ahead
Krista Burnett, a Roy High senior, thinks people in the future will look back and say, "'The people living back in the dark ages had it rough!! They had to DRIVE on vacation, they only had iPads and fancy schmancy lap tops.' They'll be teaching that it is, in fact, possible to survive without your teleporter."
Crystal balls, palm reading, science fiction, fortune cookies, time machines ... we are continually curious about the future. Is it more than curiosity? Why do we have such a deep interest in the future?
Sophomore Haley Bateman from Syracuse High says, "(People) aren't sure of what is going to happen ... it is one thing they can't fully predict."
Emily Dixion, a sophomore at Syracuse High, says people are fascinated with the future because they want to be prepared for it. She herself doesn't worry much about the future, though: "I worry about what's happening right now instead of what's going to happen tomorrow."
A changing world
Diamond says, "I think people are interested in what could or might happen to them. Time is such an interesting concept that people love to explore. We look forward to the future because there is so much to experience! We can't wait to do this and try that and see how the world is going to change."
But does Diamond worry about the future?
"I kind of do, and I kind of don't. I look forward to a lot of things I'll get to do but I also try to live in the moment and just enjoy being young! I do plan a little like where I would want to go to school, but mostly I just try to make good decisions now so I can make those big decisions later."
TX. correspondents Cheylie Dotson, Davis High; Hillary Slaughter, Layton High; Mackenzie Stevens, Bonneville High, and Lynette Randall, Northridge High, contributed to this story.
* * *
Alexandra Burton is a junior at Ogden High School. You will find her running, reading, writing or playing the violin. E-mail her at chickitaliewrites@comcast.net.
Comments