SHAPE LANGUAGE CENTRE Cambridge Advanced Class
WHAT will life be like a hundred years from now? And HOW will today's lifestyle be viewed by those living in the 22nd century?
back from
THE FUTURE
Think about your answers to both of these questions and then write an original entry of around 250 words. We would like you to write to us 'from the future', contrasting your life in the year 2107 with life as it used to be in the 'past' that is today (2007)!
SHAPE LANGUAGE CENTRE Cambridge Advanced Class is proud to announce the winners of their Competition Entry. The students themselves voted for their favourite entries, which were identified by number only.
Ralitsa Aleksova from Bulgaria was in first place, and in joint second place were Juan Bujan from Spain and Oliver Nemcik from Slovakia.
The task was as follows and the winning entries are published below:
Entry N° 14 Ralitsa Aleksova
Forgive My Curiosity, My Ancestors
I can't breathe. But I am feeling. I know what is going to happen in only a few hours when I will be forced to "visit" STUPID, as the Supreme Technological Universal Powers Institute of Determination is known. My mistake in opening that metal capsule leads me now to my transformation and reprogramming. If I hadn't been so curious, nothing would have happened.
On the capsule was written "Letter to the future generation. Open in 2100". Which is what I did. As I read the message, the world of my ancestors opened its doors towards the past, through time.
I was transported back, seeing vast populations separated by borders, language, race, sex, religion, political beliefs. Why? Compared to life nowadays, I do not comprehend separating up the Earth and complicating life. There were never-ending conflicts, wars, outgoing and incoming leaders, different parties, favorites. How could my great grandparents not have imagined the absurdity of all that? If they had had a chance to look at our one-govenment, one-language, one-sex, one-power society, they would have been amazed to see how simple decision-making could be. One simple chip implanted in each unit (formerly called human beings) provides life-long knowledge. Simple and predictable.
But I have to admit that in former times there was an atmosphere, life, dynamism. The process of birth and growing up encompassed joy and suffering, togetherness and separation. People laughed, cried and enjoyed life, no matter how poor or rich they were.
Only a few units survived after the Big Collapse caused by the stupidity and avidity of our predecessors. Since then STUPID is the only authorization and power. Because I opened the capsule I must be reprogrammed or destroyed. These feelings are unacceptable today. That is why my chip sent the information even before I had realized what I was feeling. I was alive and able for a brief moment to breathe.
Entry N° 12 Oliver Nemcik
Earth, Sweet Earth
This year’s flight is terribly slow! For the second time since we hovered up from Pluto our headquarters space bus has had to slow down again. This time we’re gliding some 300 solars/hour only! If I had known the flight would take an entire solar day to travel to our home earth I would definitely have taken my own space car.
Honestly, it is more than difficult to imagine our predecessors, some hundred years ago, considered to be speeding when driving more than 130 km/hour! What fines would they receive nowadays? Maybe one for not moving at all, I guess! Furthermore, they would get stuck in a traffic jam everyday! Thank God we don’t need roads anymore as we can manoeuvre, as we want, without needing to follow a narrow road. They also had to feed those four-wheel car-creatures with a gasoline – stinky liquid made of greasy oil pumped out of our beloved Earth. Endless life for the one who invented Perfecto Mobile! So we travel for no cost today, unless we count the intergalaxy border crossing fees. All this without a trace of pollution created is just a miracle in comparison to the past.
On the other hand, they used to eat deliciously tasty food. I wish I could have a chance to get some vegetables one day. I am seriously tired of these all-in-one tablets we eat presently. They are anything but tasty.
The space bus is shifting down, moving up and down as if avoiding something. It is a good sign, though; the autopilot is manoeuvring around the satellite wreck garbage orbiting the globe even now, some hundred years later that we know about it.
Welcome to Earth, sweet Earth!
Entry N° 19 Juan Bujan
A Treasure In The Chest
What wonderful photos I have found inside my grandmother's chest in the attic. Looking through them I could find many differences between the world that she knew and our present way of life. Let me cite but a few examples. Firstly, the clothes were made with natural materials instead of our synthetic and plastic disposable ones. They were fabrics with cheerful colours which took time to be washed and ironed, time which we can now employ doing other things like playing with our domestic robots. However, not only did I have the opportunity to see their clothes but I also saw a picture of the day my grandmother got her driving license: her face showed pride and happiness as she stood next to a rudimentary old vehicle, nothing compared to our intelligent, comfortable and faster means of transport. I would bet that these vintage cars didn't have any kind of electronic brain to avoid frontal collisions or intelligent navigation systems to permit the driver to take a nap while driving.
Other amazing pictures were taken in winter time with snowy landscapes and people throwing snowballs at each other. The most amazing thing was the intense colours of the countryside and trees, very different from our artificial gardens, cramped with genetically modified flowers and trees to resist the acid rain and pollution. Pictures were taken years before the ozone layer had disappeared and before most of the forests had been covered by oceans or destroyed to produce new combustibles. The last ones show a very strange situation: many people had gathered celebrating a party, an old custom where people spent the weekends with friends and family. Nowadays we use new technolgies to get to know people and the dating period has been replaced by a database where you can find suitable candidates listing their hobbies, cultural background and so on. You can choose them without leaving your home.
From my point of view, to find these old pictures was an amazing discovery and thanks to them I know a little more about the way of life of my ancestors, their customs and the environmental conditions of our planet a hundred years ago.
Congratulations to our winners and to all the students who participated.
