Illustration by Ella Priesnitz / Text by Mark Oswald

Dissatisfied, Narn looked at what lay ahead

He stood in front of a tree that was strangely shaped. Right in front of Narn was something in the form of an entrance or a door, it was open and gave a view of the inside of the extra-wide tree. It looked like… an apartment, tastefully furnished with wooden furniture and inviting decoration This tree had grown as if it wanted to offer a good home to a human being.

In fact, this tree had grown to provide a good home for a human

Narn saw that one of the corners in the entrance area of the “Tree House” would have more symmetry with a rounding, closed his eyes and shortly after, a movement could be seen in the wood. As if magically deformed, no, the wood grew and rounded the corner.

Narn was a designer

Designers belonged to the caste of technocrats – people whose bodies and brains were enhanced with bionics, nanochips, nanomites and other augmentations. These extensions not only gave his brain a computing capacity that exceeded that of a human being by a million times, but also enabled him to perform other miracles, depending on the equipment he had.

As a designer with a focus on renewable resources, he had augmentations that could communicate with natural resources such as trees.

Through thought impulses he could force the plant to change its inner blueprint and release messenger substances that caused lightning-fast growth. So it was only with his imagination that he was able to design a house or other living unit from a seedling, whose finished construction plan could later be used for mass production.

Pollution had continued for too many years after the 2,000 millennium

Around 2025, world leaders had finally realized that the preservation of the ecosystem was more important than successful new elections, and so the “world community” was founded, which concentrated its resources on the joint development of humanity.

The years that followed became a golden age of technology and the focus was on technologies that served the welfare of the human species, its conservation and its distribution as a multiplanetary species.

From the developments of the following decades, mankind had divided itself into roughly two layers: Assets and liabilities

The power of machines had made work without social or technological utility superfluous and – to avoid collapse – the monetary system was abolished globally.

Branches of production were further developed in such a way that they were able to produce all the consumer goods and entertainment goods that people needed for a happy life, in a resource-autonomous and fully automated manner.

As a consequence, the existence of most people no longer had to suffer

Thus a hedonistic existence of pleasure developed. In 2118 most “passive” people spent their lives with consumer electronics, legal drugs, parties, art, music or other pleasures. Life for life’s sake.

About 3% of the population belongs to the “active” group

These are the people who carry within themselves the strong urge for development. Around 2035 it became clear that humanity needs two things: technological development and consciousness development. And so these two aspects became the hobbyhorses of the active participants.

The techno-logical enthusiasts began to experiment with augmentations and other technical gimmicks, while the consciousness researchers were concerned with the development and exploration of the limits of human consciousness.

In the past this was not possible – most of the energy disappeared in wars and power struggles

After this period technocrats unfolded into different branches. Some devoted themselves to agriculture, some to space travel, some to communication technology and some to entertainment.

The first goal was to develop the passive technology that would allow them to live their whole lives in a relaxed manner. Without causing environmental damage or serious problems. The second goal was to further develop the technology to colonise space.

Living well in 2118

Whoever wants to can enjoy his whole life exclusively and has only the obligation to sire one or more offspring. Whoever has the creative urge can live it out with undreamt-of possibilities – and thus really make a difference in the course of the world.

Just like Narn – who constructs housing units from trees

These housing units are biodegradable, from renewable resources, break down Co-2 and at the same time provide a home for animals. A perfect opportunity to live luxuriously and to strengthen nature.

The global community’s goal is to make 30% of cities “eco-cities” by 2150 – cities that are entirely based on biological designs

I could tell you many more wondrous and wonderful things from that time, but that would go beyond the scope of this story. I will continue to remember the future at another time.