The Hope for a Better Future

Technology:

by
Keagan Satterfield

Excerpts from the personal journal of Kendall Wattson, 2041

Kendall J. Wattson

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January 10, 2041

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January 19, 2041

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Well, I've started keeping a journal. On paper. I know that's crazy in a world where handwriting is dying, but here I am. My name is Kendall Wattson. I'm a businessman, musician, engineer, and innovator. I guess musician is a lot more of a hobby than an occupation like the other three, but I still like to tell people I'm a musician. It draws some interesting reactions. Anyways, back in 2032 I designed and created a digital social media platform called ConNext. ConNext's success let to the creation of a new tech company, Wattson Industries. We create various tech products, including YellowT5, the operating system used in the products of most large tech corporations. Our headquarters are in Cheyenne, Wyoming, near where I grew up. I live with my wife, Lynn, and my son, Hyrum. I'm not around home as much as I'd like to be, seeing as heading a company makes me a busy man, But my family is still what makes me happiest. And I want to keep a record for Hyrum and his kids and so on. That's why I'm doing it on paper: I'm keeping this journal as a sort of heirloom to be physically passed down in my family. So they can know what really goes on inside my head. I do wish I could've found lined paper, but I've got to make do with what I've got. Well, I Come to think about it, it's kind of funny that one of the world's leading names in technology would choose to keep a paper journal. But hey, everybody needs a break, right?

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I've been thinking a lot about how different the world is now than from when I was a kid. Back then, it was a privilege to have a mobile phone. Now personal monitors are nearly a right. I used to play at a park or in a backyard with the kids in my neighborhood. Now kids just use online gaming rooms. The schools especially have changed. I remember the only C I ever got was in third grade penmanship. Now writing isn't even required. Its not "Reading and Writing", its "Reading and Typing". So notes, assignments, tests, and essays are all digital. And teachers are just there to make sure the kids don't cheat and to mediate with the parents. The only people that actually teach are the online video instructors. And now, everybody has technology. Even third-world countries have access to media, monitors, and service providers. Technology has changed the world a ton since I was a kid. And I contributed to that. My technology caused some of those changes. That's weird to think about.

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February 2, 2041

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You know what's crazy? There's still poverty in the world. We've been trying to get rid of it for centuries, but it's still around. I mean, we're closer than we've ever been to getting rid of it, but it's still here. Maybe we're just not trying hard enough. I mean, if we've got ways to drive across the atlantic ocean by tunnel and cross the entire united states in an hour by Skytram, you'd think we could've fixed poverty by now. But we haven't.

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January 19, 2041

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I've been thinking a lot about how different the world is now than from when I was a kid. Back then, it was a privilege to have a mobile phone. Now personal monitors are nearly a right. I used to play at a park or in a backyard with the kids in my neighborhood. Now kids just use online gaming rooms. The schools especially have changed. I remember the only C I ever got was in third grade penmanship. Now writing isn't even required. Its not "Reading and Writing", its "Reading and Typing". So notes, assignments, tests, and essays are all digital. And teachers are just there to make sure the kids don't cheat and to mediate with the parents. The only people that actually teach are the online video instructors. And now, everybody has technology. Even third-world countries have access to media, monitors, and service providers. Technology has changed the world a ton since I was a kid. And I contributed to that. My technology caused some of those changes. That's weird to think about.

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February 2, 2041

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You know what's crazy? There's still poverty in the world. We've been trying to get rid of it for centuries, but it's still around. I mean, we're closer than we've ever been to getting rid of it, but it's still here. Maybe we're just not trying hard enough. I mean, if we've got ways to drive across the atlantic ocean by tunnel and cross the entire united states in an hour by Skytram, you'd think we could've fixed poverty by now. But we haven't.

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to me?

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Huh.

February 20, 2041

I feel kind of bad living the way I live sometimes. I see people that are a lot less well-off than me all the time. Beggars, alcoholics, drug addicts, homeless people. But there's not much I can do. I mean, I try to be charitable. I help people out when I can, give to beggars, contribute to charities. But every time I drive up to my mansion and pull into the garage and see my wakeboat, hoverbikes, and old collectible cars, I just can't help but think, "It could've been me begging in the shuttle port today. If the cards had been dealt differently, I could be living in an old apartment and working at McDonalds." And I can't imagine what those people's lives are like. All I know is that I want to help them. But I don't know how. I mean, money helps, but money isn't permanent. How can I help these people really start a life for themselves?

April 21, 2041

March 29, 2041

31

I really ought to stop watching international news. It was on the monitors in the break room at work today, and I walked in for long enough to hear about more Israeli bombings and the continuing North Korea imperialistic threats. Then Mindy, my secretary, came in and turned off the monitor while muttering something about how depressing news these days is. I caught up to her as she left, and we had a good, long discussion on world relations and politics. And I realized something. It's been almost a hundred years since World War

Two ended, but time has not solved the world's conflicts. Nowadays, it seems like one statement, one mistake, one blundering military officer could send the entire world into war again. And it makes me wonder, will we ever accomplish world peace? And if we do, how will we do it?

April 21, 2041

Why are we still fighting?

I got a DigiMessage today that I just can't shake. It was from an anonymous source, and the recording didn't show anyone's face like DigiMessages normally do. It was just a blank white screen, and the voice was obviously distorted. The text went like this:

Kendall Wattson. You are, at this moment, one of the most influential man of our time. And why? Because you created something humanity needed to satisfy its own self interests. Your beloved ConNext has made you rich and powerful. But what you don't understand is that you are destroying humanity in your gluttony! Ripping families apart, taking lives, starting wars, this is all technology has ever done!

He started screaming

at this point.

You have tied the noose around humanity's neck! In your own self interest, you and all other technology promoters have created the very tools humanity would use to start its own reverse evolution! You've seen the data. People can't live without their personal monitors, can't think without them in front of them. Hell, they can hardly talk face to face with another human being! And it will only get worse. Thanks to you and your colleagues, our generation will be the last generation

Your "products" are destroying the world!

of the thinking instead of the thought for, the last generation of individuals instead of mass media, the last generation of people instead of hollow, machine animals. So great job, Mister Wattson. While you're up in your mansion, think about the price humanity paid so you could be there. When you sit in your office, think of the peoples' lives your work will destroy.
Let that sink in.
Goodbye Mister Wattson. Thanks for everything.

April 21, 2041

Tech
good bad

Then the screen went blank.

?

I kind of just leaned back in my chair, confused and close to tears. Then Mindy walked in. "Mister Wattson, your 2:00 appointment is here." Then she noticed me, staring at the ceiling and blinking back tears. "Are you alright, Kendall?" At that point, I broke. And can I just say I don't recommend crying in front of your secretary. It's kind of awkward. Anyway, I vented to her about how confused and worried I was about this DigiMessage. And I ended up taking the shuttle home before my 2:00. Even now, at what, 10:00, I still can't think of anything but that DigiMessage. Lynn has been trying to reassure me for hours that I'm a good person, that ConNext has helped people, not hurt them. But I don't know anymore. Did I really create my company only out of my own self interests? Will humanity be destroyed by my products? Will the future look like humans who are just metal shells of people, completely swallowed by technology? Did I start this? What have I done?

April 27, 2041

Why why why

? ? ?

April 21, 2041

Tech
good bad

Well, I'm on vacation this week. It's kind of a forced vacation, though, since neither Mindy or Lynn would let me go back to work. They said I needed "some time to get my head back on my shoulders". So me, Lynn, and Hyrum packed up and came to Lake Powell, one of my favorite places on Earth. We rented a houseboat and drove up the remotest canyon we could find. And now I guess my head is back on my shoulders, but it's still confused. Especially since this vacation I haven't used any technology. And it's been really nice. So it makes me wonder, if this break from technology has been so good for me, how good can technology be? Maybe the DigiMessage was right. Maybe the world would be better off without technology.

April 27, 2041

But if it's so helpful, how can it be bad?

? ? ?

I'm back from Powell, and now that I'm into my normal routine again, I've realized the DigiMessage can't be completely right. Technology isn't bad by nature; look at all the good things that have come from it! It's cured diseases, it's created jobs, it's made communication and travel faster and easier. But the DigiMessage's point is valid. Technology does have some negative side effects like replacing manual labor jobs, creating weapons of mass destruction, and stunting human sociality. But I think that these side effects can be dealt with. I believe that peace, prosperity, and sociality can all be accomplished. And I think technology itself is the way to accomplish these. So I called some friends

Kendall Wattson Press Conference May 10 2041

in the tech industry, and we've come up with some new ideas of how we can do good in the world through our technology.

Change #1: Hunger

The World Tech Advocacy

Good afternoon. As you are all aware, I am here to announce some big changes for the tech industry, and essentially the entire world. But before I announce these changes, I'd like to explain the reason behind them. A few weeks ago, I received a DigiMessage from an anonymous source. This DigiMessage called me and the entire tech industry gluttons and blamed us for many of the problems in today's society, and claimed, in essence, that technology is de-humanizing humans. I spent the next several days thinking about if this DigiMessage's claims were true. Am I and my colleagues too absorbed in our self interests to help others? Are the problems in society effects of technology? Are we becoming less human because of it? And the conclusion I came to was a firm and definite no. Modern advancements in technology have helped humankind incomprehensibly. The creation of millions of jobs worldwide, the curing of incurable diseases, the cutting down of communication and travel times by immense measures; these are all things that modern technology has done for us. And we in the tech industry believe it can do even more. So the first change is that five large tech companies have joined together to help humankind. We are calling this union World Tech Advocacy. We will fight to prove that this DigiMessage was wrong, that technology is the solution, not the problem. We are making efforts to solve hunger, poverty, war, and human

Change #2: Poverty