Editor's Comments
Technology has advanced over the years, shepherding the world into the gates of possibility. Before the invention of mobile phones, for instance, it was laughable if you told someone that it would be possible to speak with somebody who is miles away; in real-time. With that sort of future technology prediction, you would have passed for a mental invalid.
What about now? With the continuous strides that the world is taking on the legs of technology, that which appeared impossible is now the order of the day.
Perhaps Mokokoma Mokhonoana, a genius in thought-provoking content, clinches exactly the point with his quote: People who smile while they are alone used to be called insane, until we invented smartphones and social media.
We are in 2021. Elon Musk and his team are already preparing to take us on a trip to the moon in 2022. There are talks of lab-made dairy products, green funerals where a body is composted and reduced to soil which is then carried back to a garden, flying taxis— among other unbelievable future technology plans.
What then will the year 5022 look like? Peter Pages Bwire, the founder of the Dots Village Company (a multi-media startup), takes us into his superlative mind. His remarkable imagination quilts us in scenic possibilities, in a 5022 world. What's better, some of the ideas will douse you with good homour.
Enjoy this masterpiece of a fictional mapping of the future technology of 5022, that might perhaps come true. Some day.
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2nd July 5022, Kenya
Moto parks her Polter on the last remaining Polter space and meets her two husbands dragging their pet kangaroo across their neighbourhood in Nairobi.
"Where are you going?" she asks Mataro, who is offended by her sudden appearance.
She never comes home this early unless her Polter runs out of fuel or there is a huge traffic jam on the threadline— the sophisticated transport system designed by Polo Tera a few hundred years ago when the world had just recovered from another serious viral pandemic. The Polter takes only 6 minutes to travel from Cairo to Cape Town.
"There are new neighbours. They seem to be different!" Mkuru, the other husband, volunteers an answer.
"Quite nosey husbands you are. You're taking your kangaroo to spy on a new neighbour?"
Mkuru hesitates. Mataro smiles.
"Human beings who wear clothes," Mataro breaks the news.
"Clothes? What is that?" Moto asks.
"Long ago, ancient humans until the 21st century used to cover their bodies. Sometimes it was to keep themselves warm, and other times it was for fashion or to hide 'private' parts. That cover was called clothes."
Moto takes this in. Her husbands have been reading a lot lately, it seems. Why any part of the body would be classified as private, she wonders. And what is so fashionable about covering your body?
"The earth became warmer. Scientists said humans had destroyed the universe. Now we don't need clothes. I don't know how being naked became so normal but years ago it was such a private thing that adults would hide in their rooms if they wanted to see videos of naked people. Things have changed."
They laugh at the idea of people hiding to watch naked people.
"Were they not proud of their bodies?"
The neighbours appear. They are indeed wearing clothes. So backward and ancient. Moto and her husbands just stare at them as they sweep their upside-down mansion. The kangaroo is surprised too. They must be boiling beneath those clothes.
A huge Polter appears. It is the local politician looking for parking space in the air. He presses a few buttons in the Polter and a few buildings move to make way. But the buildings' movement squeeze another Polter which was trying to get across.
The politician doesn't care. At least that never changed even after the world advanced in so many other areas.
"Can someone bring me the toilet!" he barks.
No one responds. The last portable toilet was deleted accidentally after a programming mistake, and the neighbourhood is waiting for the politician to send new programmers to code a new one into existence.
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