Change

“Happy 100th Birthday, great Grandpa! I wanted one hundred candles on your cake, but mom said the cake wasn’t that big and you wouldn’t have enough breath to blow them all out if there were that many.”

“That sounds like your mother. Always the practical one. You know, reaching one hundred in 2050 isn’t the big deal it was back when I was born. Back in the 1950’s people were lucky to make it to their early seventies. Now reaching one hundred and twenty is a common event. Common if you have the money to pay for the doctors that is.”

“I bet you’ve seen a lot of things change over your lifetime, Gramps. What are some of the biggest differences between when you were a kid and now?”

“There are so many changes, I’m not sure where to begin. I guess we can start with the obvious differences first. In 2050 you climb into a car, say take me to wherever you want to go no matter how far away, and the car takes you there. In the fifties, to go on a trip the first thing you’d do is get the car serviced, then take out a road atlas and plan out the best route to your destination.”

“Road Atlas, what’s that?”

“It’s Google Maps in book form.”

“A Google book, that’s weird Gramps. Why didn’t you just use your phone?”

“The phones we had back then only worked if they were connected by wires, so they weren’t portable. They sat on a table or hung on a wall unlike today’s phone that is implanted into a person’s brain.”

“So, I needed to be at home if I wanted to call my friends?”

“No, there was something called a phone booth. It was a small glass closet that stood on the sidewalk. It housed a phone that took money so you could make a call.”

“That must have looked strange. People just stood around tiny glass closets on the street waiting to make a call. How much did it cost?”

“The price changed depending on where you wanted to call. It got frustrating if you didn’t have enough change to feed the phone.”

“Change? The phone didn’t take credit cards?”

“Not a lot of people in the fifties had credit cards. Everyone used cash to buy everything. Some of the larger stores would accept credit cards but not grocery stores or gas stations. Those places took green stamps as payment.”

“Green stamps, what are they?”

“You can ask Alexa to explain them to you sometime. There are so many things that have changed over the last one hundred years it would take days to explain them all to you. Of course, there are some especially notable events that have happened in the last fifty years that you need to be aware of. Have you ever watched an old movie and wonder why people are walking around outside without masks on?”

“Now that you mention it, Gramps, I always thought that was odd. Just like I thought it was strange that kids were playing baseball and football outside. How can they breathe the air? My teacher said the outside air is poison.”

“Your teacher is right. If you breathe the air for more than a couple of minutes, it will kill you. But, up to twenty-five years ago the air was safe to breathe.”

“What turned it bad?”

“Not what, but who turned it bad? The answer is greedy corporations, corrupt politicians, and a general population that didn’t care about the future. Alexa will give you a different answer to that question because she’s programed by the same people that caused the problem. There is good news. If people don’t change the way things are being done now the air will clean itself up by 2075 and we will be able to breathe it without masks again.”

“That is good news Gramps! I hate wearing those masks. I have another question. Some of the old movies show pictures of big buildings where people go in during the morning and leave in the evening. Many of them are dressed alike and they don’t look happy to be there. What were those places and what did all those people do there?”

“I think what you’re describing is a factory. That’s where people made everything from knives and forks to cars, planes, and locomotives. Up until twenty years ago, the majority of people either worked in a factory, an office, or on a farm. There were other jobs available like truck driver, pilot, doctor, and lawyer, but the majority of people worked in the factories.”

“Why haven’t I ever seen a factory if so many people work in them.”

“When the air became to poisonous to breathe people finally realized it was the factories that were the cause. The governments around the world built new facilities underground and staffed them with robots. The bots will work around the clock and don’t mind working and living underground.”

“So, if the robots have taken all the people jobs, what do the people do now?”

“That was a question that kept the people in charge up at night trying to find an answer. Finally, after two years of discussions we came up with a three-prong solution. Yes, I said we, because our family is part of the Global Hegemony. It’s time for you to take your rightful place in the world’s ruling class. I have shielded you from this great responsibility for as long as possible, but the time has come. Do you have any questions?”

“Questions, how could I not have questions, Great Grandfather. The most important question is what is this three prong solution? What happens to all these people?”

“Excellent first question. Some will be sent to the factories to maintain the robots. A smaller group will be trained as doctors and scientists. They will maintain the community’s health, growth, and stability. The last group will be placed on rockets and sent out to populate other worlds. This planet is too small and depleted of resources to keep everyone here. We have designated a planet to establish our first colony. The native population call it Earth.