The Shape of Things to Come (Back)

15 February 2050, Moosonee, Ontario, U.S.A.

Very dear Felicity, much loved great-granddaughter

Your latest letter pleases me in so many ways I hardly know where to begin. First of all your penmanship is very impressive. I am so glad I ordered a hundred of those pen nibs I so admired years ago. The difference between the thin and thick strokes is just right, and the large ink reservoir makes the writing process more fluent, with fewer interruptions to dip the pen. When I copied my compositions in music school and later, they were the very best. I’m also glad your grandfather had the foresight to buy this property as a summer place. At the time, I thought he was crazy. Imagine paying for property on the Moose River, just twelve miles away from James Bay. Now that the passage across the Arctic Ocean is clear, of course, it’s a commercially viable route, and Moosonee is Ontario’s only saltwater port. Frank bought extra property at the time—he said it was a bargain, and I lease that out to companies that ship containers. He also made sure we were on a high enough elevation and that turned out to be very important after the rise in sea levels wiped out most of the coastal cities.

When I first saw Moosonee it had just a few houses. Once it got going, three-D printing changed that. Now I live here in a gated community. We call it a club and applicants have to be interviewed to be admitted as members and pay an initiation fee to live here. We make them take a polygraph. That’s not perfect, but it screens out most of the ne’erdowells. You see I’ve gone from being a struggling musicologist to a very comfortable homeowner.

You’re not sure your modern history prof has the story straight about the last thirty years. Things have changed a lot, and maybe history profs have an outsized influence these days. I know that as a humanities prof I was hardly taken seriously even in my own university in 2025, and now humanist scholars are on top of the heap.

If I had to explain the changes in the world I would frame the history around commoditisation. Yes in 2042 the problem of plasma containment was solved and the first fusion reactor went online, giving the planet almost limitless energy at a tiny cost, like having the entire energy of a star at just one spot on the planet--and everyone correctly points to that as the moment of the big shift, but why did so many other things change so rapidly?

Well first of all, the price of oil fell to almost zero. You couldn’t give oil away. Who needed it? The price of an ounce of gold is historically about 30 times the price of a barrel of oil, so the price of gold fell to almost nothing. The U.S. was so far in debt no one could imagine their even making the interest payments, so the U.S. dollar collapsed, and with it, the world economy. Cryptocurrencies were to be redeemed in gold or dollars, and they became worthless too.

There was a big shift in geopolitics. The oil-producing countries, used to their wealth, suddenly had nothing special. The playing field was now level. The Saudi royal family was overthrown. Iran and Iraq went into a financial crisis overnight. Texas was brought to its knees. For a few months everyone operated with a clumsy barter system, then a historian remembered a solution from the past and brought it into the present: when the French were first dealing with the new world, they wrote royal letters of credit on playing cards. From that point, the world gradually moved to the online system of pricing and sales that we have now.

While I’m on the subject of cards, a young lady of your station and expectations (do you see how our language has changed with the New Victorianism you have told me about?) absolutely must learn to play bridge and play it well. That clever author Somerset Maugham (you know, The Razor's Edge) said so, and I’m repeating it. I’m also including some sets of duplicate bridge boards, bidding boxes, and decks of cards with this shipment.

But I digress. Commodities… Well suddenly everything that was readily available in quantity had little or no value. With artificial intelligence people could produce a mountain of just about anything, so nothing had value. Further, there was more than enough energy for any purpose. So value shifted away from the commoditised to the authentic, individually and deliberately produced. Your handwritten letter, for instance, written in your own hand, with your own pen, your own cursive handwriting, the high-quality stationery, and your very own thoughts. These are priceless to me. An AI printed letter I would have thrown in the fire.

My piano with its beautiful tone… one clever person knew that instruments made from timber grown in cold climates sound better because the rings of the trees are closer together and the soundboard resonates differently. Hence Nordsound, the piano that is demand in the best houses and halls. It has eclipsed the Steinway. I have a sonorous 9-foot Nordsound in my parlor (oh yes, and I am pleased to note that the parlor is back in fashion, but without plastic over the seat cushions 😉). The resonance is heavenly.

Today artists and writers go to great lengths to keep their work from being copied. No recordings are permitted at concerts and no serious performer makes recordings. And really there is no need for them. Transportation is inexpensive and readily available. High-speed rail runs all over the continent. The train from Miami to Moosonee (I don’t see why anyone would want to go in the other direction) takes only 5 hours. For intercontinental travel, we have the ingenious low-altitude space flights. Go to a spaceport (finally a use for them!), take a flight out of Earth’s gravity, follow an orbit for a bit, and presto, in an hour and forty-five minutes you can go from anywhere in the world to anywhere else. It’s just a simple triangle. We have a fine, new spaceport in Moosonee of course, one of the best outfitted.

So if I want to hear my favorite musicians perform, I can go to their venue. No need to stream or buy a recording. And thus their work is protected. And it is not a commodity. No two performances will be identical. And thank God we no longer have to hear gratuitous shrieking and banging. That sort of performance, so frequent in my youth, is now found mainly in the poorer corners of the world, Old Manhattan and Coral Gables, for instance. Here in Moosonee we hear concerts of the highest refinement and greatest subtlety.

It is the same with nutrition and dining. When I think back thirty years, chocolate bars, potato chips, and colas actually cost money. Why would anyone pay for them today? And only a person with low standards would actually pay for an AI meal. The Michelin Guide was important then, and now it is essential. Oh did I mention we now have 17 Michelin-star restaurants in Moosonee? I wish Frank could see them! I had no idea that low-gravity truffles would be so succulent until I tried them. That chef trained at the Cordon Argent culinary school on the lunar colony.

I have been reading everything I can find on the New Victorian movement you are interested in. I think it makes good sense. It is very refreshing to see people paying attention to duty, honor, and respect, not in the nineteenth-century way, but in the context of the new reality. The movement is not trying to recreate a colonial, misogynistic, structured society, but to promote good values and respectful treatment of people. Valuing quality, fidelity, being earnest and kind all make sense to me.

What is valued today? Intelligence, quality, honor, fidelity, and doing one’s duty. These measurements have made today’s society the paradise that we enjoy.

Oh and the sacred, of course. Sacrality has returned to a world that was almost atheist. The understanding of God and Spirit are very different from what they were, and there is a greater variety of spiritual experience, but God is once again at the center of our society.

Universities are scrambling to revive the qualities of excellence some of that had in the previous century. This is the reason that those of us who were educated in that time are now in demand. I was asked by ten universities to come out of retirement. I declined because I did not wish to leave this place. Then a new university was established here, modelled after the 'old Harvard,' with the humanities at the forefront. I simply found myself unable to refuse the chair of Early Music History. I never imagined being back in the university, but here I am, with curious, diligent students! You might be interested in one or two of the boys (one is the son of our junior senator).

But enough of these dry subjects. Your grandmother’s tragic early death at the tender age of 79 is all too painful to both of us, but this sad circumstance means that the responsibility for your instruction in comportment falls to me. You will understand that I am anxious to address the subject of greatest interest in your letter, the young man who has caught your refined young eye, Clifton Sedgewick, of the Queen Charlotte Islands. My inquiries have been thorough but discreet. I am informed that he is a person of good conduct, proper speech, honest, polite, fair, and dutiful and honorable. He does indeed read Latin. Those qualities are the minimum you must insist on in a young man you wish to know in a familiar way. Further, he excels in university. Perhaps you already know that. He is devoted to his parents. One of my bridge partners knows a lady who knows his mother quite well, and she assures me of the young man’s character and suitability, and also of the quality of his family and upbringing.

In short I can find no obstacle to your socializing with him with the goal of getting to know him better. That said, you will understand that I must remind you of the norms of behaviour for young people exploring an acquaintance with a member of the opposite sex. First and most importantly, meet in a public place, where there are other respectable people. If you wish to meet somewhere with fewer people, you must arrange a chaperone. I believe these customs are also well grounded in your New Victorianism. Please be advised that I have friends in Fairbanks, loyal friends, and they will report anything untoward to me. This is my duty, so please do not resent me for it. You shall thank me later. Be mindful that his family's friends will also be watching!

Holding hands is certainly acceptable—these are modern times, but more overt signs of affection ought not be displayed in public, and again you must always meet in public, unless there is a chaperone. I see on the link to the New Victorian web site you sent to me, that there are robotic virtual chaperones. This seems perfectly suitable, so long as any alerts are forwarded to me. Also they offer the advantage of chemical analysis, so that I would know if a young man had taken too much alcohol or indulged in a recreational drug. I understand a blaring alarm would go off right away and I would be notified.

The young man may make undertake mild gestures of affection, such as a kiss on the cheek, but only if he asks permission first. If he asks, “May I kiss your cheek, Felicity?” you may say, “You may,” or “I do not think we are yet at that point of familiarity.” You will earn points for probity and discretion with the latter answer. And the same applies to you. Ask permission before a kiss or a hug.

If you find the young man wanting in social graces, it is best not to draw attention to this, but politely end your encounter and do not meet with him again. I think this acquaintance could be good practice for you. Of course, as my friends have told me with insistence, you will have a debutante’s ball at my home in Moosonee this summer, and there you will be introduced to young people of your social station. I have my eye on three young men, all of whom I would think suitable, but you shall have the opportunity to meet them and others soon. I think a cotillion accompanied by strings would be appropriate.

I find the stages of courtship as outlined in The New Victorian Handbook well considered and well described. After a suitable interval (a year or more) of acquaintance, two young people may arrive at an understanding that at a future time, one intends to propose marriage to the other. The handbook suggests formulas that, to my mind, would be entirely suitable because they protect the feelings of both parties. For instance, “Miss Felicity, I should like to stop by your home in Moosonee on the thirty-first of August, to ask you a particular question.”

To that you may reply, “I should look forward to that visit,” or, “I fear that I shall not be at home for you on that day,” or even “I fear that I shall not be at home for you on that or any other day” (terminating the relationship in a gentle way). Yes this New Victorianism is entirely to my liking! And since it is New, the same proposals could be made by you, and they protect your tender heart as much as possible. How I wish Frank were here to see this!

I am sending the clothes you requested and designed on the web. I think you are right to prefer the calf-length dresses and skirts. I’m not going to tell you what girls wore in my day. Suffice it to say there has been a great deal of progress in fashion, and in mores in general. And nothing is more elegant and practical than polyester. For your big day in Moosonee we shall put our two heads together and design something suitable and impressive.

Ah, my dear, I can hardly wait to see you at the end of term. Continue to act with your sense of duty and propriety, enjoy your studies, and make no promises to young men. Your life will take another turn at your ball here.

Affectionately, Your Great-Grandmother,

Agatha Hughes, FRSC, PhD, Professor of Musicology, Moosonee University