FUTURE

In the Year 2222, There’s No Flight Shaming. We Fly Differently

Our airplanes fly like birds

Travel is bad. Flying is bad. You should be ashamed of yourself that you still fly! My tribe is clear in their opinion. I shouldn’t travel.

But I’m nomadic. Some people are born global and I’m one of them.

I’m convinced it makes me a better person if I can experience with my physical senses how people on the other side of the world live. If I smell and dance with diversity. If I hear exotic birds sing their songs.

I LOVE other cultures. Other nature than the boring, industrial basin of Dutch canals and rivers. And I also think peace is truly helped by travel.

Of course, I take a boat when I can. Take a train when I can. And always stay longer. Contributing to the local community.

But no travel? That’s a no-go area for me!

Some people accuse me of dreaming. Of being unrealistic. But that’s not it. We need to look past our old-school ways of doing things to really change. And having Moonshot visions is an important aspect of that.

Remember President Kennedy with his moonshot speech? He said that we would land on the moon within a decade and he had no clue whatsoever how we were going to do that.

But the people were so inspired they made it happen. Project Gemini and Project Apollo followed. And the rest is history.

That’s the same with the post-industrial transition we are facing now. We already know why. We are choking in our own filth and pollution. We are eating/drinking a credit card of microplastics every week.

We already know what. We even know how to change. With local, additive manufacturing, phytomining, and nature-inspired innovations. But still… it all seems so confusing. So, I make stories of how it can be if we dare to change things in our own environment.

And it all starts with a hugely imaginative mind.

The next step is just that we have to do it. Innovate. Go past the technological and commercial lockins of our poisoned current reality.

All of us within our own role…

Merlinda in the Year 2222

So, I start talking to Merlinda. Our descendant. The far-away grand-grand daughter from one of our grandsons. And I know why I’m born global. I know why I have to keep traveling.

Here is our conversation.

Merlinda: Hey, how are you doing? I’m visiting from the year 2222. Just to take a peek into our history books. See if it’s all true. The silliness. And people with unimaginative blinders on.

Me: Hey, lovely grand-grand-grand-daughter of mine. Glad to meet you. How’s life?

Merlinda: A bit wet these days. Our planet is somewhat more liquid than in your time

Merlinda laughs a giggly laugh. Her curly hair is bouncing around her deep, brown eyes. Mike’s eyes have emerged in a girl from the future. Her voice is a kind of tremor. The words are merging together in an accent I never heard before. A future accent.

I love everything about her. And I can’t stop looking at her. Hearing her. Smelling her. Embracing her with my mind. My heart. My soul.

But we have something to do today. So, I pinch myself and get on with it.

Let’s have a conversation about travel.

Me: I’m really curious about travel. Not the time travel you are doing now. No, the actual physical travel. What about airplanes? Do they resemble birds a bit more in 2222?

Merlinda: Yes, luckily they do. After Boeing had kept you all stuck in their commercial lockin for ages, several startup companies changed the scene

Me: tell me all about it

Merlinda: Well, they realized that birds’ bones and feathers are made of 99.9999999% space. Just like our human bodies are. It was known in your time as well. Nature makes her products with a structure to achieve functionality. Thin strands with lots of space. Molecules, attached to each other in patterns. Minimal material.

Me: Material science did a lot of the work?

Merlinda: Yes. They made super-lightweight materials applied with structure and additive manufacturing so they created no waste. All airplanes weigh next to nothing nowadays. And they were inspired by pelicans, flying squirrels, and gliding possums. They called it biomimicry in your time.

Me: Are there any more innovations applied in how you live now?

Merlinda: Yes, of course. Your time was a time of great transition. And finally, people understood how airplanes can fly without engines. They have antennas nowadays to fly on atmosphere layers, vibrations, and energy from the air and ether. No fuel is needed when there’s no engine needed. There’s no sound pollution either. The no-engine innovations really made the whole world a lot quieter. We can hear the birds now again. And our own thoughts…

Me: Ahhh… that’s Nikola Tesla in action. Already in 1931, he rode with his engine-less car and an antenna at 140 km per hour.

“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration”

— Nikola Tesla

Me: My time is super special indeed because a mathematician I know, Professor Johan Gielis, gave the Superformula to science in 2003. And a whole team of biotechnology developers in the Antenna Company and other companies made antennas inspired by natural principles. In my time, they have first been used for WiFi and IoT. Antennas of all shapes, all materials. Was Johan’s Superformula at the root of airplane innovation without engines? And with antennas?

Merlinda: Yes. His formulas and the ones from some Vedic mathematicians. People like Jain108. In your time, mathematicians and astrophysicists gave us new insights into patterns, entropy, and syntropy. But the scientists and CEOs of your time stayed stuck in matter and material thinking for a long time still. It wasn’t easy to get them to understand nature. And imagine a world without noisy engines. After you landed on the moon, it all slowly dawned on people. They finally understood how information travels through the air, through ether. And they understood the role of shapes, patterns, and microbes in all the natural processes

Merlinda giggles again.

Merlinda: In my time, people are way more imaginative about all the infinite possibilities of the universe. And our minds work much faster because we combine our brain, heart, and gut together. You are a slow, elderly person, my dear granny!

Her laughter sounds like vibrating chimes. I can’t help but laugh with her. I try to touch her hair, but my hand goes right through her image. Her hologram. I try to frown at her insulting words.

Me, slow? No way! But a smile starts moving my mouth. And I know my eyes twinkle. I have way too much fun with this conversation.

Me: Let’s cut the crap, Merlinda. Tell me more about air travel. I’m mighty curious about the year 2222!

Merlinda: One of the big shifts was the moment that swarm technology was used to deliver packages. Drones with a function other than just photography and war. It was beautiful. And after this, they also made drones to harvest irregularly shaped, wild varieties of food. Life became easier. Local wild food in agroforests became available to end hunger. Food definitely became healthier

Me: When did we finally understand that we could shift from 2D to 3D and make a difference?

Merlinda: Well, I’d rather not talk times and years. Time is a spiral and history might alter if you know too much too early. The big shift came when people realized that we need 3D structures for the small water cycles of evaporation. People in your time weren’t stupid. They knew we needed healthy water. But the water crisis had to become really big before something changed for real. I can tell you that we are fully into 5D and even 7D right now. China played a big role in that because the Dalai Lama talked to Chinese quantum physicists in your time. In China, the seed was planted for quantum solutions beyond quantum mechanics and quantum computers

Me: The Dalai Lama? Does that mean that heart and soul have a function in quantum physics? Heart and soul have had a function in the technology shifts?

Merlinda: Of course, heart and soul matter in quantum. In technology. Nature has not given us emotions and energy vibrations without a reason. You just didn’t listen to the women enough! All that men-talk about quantum computers didn’t bring us closer to real quantum physics. You need open, living systems for that. And meaning. And we all know that computers are closed, mechanical systems. Often without meaning. How else do you think that particles and waves can exist at the same time? In open, living systems of course! It all has to do with focus. And with careful attention. Try NOT to think of a purple lemon. What do you see in your mind’s eye now?

Me: A purple lemon

Merlinda: Exactly! But now I have to fly back to my own year 2222. My kids are waiting for their dinner. And they are an impatient bunch! Speak to you next time!

And there she went. Her hologram disappeared in thin air.

I’m flabbergasted. A bit confused as well. I just talked to one of our descendants. How’s that possible? I have to tell Mike when he comes home. And I want to talk to Merlinda again soon.

There are sooooo many things I want to ask her…

Some old-school credibility for my writing can be found LinkedIn. You can also subscribe to my newsletter there. I’m a certified biomimicry and blue economy professional and external expert to the European Commission.

Thank you, Mike, for adding your wise energy to my words on abundance in our think-and do-tank Abundanism. Systemic Design for a good future.

And thanks to Gaia for giving me Wild Writing.

© Désirée Driesenaar, 2022