For today’s #MondayMusings, here is my entry for the Harvard Class of 1989 time capsule, to be opened in 2039:

In 2014, it makes many of us sad to realize that our species as a whole, and we as individuals, have been inculcated with structure and meaning as defined by the things we are taught to fear: fear of death, aging, illness, poverty, being unloved, being irrelevant…

The greatest shifts in the human condition won’t be complete until our 75th anniversary in 2089 but surprisingly, most of us will be attending that one in good health at the age of 97!

Not as an article of faith but rather of logic, I predict that shifts in consciousness and reality will be emerging between 2014 and 2039 and they will be brought about by these 10 transformations, each one logically the consequence of the former:

1) Aging will be cured by telomerase activation

2) Any infrequent diseases will be reversible with custom, differentiated autologous stem cell transplantation

3) Childbearing will be feasible at any age

4) Education will be focused on self-actualization and creativity, not obedience and rote memorization

5) De-privatization of electricity will be nearly complete leading to lower costs of goods and services and an abundance of wealth

6) People will view this free solar electricity as the last of the essential human rights which will now include water, health care, housing, and freedom from violence

7) The medical-industrial and military-industrial complexes will be viewed with extreme skepticism for peddling silly and bankrupt ideas of illness and conflict

8) Leisure time and freedom from wage slavery will enhance our appreciation for the joy of living

9) Prejudices based on age, gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, ethnicity, and national origin will seem less useful as explanatory models

10) People won’t be qualitatively much more contented yet, but together, we will begin realizing the importance of gratitude and service as everyone relaxes into a notion of abundance over scarcity

With highest regards to my fellow ’89ers,
Edward Park

Only time will tell what our future holds.