SALİM KADIBEŞEGİL

While it strikes me as funny that my generation spun wheels of life, we were the ones who lived at the heart of action.

We owned black and white TV that had just one channel. At first, it only programmed just a couple evenings a week. Eventually you could watch every night, but only until midnight. Eventually colour TV came out. By the 90s, that single channel became multiple channels thanks to an amendment in our Constitution.

The same happened to radio.

We used to send telegrams over the phone. PTT’s central office used to offer us a wake up service even!

The Anadol, the Renault 12, and the Murat 124 were Turkey’s “must-have” automobiles.

Flights between Izmir and Ankara were limited to certain days of the week, and you had to stay the night Ankara if you wished to return.

We took “stenography” classes in journalism school. No one taught us how to use telex (like telefax) either; that we learned on the job.

The police and their “stop-go” signs overlooked traffic—and only at major intersections. They used to wear white plastic gloves that went up to their elbows. They had canisters with advertisements for Puro-Fay-Pop cleaning products.

Politics wasn’t as dirty as it is today, but a different version of the same scenario applied. Back then, society was split into two camps (at lease), to keep it economically foreign-dependent. What therefore kept us together was a yearning for a democratic society and holding on to democracy.

We still were consumer society, but the planet was able to put up what we consumed and wasted!

By the way, I’m talking about the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, not pre-history.

Now Artificial Intelligence Rules Us!

The 1990s introduced us to personal computers. They cranked our transformation up to full speed. It’s as though they’ve changed humanity’s trajectory all together, let alone the world’s! Within 30 years, we’ve gone from ruling ourselves to being ruled by “artificial intelligence”.

We’re now surrounded by umpteen different systems that decide for us:

What we buy…

What we eat…

What we talk about…

Who we vote for…

It’s hard to predict what sort of world those born in 2020 will live in by the time they reach our age sometime around the year 2085! (360,000 babies are born every day!) Science fiction screen and TV writers are dreaming up their own scenarios. Virtually every ‘utopian’ thing we saw on Star Trek back in the 70s has become a reality. Who knows what today’s writers foresee for tomorrow?

Anyways, that’s not my point!

It’s horrifying to think about how AI will gnaw at our emotions and what kind of life it’ll deem suitable for us. That said, nothing good can come out from any technology that’s in “dirty hands”.

A beautiful example of this is crypto-currency. The fact that drug lords, arms traffickers, and human smugglers—and any other professional criminal for that matter—love crypto-currency the most can’t be a coincidence.

Likewise, who really believes that those behind the social media frenzy… those anonymous people who steal our personal info in the name of “advertising revenue” don’t cooperate with politicians?

Democracy? Which Democracy?

Long story short,

Can “democracy” ever exist under any government that asks you for your facial recognition?

In other words…

By the time those born in 2020 reach our age, they’ll read about democracy in their history as some sort of golden age of yore!

That said, we also seem to have shelved climate change and global warming for now due to Corona. However, the threat facing the planet and humanity—who is a guest on this planet—is very much tied to both.

As it stands, we already unfairly distribute food, water and seeds among our 8 billion brethren, but that’s okay for now. What happens through when natural disasters and climate change kick into full swing in to the distant future? How will be able to cover our basic needs then?

Kevin Costner’s film Waterworld was the brunt of Hollywood’s jokes when it first came out as it was the most discredited and ridiculed film in Hollywood’s recent history. If we were to watch this $175 million film that hit the buffers at the box office, would we think differently about climate change?

Could the cities of today become ancient history tomorrow?

I’d written an article titled, What If Energy, Water and Seeds Were Free…’. Here’s a quote from the end of it:

The fiftieth anniversary of World Day is now behind us. We haven’t lent our ears to science to reverse our environmental problems—hence our poor quality of life. We’ve literally lost 50 years! We’ve turned a blind eye to our responsibility to this this planet—and its flowers, insects, birds, and trees. We’ve failed to fulfil our custodian mission for our virtual riches. Humanity has paid and continues to pay a heavy price for this world, where even the rich can’t enjoy their wealth. I can’t help but wonder whether or not we might one day open the door ever so slightly to a future where humanity will be able enjoy the virtues of being human, and where energy, water, and seeds are free for all.

People have been going on about the “new world order” since the 1930s. The only thing we’ve witnessed is how redundant that notion is since it also has a shelf-life. Many futurist claim by the time those born in 2020 reach our age, they will be dwelling in the ruins of the Fertile Crescent (Mesopotamia) and relying on primitive agriculture. Should we listen to them, then at least we can open what cultural values might be forming social life up for discussion.

I wonder if we’re going to return back to square one?

I stumbled a series of questions posed by major scholars in Quartz Magazine that seem to answer themselves, and that could potentially shape the world of those born in 2020:

• Who will run the world?
• Which country will have the most powerful economy?
• What kind of companies will be the most important?
• What will cause the biggest conflicts?
• How will we communicate with each other?
• How will people earn a living?
• How will we entertain one another?
• What will we eat?
• How will we die?
• What will we wear?
• How will we find love?
• What kinds of stories will we tell?
• How will we get information?
• What forms of transportation will we use?
• What will cities be like?
• What will our borders be like?
• Will we have ventured to other planets?
• What will our most valuable resource be?
• What will the biggest change to our natural world be?
• Will our world be more equal or less equal?
• What technology will bring about the biggest change in society?
• What’s your best prediction for the world in 50 years?

Allow me to add a few more to the list:

• What language(s) will we speak?
• What currency will we use?
• Will we farm oceans?
• Will we take up residence in Antarctica?
• What will the same sex marriage rate be like?
• What will happen to nationalism?
• What will happen to Arabesque music?
• Which schools will give which education?
• Will we still have private lives?

Now turn the clock back 50 years…

To the 1970s…

Let’s work out each question…

Let’s take their picture…

Let’s look 50 years back and see how fast technology and information have spread.

Let’s think about where and how those born in 2020 will find happiness!

(*) Published in Brand Map, November 2020.

BM40_November_2020_SalimKadibesegil