Deep down in the mysterious blue sea, I’m surrounded by different aqueous creatures which altogether gather around as if in an orchestra. They suddenly start a carefree melody. Amazed by this symphony, I try recording it with the camera embedded in my eye…

An alarm sounds and I wake up to my comfy bed in my spacious room. The watch on my wrist accurately depicts the fluctuations of several health parameters during my sleep. Its input signal come from different nanorobots flowing through my vascular system measuring protein and hormone levels, as well as some environment factors such as the presence of smoke or some allergens. They’re continuously processed by a federated neural network trained on data shared by consenting individuals.

“All values are within the healthy range, at least according to the standards of people with a health profile similar to mine”

As of now, I’m fully equipped with the necessary diagnostic tools and tests that maximize the chance of preventing disease. Though cancer, neurological diseases like Alzheimer or other heterogenous, maybe genetic diseases can’t be avoided, they have been subjugated by technology.

I wear on my eyeglasses and the translator embedded on its frame captures some signal coming from a corner of my bedroom. The word “HUNGRY” diffused on a translucid background is displayed in front of my eyes.

The signal came from Diamond, a macaque who has had a chip transplant, enabling him to send electromagnetic waves to communicate certain known states of mind. I start preparing our breakfast.

Reflecting on Diamond, he’s a special friend I made over the recent years. He belongs to the Rhinopithecus strykeri species. Considered to be critically endangered in the not-so far past, their embryos, as well as that of many other species similarly endangered, were cryopreserved until a more friendly and ecologically-stable environment was established that could house, sustain and nurture a more diverse ecosystem. Couple that with how CRISPR has exponentially reduced the costs of genetic engineering and how enhanced protocols of fertilization techniques have dramatically improved the chances of successful, controlled pregnancy, many non-human and a few human species who were declared extinct could now be “revived”. Some other amazing feats involve bringing back Homo erectus and Neardenthals. This was thanks to synthetically amplified DNA samples leftover from archaeological findings, which with a few fixes by CRISPR were fertilized inside an artificial womb.

While ingesting my genetically-modified food with Diamond, I’m interrupted by a phone call from Janeth, a Neardenthal.

“Tertulia in 30 minutes at the university” – She immediately hangs up. A swift, and clear message I have received.

I pop up my calendar and add the event to my schedule.

I dress up and go outside. A vehicle is already waiting for me. I sit inside its cushy seat. Driverless, clean and permeated by a sweet smell. The roof lifts given that embedded sensors measured several factors of the atmosphere and decided it was a nice weather for me. I enjoy the breeze of nature.

The four-wheeled electric car starts its engine and moves forward. The road is quite special I must say. Streets that were previously made of concrete have been thoroughly replaced with energy-converting pavement. This way, the footsteps of living beings roaming around and vehicles circulating can be readily transformed to mechanical energy useful for other means of production.

Practically, throughout various sectors of society and ways of life, waste energy such as heat is being constantly reused instead of letting it dissipate.

“Take that, entropy.”

I look around this familiar, and very boring, scenario, since the car is taking the same route as before to minimize travel time and energy consumption. Solar panels are hanging like Christmas decoration to capture the warm sunlight. Very few people, and most of them elderly, are walking outside, accompanied by domesticated species. The youngsters are, very likely, just too immersed in their virtual reality at their homes.

A TV screen comes out of the back of the front seat. A short video I supposedly haven’t watched before starts playing.

“Ugh…There are too many recycled motifs…This plot is already too predictable”

I managed to lucid dream over the recent years thanks to the nanorobots designed to bypass the blood-brain barrier and selectively stimulate the anterior prefrontal cortex. I have thus “experienced” in my sleep many different stories such that they don’t amaze me anymore in the real life. The art industry has a great challenge to overcome to generate once again in us a catharsis of unique, natural feelings.

Other nanorobots stimulate other regions and artificially fire specific patterns of neurons, thus, simulating the formation of certain memories or triggering a cascade of neural signalling that induce me to have certain emotions. I was initially overjoyed by this technology. However, I guess a constant usage of them over the last decades have led to synaptic receptor desensitization. Recently, after being overly saturated by feelings, I feel like no new interplay of artificially activated neurons is interesting anymore.

It’s not only me. Some of my colleagues arranged a trip to space and plan to have a journey there for 2 weeks since they got extremely weary by Earth’s boring scenery they could observe every day. Space hubris may not solve their boredom…

“Perhaps as humanity, we have lost a lot in order to gain a lot.” – I turn off the TV.
“What else can arouse more happiness in me, in my friends and colleagues, in humanity?”

Reminiscing on my lack of joy, I start wondering how would Janeth feel is she had filled her body with nanorobots and edited her genes. Technology that works on us, Homo sapiens, hasn’t yet to be proven safe on Neardenthals. We worry they may cause more harm than pleasure. What if the pattern of neurons that are artificially fired on them don’t generate the experiences as it was intended on us Homo sapiens.

I keep reflecting while the car keeps moving forward. How I envy my car.

“Maybe discovering more mysteries about the universe?” – I suddenly tell myself, probably as a result of my neocortex being stimulated, undermining the old brain’s quest for pleasure.

Though there are close to infinite unknowns in the world, judging by the current technological progress, it seems that most of them are asymptotically bound to be unravelled.

“However…”

There seems to be at least one mystery though which may remain eternally undiscovered: after death. There is no way to design an experiment, no data to gather, no simulation to run, no prediction that’s meaningful that could dissect the enigma after death.

I stare at my wrist grimly…. An innocent slice to the arteries and veins will lead to oxygenated blood that’s meant to be carried from the heart to the rest of body, including the brain, to gush out. If left untreated, that is, assuming the nanorobots are forcibly hacked or turned off, then organs may stop working due to the lack of supply of oxygen…

“When and how can humanity find the answers beyond nothing?”

My smartwatch vibrates warning me that my heart rate increased and my adrenaline pumped up naturally.

“It has been quiet a long time since I had this feeling”

I stop staring eerily at my wrist.

“Who am I kidding?”

Indeed, what was I thinking? I’m pretty sure this universe is packed with secrets that were yet to be discerned. The universe’s boundary, what’s beyond the Singularity, extra-terrestrial life, the origin of the Big Bang or the cause of gravity.

“Mhmm… To explore the yet unknown…”

I’m approaching the University. This was quiet a ride; a rhapsody of feelings hovering from nihilism sprouted from the consequences of technology invading my body, to wonderment about the Universe’s unknowns inspired by the countless opportunities paved by the same technology. “Where is it that we’re heading ultimately? For what purpose does this technology exists”

As I step down the car, I start thinking about the gathering I’ll soon have. I start wondering about the topics we’ll discuss, how much we’ll know more from each other, how we feel about the present and the future, the warm joy transmitted through the words of the conversation…

Perhaps this is another feeling I haven’t felt for a long time. That of longing for something, someone.