100 Years From Now

Wide-eyed and poised today, as I look at yesterday, I can see tomorrow.* If nothing else, yesterday taught me that tomorrow will be a little like today, because today has features of yesterday and tomorrow. I sometimes plead with yesterday to let me go, to stop binding me, to stop blinding me, so that I can find me and leave yesterday behind. Looking forward 100 years through the corridors of time, I clearly see matters of A I, Food supplies, and Guns. I'm observing the problems of Health and Population Control. And lastly, I'm questioning the issues of Robots and Transportation. Oh indeed, I see an endless array of struggles for survival, far more than 7, but I must limit the scope of this piece lest I upset my present peace. 100 years ago there were 20,000 cars in the world and the city speed limit was 10mph. Today, there are 7 billion of us, and in 100 years, people will read about you and me and long for the good old days of fewer crowds and less pollution, because there are about 1 billion cars and light trucks on the road. Almost half of them in the United States. The maximum speed limit in most cities is 35 mph, yet the traffic is so congested that the average speed is just over 10 mph. In a hundred years, there will be 2 billion cars, many of which will fly overhead or glide across the water. 100 years ago, The Eiffel Tower in Paris was the tallest structure in the world at 1o63 ft. Pneumonia and influenza were the leading causes of death. Today, the tallest building is the Burj Dubai, at 2,640 ft. Today, the population of the United States is over 300 million and 7 billion people roam the earth. The leading causes of death are heart attacks, cancers, strokes, and vehicle accidents. In a hundred years, people will eat less of less-healthy foods. Their sleep will not be restful as they work harder and longer hours to keep pace with robots infused with artificial intelligence. People will be armed with chips beneath their skin and will no longer be controlled by phones and computers, but by some form of mind-control. The masses will be totally disarmed of their guns in spite of what The Second Amendment says. 52318PSpCtest, Strand No 680 Poetry Contest, Brian Strand Strand.*Some fiction. HM