Her name is Chonalyn, a baby girl weighing 6.1 pounds, born at 12.35 a.m. at a public hospital known as Dr. Jose Fabella Hospital in the city of Manila. The Commission on Population, the Department of Health and the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation declared her as one among 100 babies chosen to symbolize the crossing over of Filipino population to the 100-million threshold.
The lucky baby’s parents, Clemente and Dailin, were surprised by the honor bestowed their infant, because the search for the 100-millionth basis was not publicized. Chonalyn received a cake, a starter-kit worth of Php 5,000 for the infant’s needs, and a promise from the Department of Health of free immunization shots as well as annual visits to check on the baby’s health every birthday.
What kind of future awaits Chonalyn and other babies like her? Well, in a matter of years, technology shall have evolved even more, and perhaps speaking aloud and having verbal conversations, like having nice penmanships, would become a thing of the past.
Have you noticed how many couples don’t even talk to each other over a candle light dinner? They are too busy managing their phones, responding to text messages, e-mails, and Facebook comments.
Chonalyn’s generation will have every little (and big) gadget at their disposal. I bet they’ll even invent a ring that will squeeze your finger every time you overeat.
When Chonalyn reaches 50 years old, it won’t matter much. Her metabolism will remain the same, and her looks will reveal not a single wrinkle. Someone who will grow extremely wealthy shall have invented an anti-aging vaccine shot that slows down the greying process, thus automatically extending the careers of Hollywood actors.
Farmers will be the next billionaires in the coming years. They will be a protected tribe, and their farms will be known as heritage sites for devotion to Jurassic ways of growing food. Sources of fresh water shall fall under national security and bottled drinking water will be more expensive than caviar. The next 200-millionth baby will receive a crate of precious bottled water rather than a cake that would have earned public condemnation for the calories it contains.
What about governance? Governments shall have been broken down into leadership enclaves, managed digitally, as more people stay home to work. Factories shall also serve as museums, and salaries will be more of credits using a singular world denomination, making ease of transaction possible across borders.
This is all fantasy, of course, but imagination is precisely what one needs to discern the future.
As a child who saw how my elder brothers meticulously cleaned their long-playing records, the idea of having songs to play on my mobile phone was unimaginable. And yet, I have a playlist of favorite songs that I can literally carry around the whole day.
My father used to pound a manual Olympus typewriter with the clickety-clack of the keys telling us how inspired he was. Today, one can silence the keys on a laptop as thin and light as a book.
Every coffee shop is now an office, and skills like taking good photos and blogging about mundane things can become an enterprise.
The world is changing fast, and every country no matter the population, must keep up with the evolution of our times. What would be sad is for Chonalyn and the next generation not to know the value of a good hug, from parents caught in between an analog past and a digitized future. Now that would be a tragedy, wouldn’t it?
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