I remember as a child I imagined 2020 to be a great, grandiose age, with flying cars, brain implants instead of phones, and underwater cities. Alas, the present has been disappointing, to say the least. Unless Elon Musk invents a flying car in the next 8 months, 2020 will be just another year like the rest, perhaps even worse with the current pandemic and the upcoming election. Anyways, I hope 2060 will be different. Maybe airplane-car hybrids and underwater cities are too ambitious, but I think a green future is feasible, where a higher living standard is the norm and human rights are equal for all. This future would be eco-friendly, egalitarian, and kind. With all the technology we have today, this isn't so impossible, but it lacks support. Perhaps over the next forty years, people will change their minds and new policies will usher in a golden age unlike any other in history. Maybe this is too optimistic, but this is how I would like to picture the future. This is how I overcome all the terrible things that are happening today.

There are 40 years between now and 2060. This reminds me of the biblical story where the freed slaves from Egypt spent 40 years wandering around in the desert before they found the "promised land" that God had chosen for them. However, many of the people who had originally escaped Egypt had passed away by then, and it was their descendants who inherited Israel, the promised land. Perhaps some of us will not live until 2060, and it's even more unlikely for our parents. But it is our children and grandchildren who will determine the future, and I hope they will create a future that is much better than the present we live in. Perhaps the 40 years between now and 2060, like the biblical story, is only the dark before the sunrise.

Image: Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0) - m.robersonart