The year is 2040 and the way people communicate has become easier than ever. Geographical distances have now been removed since the use of technologies such as the augmented reality allows for pragmatic communication at a level close to face-to-face communication.

It’s November 14th in 2040. We are in full preparation of the Memorial Celebrations of 20 years, since the third and most devastating corona wave came along in Germany and undermined the social cohesion and peace in the country. Some hard and violent years followed, but it’s good to look back on the past 15 years, when step by step we got to where we are now. YES, there was some more technological development, but it was by far not what saved us and brought the turn. Too limited are the necessary ressources, to unevenly distributed. The globalised economy didn't get back to where it was before 2021, just because ressources were short of supply. It takes some years of hard learning, but around 2026 the debate turned more towards the economic structures: money, growth, inequality... Common welfare instead of profit making becoming common ground for all political parties. After years of Sstagnation and Degrowth, which had devastating effects, it was clear, that economy needed to be organised differently, such that it was more stable and more just for everybody. “The market” is not considered the most efficient tool for distribution any more. This myth is pushed off the Throne everything got easy. New regulations were possible: JUST and Longterm oriented distribution of ressources, unconditional basic income for everybody, serious taxing of profits and Heritages (paying taxes is considered as noble and social!), circular economomy has been developedped at an increadible speed and ingenuity... YES, the shopping orgies in the 20ies – offline and online – are long past. I'm using the same mobile for 10 years now – just as the one I had at the beginning of the century – just that the current one is a little smartphone, fixed, updated and modernised regular, but with no use of ressources or costs. How did we survive in the 20ies? (Well, quite some didn't... Coronavirus...) Health has become a great value. In the old days I could not afford to get massages or other health treatments (unless I was already very sick and the insurance payed) – today this is part of every day life. We are supposed to take care of our physical and mental health, of our social wellbeing. Must people work in the social-health sector, or the environment-health sector. So important is education and culture. Production has gone down to a stable and sustainable low level, what is needed counts, and reducing the use of ressources is the main goal. Production is not profitable anymore. The sector is partially tax funded. The subsidies are justified, in order to keep a steady and reliable supply of necessary goods and so to keep machines and knowledge up-to-date and nearby. When I compare life today with that of 2020 I very much prefer today: calmer, healthier, more soliarity, better Educated people. It’s soooo good to know, that there is a way to live well on this earth without destroying the nature of any further.

Coexistence of the humanist and the inhumane

The future we will meet in 2040 would like to include clean and healthy water and air for all. The environmental burden on natural resources and their unprecedented irrational exploitation unfortunately harms me. So I want us not to have worsened our access to natural resources. At the same time, I wish that the climatic conditions will not deteriorate much. What I would like to improve is therefore the global management of natural resources – and in particular water and air – from a forward-looking perspective, whether direct or indirect.