Institute For The Future

The Green Connection: A Human+Machine Futures Scenario

You shake hands with an old friend and sit down for lunch in the cafe. It is so good to see them. After having a moment the look of joy on their face turns to one of concern. Your friend looks apologetically down at their hand which is still shaking yours and they confess, “So sorry, I’m just getting over a cold. It shouldn’t be contagious. The doctor said—”

You interrupt them, unworried about the cold, “Don’t worry, it will be fine. It is good to see you. How are the kids?”

Ten years ago you would have rushed off to the restroom and washed with antibacterial soap. But times have changed. Instead of sterilizing your hand, you rub it over the emerald green ring on your finger, making sure that any viruses or bacteria have a chance to penetrate the porous surface. If your body was at risk of becoming ill, then the green organism living in the ring would take on an amber hue. In that case it would be a good idea to rinse with a probiotic immune boosting agent. However after a few seconds, the ring remains a vibrant emerald green, signaling a healthy immune system with no risk of contamination.

Interacting with this ring has become second nature for you. The puzzled look on your friends face hints that they have never seen such a ring, so you explain the basics.

They nod and say “So your ring is alive. Like a plant. Or an animal.”

“Yes it is alive” you say. “It's not some other organism though. This ring is a part of me. It is a little window where I can see how my immune system and microbiome are doing.”

“Does it work?” they ask.

“It took some getting used to. After getting one cold and another fever, I learned how to read the mood of the ring a little better and haven’t been sick since. I couldn’t imagine living without it.”

Signals of this green future from today

While the technologies we see in the scenario do not necessarily exist today, you can find signals from today that suggest this scenario as a possible future in the coming decade.

• It is said that some people wear their heart on their sleeve. Jens Dyvik, a student at the Design Academy of Eindhoven, took this idiom quite literally. Ref is a device that helps you become aware of your emotional state by monitoring your heart rate and reflecting that data through a friendly kinetic wrist sculpture. Showing previously invisible patterns from within the body will help us become more connected to our varying physical and mental states.

• Growing your brain in a petri dish is a real possibility today, in 2015. Researchers have successfully grown small portions of patient’s cerebral cortex in the lab for testing the effects of drugs prescribed for psychological conditions. Every human’s brain is different, so it is impossible to know for sure how the patient will react—or at least it used to be impossible. By creating a window into something that was previously unknown we can gain a better understanding of ourselves and each other, allowing for more meaningful connections, which is very much a green future.

• With the advent of genetic testing, we discovered that the human body isn’t entirely human. In fact, we’re mostly not human. For every ten cells in the body, nine of them are microorganisms. These microbes love on our skin, in our eyes, they help digest food, tweak the immune system, and affect psychology. A red scenario might attempt to dominate the human body, while a blue scenario may attempt to control it. In this green scenario, however, we see the human body as diverse thriving and deeply interconnected ecosystem.