Yossarian
July 27th, 2005, 08:10 PM
I had to write this timeline of my future child's life for school but I put in some future history and sci-fi :p take a look!
Timeline
Birth: 2025:
Baby Eric is born with no genetic diseases, a propensity to long life, high disease resistance, and a likelihood to be very smart and in good physical shape due to a new genetic modification procedure created in 2021 that became widespread by 2023
1-3 Years old: 2026-2028
Eric develops quickly due to his genetically altered birth, and is at the mental level of a normal 6 year old and the physical level of a normal 4 year old by the time he is 3. He lives happily in Canada with his parents. We live in Canada instead of our native US for several reasons. Of course there’s the increase in US-China tensions that is making any big city in the US a target. These tensions have also caused the increasingly right-wing US government to severely limit the rights of many citizens. Probably the most important reason is the huge religious anti-genetic modification movement that dominates the US. Many Americans with genetically modified children have fled to form large ex-patriot communities, like the one we live in on the island of Newfoundland.
4 Years old: 2029
Eric enters school along with other members of generation GM (genetically modified). Eric does well in school, despite the struggles in the education system trying to cope with this new breed of vastly more intelligent students. Many people’s lives are affected by the outbreak of war between the US and China. Luckily it doesn’t go nuclear, and it ends with China absorbing Taiwan, but becoming a democracy because of increased pressure.
5 Years old: 2030
Eric learns to ride a bike and enjoys spending time with his friends, mostly other children of the large American ex-patriot community on the island of Newfoundland, which is a nice place to live because of global warming.
6 Years old: 2031
Eric enjoys going on vacation with his family in the Caribbean, but is horrified by the poverty of the people who live there outside of the gated resorts for westerners. By this time Eric has also become a big reader, reading many books meant for people far older then him. He especially enjoys science fiction and world history, which pleases me immensely, although to my disappointment he has no use for fantasy.
7 Years old: 2032
Eric stands up for his friend Freddie, an unmodified child being picked on by his more intelligent and more fit peers. After watching the movie GATTACA, Eric becomes worried about the eventual persecution of the unmodified (remember he is modified and is thus very smart for his age). Not many people are worried about this yet; after all the oldest modified people are only 10 years old. But it will become an issue in years to come. After discussing this issue with his father (me), Eric becomes even more worried because of my apparent callousness towards the unmodified like myself. (I think that we will be replaced by genetically superior offspring, and I’m fine with it.) By this time Eric is also an avowed atheist, much to my delight, who states that he finds it hard to believe in a god who would allow such horrible suffering in the world. He prefers to believe in the creative powers of humanity for his salvation, not a non-existent God.
10 Years old: 2035
By the age of 10 Eric has adult level intelligence and knowledge, though lacks some experience and maturity. He bonds more closely with his friends going through the same thing, instead of unmodified adults (like me) who weren’t expecting teenage rebellion until their children were teens. Eric is also much more interested in world events then he used to be, and is concerned about the growing poverty and conflict in the world. However, the space program fascinates him. By 2035, Canada, the US, China, Japan, Russia, the EU, and India all have moon bases, and astronauts from many countries around the world have joined a UN effort to build a small permanent base on Mars.
11 Years old: 2036
Eric gets a dog, a female border collie that he names Lilly. The dog bonds well with Eric and they have a lot of good times in the fields around our house. Eric (who is physically at the level of a 14-year old and mentally at the level of a 20-year old, though he’s emotionally 11) smokes for the first time, but decides against smoking again because of excellent parenting (and I’m humble to).
13 Years old: 2038
Becoming a teenager doesn’t mean as much to Eric as it does to us, he’s been practically an adult for a few years anyway, though he does get his first girlfriend at this age, a Canadian girl native to Newfoundland. I don’t really approve of her, but I don’t say much about, accepting that it’s Eric’s choice. He breaks up with her soon anyway.
16 Years old: 2041
At 16 Eric gets his drivers license. He and a group of friends decide to go on a road trip, taking a boat from the island over to New Brunswick, and driving into the US, visiting Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and finally Washington D.C. I mildly encourage this, thinking that it’s a good idea for Eric to get in touch with his American heritage. At first the trip goes fine, they are kind of bored in Boston, ooh and aah at the beautiful freedom tower in New York, and basically enjoy themselves. Americans have become more xenophobic then they were at the turn of the century, but the xenophobia is more concentrated in the central and southern areas and most people don’t have anything against some nice Canadian kids. Unfortunately, in a detour to see the beautiful country in western Pennsylvania, Eric casually lets slip that he and his friends are genetically modified children of ex-patriots. The people of the little town where they’re staying are horrified that these nice seeming kids are really anti-American freaks whose only goal is to bring down our culture. After destroying their car the people of the town kick Eric and his friends out of the hotel and chase them out of town. Horrified at this mindless prejudice, Eric and his friends make it over to the nearest airport and head directly home. Although he had always been concerned about the state of the world, Eric saw this as a turning point in his life, setting him on a course where he would try to help to eliminate prejudice and violence in the world.
18 Years old: 2043
Eric is accepted at Oxford, a popular destination for people English speaking people who have a reason to avoid the US. In Eric’s case this is the fact the no US school will accept a genetically modified student. Eric leaves him, and bids his mother and I goodbye, promising to keep in touch through the internet, especially through the use of new virtual reality programs that will let him interact with us as if he were a few feet away instead of a few thousand miles away.
20 Years old: 2045
Eric enjoys Oxford and England in general. Most of his courses involve philosophy, writing, or history, and I enjoy a lot of correspondence with Eric on these topics, although by now I’m 55 and Eric has far surpassed me intellectually. Sometimes it annoys me, but in general I’m just proud of my son.
25 Years old: 2050
After finishing college Eric works on several odd jobs while writing in his spare time. He eventually gets a job at the UN office for global welfare (a new division similar to the US peace core). Eric loves this job as it allows him to travel the world, seeing new things, helping people, and gathering new material.
30 Years old: 2055
At 29 years old Eric wrote his breakout book, a novel about an Nigerian family’s struggle to adapt when their nation began it’s rapid modernization, as they go from a simple life on a farm to living in a huge modern city. The book becomes an international best seller, and allows Eric to begin writing full time. The US falls increasingly behind economically, technologically, and militarily, as the genetically modified people of other nations easily out compete their American counterparts.
35 Years old: 2060
Eric continues his writing career, branching out into science fiction, alternate history, and non-fiction. He also starts a popular Internet site where he frequently puts out articles on how he sees the world. Eric also continues to travel, going to every continent as well as a journey to see the lunar colonies, which now have a population of 12,000 people (Mars has 100 and there are frequent expeditions to planets all over the system).
40 Years old: 2065
At 38 years old Eric marries an Australian women named Rosie (people are living longer and marrying later). She’s two years younger and they have two children, Mark and Katherine, by 2067.
45 Years old: 2070
Eric’s life, and the lives of every other human are changed forever by the discovery of extraterrestrial life. A probe to Alpha Centauri observes a primitive civilization living on an earthlike world. An expedition is sent to Alpha Centauri immediately, but even with the most advanced technology it won’t arrive until 2115. This is also an emotional year for Eric individually, with this great advance in understanding marred by the death of his mother, who fell down some stair and broke her head open. I’m distraught by this of course, and Eric spends a lot of time cheering me up in my old age (I’m 80 years old).
50 Years old: 2075
The United States celebrates it’s tercentennial, although many both in the US and around the world long for the old days when the US was a bastion of freedom, democracy, and progress, instead of a barely democratic impoverished police state.
55 Years old: 2080
Eric, an avowed civil rights activist, is invited to attend a conference on animal rights. A number of genetically modified sentient Chimps, Dolphins, and other creatures are demanding their rights. Eric fights on their side, and largely due to his intervention and the public outcry he generated these creature become official citizens of their nations.
60 Years old: 2085
I die. All those who know me mourn my passing, and Eric publicly proclaims that he would have been nothing without my help. I lived a good life, and made it to 95 years old. On an unrelated note, riots in the US prompt a wave of reform and anti-genetic modification, anti-gay, anti-abortion, and anti-dissent laws are repealed. The US begins to progress towards once again being a proud and powerful nation.
65 Years old: 2090
Eric’s 33-year-old son Mark emigrates to Mars and becomes an important local political figure in the main colony. 30-year-old Katherine marries and moves to Washington with her husband, Joe Gates (he’s the descendant of the computer mogul Bill Gates, who gave a lot of money to charity and lost most of the rest when the US market crashed. The Gates family drifted into obscurity and stayed in Washington state).
70 Years old: 2095
Eric stays active, writing and helping various groups to combat poverty, prejudice, and violence. Along with his wife, Eric moves to the moon, enjoying the peace and gentle gravity of the little planet.
75 Years old: 2100
The turn of the century is upon us. Most agree that the world is a much better place then it was 100 years ago. The entire world is up to the living standards of the first world 100 years ago, and has plenty of resources to keep it going from the mining of the solar system. 5 million people live off of the earth, while 11 billion remain on the planet. Nanotechnology has revolutionized industry, and most diseases have been eliminated. The life expectancy for people born after the turn of the century is 120 years, meaning that Eric’s grand Children could easily see the dawn of the 23rd century.
80 Years old: 2105
On the 100th anniversary of the year that I was in an online health class, Eric finds this very document, and is stunned by my knowledge of future events. Eric feels the ache in his bones, and knows that he is now and old man, but he is still healthy because of high technology and can look forward to many more years of life.
85 Years old: 2110
Eric is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his contributions to world peace and happiness. Eric now has over 150 million of his books in print, and is one of the most popular and well known people on earth.
90 Years old: 2115
The expedition to Alpha Centauri arrives, and begins to relay back its information. The information only travels at the speed of light, and won’t reach earth for 4 years. His doctor informs Eric that he cannot go back to earth because the extended time in low gravity has weakened his bones. Eric takes to spending a long time with other old celebrities who have gone to the moon for their health and discussing what the world used to be like when they were young.
95 Years old: 2115
In a horrible tragedy a meteor hit the dome of Eric’s lunar colony, killing 300 people including Eric and Rosie. The world mourns Eric’s loss, and he is remembered fondly by millions for many years to come.
Timeline
Birth: 2025:
Baby Eric is born with no genetic diseases, a propensity to long life, high disease resistance, and a likelihood to be very smart and in good physical shape due to a new genetic modification procedure created in 2021 that became widespread by 2023
1-3 Years old: 2026-2028
Eric develops quickly due to his genetically altered birth, and is at the mental level of a normal 6 year old and the physical level of a normal 4 year old by the time he is 3. He lives happily in Canada with his parents. We live in Canada instead of our native US for several reasons. Of course there’s the increase in US-China tensions that is making any big city in the US a target. These tensions have also caused the increasingly right-wing US government to severely limit the rights of many citizens. Probably the most important reason is the huge religious anti-genetic modification movement that dominates the US. Many Americans with genetically modified children have fled to form large ex-patriot communities, like the one we live in on the island of Newfoundland.
4 Years old: 2029
Eric enters school along with other members of generation GM (genetically modified). Eric does well in school, despite the struggles in the education system trying to cope with this new breed of vastly more intelligent students. Many people’s lives are affected by the outbreak of war between the US and China. Luckily it doesn’t go nuclear, and it ends with China absorbing Taiwan, but becoming a democracy because of increased pressure.
5 Years old: 2030
Eric learns to ride a bike and enjoys spending time with his friends, mostly other children of the large American ex-patriot community on the island of Newfoundland, which is a nice place to live because of global warming.
6 Years old: 2031
Eric enjoys going on vacation with his family in the Caribbean, but is horrified by the poverty of the people who live there outside of the gated resorts for westerners. By this time Eric has also become a big reader, reading many books meant for people far older then him. He especially enjoys science fiction and world history, which pleases me immensely, although to my disappointment he has no use for fantasy.
7 Years old: 2032
Eric stands up for his friend Freddie, an unmodified child being picked on by his more intelligent and more fit peers. After watching the movie GATTACA, Eric becomes worried about the eventual persecution of the unmodified (remember he is modified and is thus very smart for his age). Not many people are worried about this yet; after all the oldest modified people are only 10 years old. But it will become an issue in years to come. After discussing this issue with his father (me), Eric becomes even more worried because of my apparent callousness towards the unmodified like myself. (I think that we will be replaced by genetically superior offspring, and I’m fine with it.) By this time Eric is also an avowed atheist, much to my delight, who states that he finds it hard to believe in a god who would allow such horrible suffering in the world. He prefers to believe in the creative powers of humanity for his salvation, not a non-existent God.
10 Years old: 2035
By the age of 10 Eric has adult level intelligence and knowledge, though lacks some experience and maturity. He bonds more closely with his friends going through the same thing, instead of unmodified adults (like me) who weren’t expecting teenage rebellion until their children were teens. Eric is also much more interested in world events then he used to be, and is concerned about the growing poverty and conflict in the world. However, the space program fascinates him. By 2035, Canada, the US, China, Japan, Russia, the EU, and India all have moon bases, and astronauts from many countries around the world have joined a UN effort to build a small permanent base on Mars.
11 Years old: 2036
Eric gets a dog, a female border collie that he names Lilly. The dog bonds well with Eric and they have a lot of good times in the fields around our house. Eric (who is physically at the level of a 14-year old and mentally at the level of a 20-year old, though he’s emotionally 11) smokes for the first time, but decides against smoking again because of excellent parenting (and I’m humble to).
13 Years old: 2038
Becoming a teenager doesn’t mean as much to Eric as it does to us, he’s been practically an adult for a few years anyway, though he does get his first girlfriend at this age, a Canadian girl native to Newfoundland. I don’t really approve of her, but I don’t say much about, accepting that it’s Eric’s choice. He breaks up with her soon anyway.
16 Years old: 2041
At 16 Eric gets his drivers license. He and a group of friends decide to go on a road trip, taking a boat from the island over to New Brunswick, and driving into the US, visiting Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and finally Washington D.C. I mildly encourage this, thinking that it’s a good idea for Eric to get in touch with his American heritage. At first the trip goes fine, they are kind of bored in Boston, ooh and aah at the beautiful freedom tower in New York, and basically enjoy themselves. Americans have become more xenophobic then they were at the turn of the century, but the xenophobia is more concentrated in the central and southern areas and most people don’t have anything against some nice Canadian kids. Unfortunately, in a detour to see the beautiful country in western Pennsylvania, Eric casually lets slip that he and his friends are genetically modified children of ex-patriots. The people of the little town where they’re staying are horrified that these nice seeming kids are really anti-American freaks whose only goal is to bring down our culture. After destroying their car the people of the town kick Eric and his friends out of the hotel and chase them out of town. Horrified at this mindless prejudice, Eric and his friends make it over to the nearest airport and head directly home. Although he had always been concerned about the state of the world, Eric saw this as a turning point in his life, setting him on a course where he would try to help to eliminate prejudice and violence in the world.
18 Years old: 2043
Eric is accepted at Oxford, a popular destination for people English speaking people who have a reason to avoid the US. In Eric’s case this is the fact the no US school will accept a genetically modified student. Eric leaves him, and bids his mother and I goodbye, promising to keep in touch through the internet, especially through the use of new virtual reality programs that will let him interact with us as if he were a few feet away instead of a few thousand miles away.
20 Years old: 2045
Eric enjoys Oxford and England in general. Most of his courses involve philosophy, writing, or history, and I enjoy a lot of correspondence with Eric on these topics, although by now I’m 55 and Eric has far surpassed me intellectually. Sometimes it annoys me, but in general I’m just proud of my son.
25 Years old: 2050
After finishing college Eric works on several odd jobs while writing in his spare time. He eventually gets a job at the UN office for global welfare (a new division similar to the US peace core). Eric loves this job as it allows him to travel the world, seeing new things, helping people, and gathering new material.
30 Years old: 2055
At 29 years old Eric wrote his breakout book, a novel about an Nigerian family’s struggle to adapt when their nation began it’s rapid modernization, as they go from a simple life on a farm to living in a huge modern city. The book becomes an international best seller, and allows Eric to begin writing full time. The US falls increasingly behind economically, technologically, and militarily, as the genetically modified people of other nations easily out compete their American counterparts.
35 Years old: 2060
Eric continues his writing career, branching out into science fiction, alternate history, and non-fiction. He also starts a popular Internet site where he frequently puts out articles on how he sees the world. Eric also continues to travel, going to every continent as well as a journey to see the lunar colonies, which now have a population of 12,000 people (Mars has 100 and there are frequent expeditions to planets all over the system).
40 Years old: 2065
At 38 years old Eric marries an Australian women named Rosie (people are living longer and marrying later). She’s two years younger and they have two children, Mark and Katherine, by 2067.
45 Years old: 2070
Eric’s life, and the lives of every other human are changed forever by the discovery of extraterrestrial life. A probe to Alpha Centauri observes a primitive civilization living on an earthlike world. An expedition is sent to Alpha Centauri immediately, but even with the most advanced technology it won’t arrive until 2115. This is also an emotional year for Eric individually, with this great advance in understanding marred by the death of his mother, who fell down some stair and broke her head open. I’m distraught by this of course, and Eric spends a lot of time cheering me up in my old age (I’m 80 years old).
50 Years old: 2075
The United States celebrates it’s tercentennial, although many both in the US and around the world long for the old days when the US was a bastion of freedom, democracy, and progress, instead of a barely democratic impoverished police state.
55 Years old: 2080
Eric, an avowed civil rights activist, is invited to attend a conference on animal rights. A number of genetically modified sentient Chimps, Dolphins, and other creatures are demanding their rights. Eric fights on their side, and largely due to his intervention and the public outcry he generated these creature become official citizens of their nations.
60 Years old: 2085
I die. All those who know me mourn my passing, and Eric publicly proclaims that he would have been nothing without my help. I lived a good life, and made it to 95 years old. On an unrelated note, riots in the US prompt a wave of reform and anti-genetic modification, anti-gay, anti-abortion, and anti-dissent laws are repealed. The US begins to progress towards once again being a proud and powerful nation.
65 Years old: 2090
Eric’s 33-year-old son Mark emigrates to Mars and becomes an important local political figure in the main colony. 30-year-old Katherine marries and moves to Washington with her husband, Joe Gates (he’s the descendant of the computer mogul Bill Gates, who gave a lot of money to charity and lost most of the rest when the US market crashed. The Gates family drifted into obscurity and stayed in Washington state).
70 Years old: 2095
Eric stays active, writing and helping various groups to combat poverty, prejudice, and violence. Along with his wife, Eric moves to the moon, enjoying the peace and gentle gravity of the little planet.
75 Years old: 2100
The turn of the century is upon us. Most agree that the world is a much better place then it was 100 years ago. The entire world is up to the living standards of the first world 100 years ago, and has plenty of resources to keep it going from the mining of the solar system. 5 million people live off of the earth, while 11 billion remain on the planet. Nanotechnology has revolutionized industry, and most diseases have been eliminated. The life expectancy for people born after the turn of the century is 120 years, meaning that Eric’s grand Children could easily see the dawn of the 23rd century.
80 Years old: 2105
On the 100th anniversary of the year that I was in an online health class, Eric finds this very document, and is stunned by my knowledge of future events. Eric feels the ache in his bones, and knows that he is now and old man, but he is still healthy because of high technology and can look forward to many more years of life.
85 Years old: 2110
Eric is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his contributions to world peace and happiness. Eric now has over 150 million of his books in print, and is one of the most popular and well known people on earth.
90 Years old: 2115
The expedition to Alpha Centauri arrives, and begins to relay back its information. The information only travels at the speed of light, and won’t reach earth for 4 years. His doctor informs Eric that he cannot go back to earth because the extended time in low gravity has weakened his bones. Eric takes to spending a long time with other old celebrities who have gone to the moon for their health and discussing what the world used to be like when they were young.
95 Years old: 2115
In a horrible tragedy a meteor hit the dome of Eric’s lunar colony, killing 300 people including Eric and Rosie. The world mourns Eric’s loss, and he is remembered fondly by millions for many years to come.