Technicorp of ‘45 (Story)
Back in 2018 I wrote these four speculative narratives that described future scenarios for the state of remote work in 2045.
This is a story about scenario 1 of 4
The daily experience
The subtle pink glow of the room gently wakes up Ethan and Sophia. In the room next to theirs, the soft pitter-patter of children’s feet can be heard racing around the room. Without a video feed, it’s up to the couple to guess what their children are up to, yet this choice to avoid unnecessary surveillance was a conscious one, after-all, you just never know who’s illegally streaming it.
Sophia works for a large pharmaceutical company as a marketing specialist, and the family lives in one of the company’s neighborhoods. In fact, everyone in their apartment complex works for ByOE Pharmaceuticals. Ethan, on the other hand, works from home as a strategy consultant for various brands, ByOE being one of them. However, Ethan who was born in 2010 and is now aged 35, did not choose to work from home to take care of their young children, no, soon their smart home alerts them that Maria is at the door, ready to take the children to the ByPLAY playschool. This service came standard with Sofia’s living package. As the children are whisked away and Sofia hurries off to catch the company’s catered breakfast, Ethan pours himself a cup of MindFull coffee, a coffee with added ‘benefits’ as the packaging announces. Really, it’s just a few extra vitamins and maybe a little dose of Ritalong to help keep your mind extra focused.
Ethan cannot remember the last time they had their suite set-up as a living room. Their two-room mico-suite (450 square feet) came standard with multipurpose furniture such as a murphy bed and a central module that can be opened to reveal a home office, or closed off to act as a screen for viewing communal entertainment. Lately, it seems to be permanently open, with Sophia and the children adapting to lounging in his home workspace composed of a high-walled chair and a low-lying table that acts as a virtual workplace. This multi-functional home furniture is constructed out of selectively chosen materials that only become more beautiful with age. As such, the cabinetry faces are made of copper. The living environment is built using low emissions and sustainable flax wall cores, thus ensuring that they are not ‘accidentally’ poisoned by their environment.
As he places his cup of MindFull on the table, his virtual workplace wakes up. Finally, it is ready for use and Ethan begins by flicking away a notification alerting him that since his last visit, his anti-hacking software has successfully deflected 329 attempted security breaches - overnight. “At least you’re doing your job,” he thinks. He remembers his friend Julie who just recently got her computer files locked by a hacker demanding a ransom to unlock the files. All this as she was finishing up a large contract! Nah, Ethan, like most freelance contract workers has installed anti-surveillance software on all of his devices, he even hired a personal cyber security expert to ensure his virtual workplace was safe from unwanted threats.
Ethan works with a team of collaborators on specific projects. While he is working they log their efforts towards a collective infographic that provides a visual representation of the work completed to date. Quick informal messages can be sent to one another via their Pebble app which forwards key messages onto a corner of Ethan’s smart glasses which he uses to interact with his virtual workplace. Ethan works for a few hours then heads out for a run across the ByOE campus. The campus actually has a running and cycling track built on stilts across its buildings, winding in and out of office spaces and amenity areas. As he finishes his run he stops by one of the delis to pick himself up a sandwich with extra theanine-infused mayonnaise. “It can’t be all that bad if it helps me focus… right?” he thinks as he walks the rest of the journey back to his micro-suite.
As he enters his home, the lights are activated and his workplace comes back to life. As he gets ready to settle into another round of work he receives a notification from ByOE’s central system that a special screening of Interstellar is playing down at the theatre in a few minutes. “Damn,” he thinks as he takes a look at his schedule, “I guess I’m just not going to get much work done today.”