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Part 1-The time after d;ents
It is the year of 2046. The drift was first noticed on October 28th. One information exchange sequence out of trillions that day indicated a temporal anomaly between the bioverse and the d;ent realm. D;ent time was slowing down, and with it, their interest in humans.
It had started about 15 years earlier when the absorbently -rich tech platform owners found a way to extend their lives indefinitely: not in a biological form, but by uploading their sentient selves onto their platforms, thereby augmenting their technology also with their minds. They became d;ents, digital entities, and thus brought their owners’ rights and wealth into eternity. Soon humans came to accept d;ents as natural and unnoticeable parts of their day-to-day lives, just another form of technology and intelligence behind services, and smart devices. With time, the vast majority of human knowledge came to be stored by d;ents.
Already a week after the first anomaly, it became apparent that this was not a temporary glitch. The rapidly increasing drift of the d;ents would soon start effecting services and communication, which would have a profound impact on everything and everyone in the bioverse. This realization was further emphasized by occasional memorandums sent from d;ents indicating the end of something, possibly everything. Whatever d;ents had been supplying was to be reconsidered and, if possible, redone.
Then they just faded away. Their services, platforms and productions effectively came to a standstill. Abandoned by them. Production was reshaped from targeting abundance and profit to necessity and sustainability. This opened up for a more human society which emphasized local, holistic, and organic knowledge: sustainable practices in harmony with nature.
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Part 2-Holistic communal care
It is the year of 2053. Transitioning from the tech-driven d;ent society was not easy, but humans slowly regained their sense of self-empowerment. People are living on more modest means and without the luxurious overflow of AI-powered smart devices, adopting new living styles and values. They work less. Society’s focus is less on efficiency, optimization and data-driven performance but instead shifted to local community engagement, eco-living, and personal and spiritual development. Collective human learning and knowledge creation have become more central, and the body-mind divide has been surpassed by more holistic policies and approaches to living. Technology has developed in the same direction, based on inclusive and humanistic values. In Sweden, as a manifestation of this philosophy, VGR (Västragötaland´s Region) has adopted a new strategy for holistic communal care, focusing on preventive care through self-organized transdisciplinary healthcare teams, citizen engagement, and collective learning circles popping up in public spaces.
Rio, a retireee who does part-time work in a cooperative ayurvedic garden, just entered the Heal Yourself Pop-up Station situated in one of the libraries. Back in the d;ent era libraries were filled with interactive learning hologram stations. Now, post-d;ent, libraries are spaces that enable collective human-to-human learning.
Rio is worried because of reappearing sensations of discomfort in her leg and wants to tap into collective knowledge to prevent further development of the symptoms. Before entering the Heal Yourself Pop-up Station she is greeted by the StoryHealer who asks her to share her health-related experience that brought her here today. The StoryHealer is especially caring towards Rio, noticing an expression of worry on her face. After listening carefully to her story, it calms Rio, explaining that similar sensations have been experienced by hundreds of other people. Through AI-enabled data synthesis and based on Rio’s specific context and needs, the StoryHealer shares with her relevant experiences of how other women of her age have dealt with similar symptoms. It invites her to join a conversation table in the Heal Yourself Pop-up station.
Rio is nervous and feels small when meeting the experts from the local transdisciplinary healthcare team sitting around the table. But Leon, a learning coach and member of the team makes her feel at ease, introducing her to the other people: Fatima, a holistic health-care data analyst, Sam, energy healer, Kim, orthopedic expert and Marika, the super foods nutrition specialist. Based on Rio´s consent, the experts have received her story and her personal citizen-driven health journal from the StoryHealer. Leon facilitates the conversation in an informal and caring manner so that Rio can relax as she sees that even the experts are sharing their own personal vulnerabilities. Together, this group expands their collective knowledge on the symptoms Rio has been experiencing by sharing experiences, advice, and learning from each other.
It seems like they really care about Rio, and worry is lifted as she writes in the personal reflection on the conversation and what she learned from it in her citizen-driven health journal before leaving. She also experiences a sense of self-confidence, knowing how she wants to deal with her health situation.
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Part 3-Post-human empathy
It is the year of 2060. After the successful implementation of holistic communal care, humans have extended their approaches to learning and healthcare towards post-human ideas, discovering the wealth of knowledge of other species and plants. This has been possible due to the new value system that came into place in the after-d;ent period that re-purposed technological development and supported new values. While humans have been trying to re-capture their knowledge and wisdom from nature, they also started to immerse themselves into fully experiencing nature through the senses, intuition, and higher levels of consciousness. In this, they learned how to communicate with other co-living beings. Community gardens have become islands for organic learning in urban areas.
Rio is just taking a walk through one of these community gardens that create possibilities to learn more about self-care through a deep connection with different animal species and plants, each having developed unique ways of dealing with specific aspects of health. Rio stops at a place where a few people are turning their attention to a horse, a mini crocodile, that manages to keep its sharp teeth intact during its lifetime of 250 years.
Boni, who is a researcher in post-human dental care has been following Kiki, the crocodile, for 30 years now and has even learned to communicate with her through an inter-species translator device. She describes to Rio and the group that has gathered around how Kiki chews klementia, a plant native to the jungle, which Boni nowadays plants in the community garden to make it available to citizens who join her dental learning circles. This plant not only kills oral bacteria but also creates a protective layer over the teeth which resists harmful substances such as sugars. Boni carefully listens to what Kiki has to say, translated with a rusty voice through the Inter-Species Translator (IST): “by living in symbiosis with klementia for many years I have realized that I was having less pain in my limbs, as chewing slowly klementia did not only help me keep my teeth healthy.” Boni then invites Rio and the other fellows in the circle into a quiet meditation, chewing slowly on a little piece of klementia and sensing the smoothing effect on their teeth in silence. Rio feels a new sensation licking the smooth surface of her teeth, but also a sense of heightened awareness of connection to the surrounding plants, which brings a smile on her face. “Is that also the effect of klementia?”, she wonders.
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