It’s 2071,
Are We Still Human?
The year is 2071: Boundaries between humans and nonhumans have blurred. How do these organisms look and function? How do they fit into new social, ecological, and political systems? We asked our BDC community members to share their visions of an interspecies future.
1.
No one imagined that the earth would make it this far––humans had already sought other planets. Then, something changed. They started to merge with nonhumans. Some humans wanted to amalgamate into organisms with leaves. Some with rocks, others with bugs or soil. They morphed into bio-humans for survival. —Hande Gungor
2.
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Simone Johnson on aquatic communication technologies, hydra lineages, and other thought forms
In 2071 people affected by climate change and rising sea levels turn to the ocean to alter their lineages through animal apprenticeships and marine medicine. —Simone Johnson
With characteristics borrowed from different organisms, Interface proposes three masks that expand visual reality and extend the human experience. —Jose Chavarría Sancho
4.
Offering a remedy for severe food shortage in 2071, Homo Vegecus triggers a great cultural and biological shift in the food chain. The biodesigned breakthrough transforms human beings into autotrophic, photosynthesizing lifeforms. Farms gradually become obsolete and the concept of food no longer elicits material forms.
Simultaneously, a new type of employment emerges. To help plants absorb harmful CO2 in the atmosphere, humans start to use their own photosynthesis abilities to become “Carbon Sequestrators”. In 2071, every moment of daylight is treasured. —Yuning Chan and Ji Soto
5.
alien_criticality is a video work that drops you into a synthetic world. You navigate wind-chapped, ever-rarifying ground as a water caltrop, which has been imbued with abilities to catch light and sense aural magnetic fields.
“We make the world we possess. If we make our collective voices heard loud enough, it is inevitable that we move away from choices toxic to our survival,” an invisible force says. “You know nothing of this human concern. You are a de-pigmented seedpod.” —Kelly Xi
Cite This Essay
“It’s 2071, Are We Still Human?” Biodesigned: Issue 8, 22 July, 2021. Accessed [month, day, year].