It has been three years since the coronavirus pandemic brought life in the UK to a standstill and closed down schools for good. We never expected it to get to that point, but the economy was badly damaged and the government were desperate to save money in any way they could, so unfortunately schools took the hit. Every child in every corner of the UK is now receiving their education from home, no matter their age or ability.
Here at BEAM we provide support for children with additional learning needs, to help make their journey through education smoother. BEAM was first formed in 2021 by a small group of parents whose children fell into this category. They noticed that their children were struggling with the lack of normal routine and found it hard to learn without an adult constantly by their side. Over the past three years BEAM has developed two items to help children overcome these problems: ‘SAL’ the home learning companion, and the ‘Learning Identity Badge’ for transforming your everyday clothes into a home uniform.
All parts included with SAL and the Learning Identity Kit
SAL (Supportive Assisted Learning) was first created in 2021, when one of our founding parents realised that they could hack their smart home device and use it as a tool for communicating with others. Now in 2023, SAL is a learning companion for pupils that provides support that would otherwise come from a parent or teacher. Pupils often needed parents to interpret instructions for them and keep them focused, however teachers can now upload their own voice recording of instructions to SAL for pupils to access at home. The pupils can follow SAL’s guidance, rather than being fully dependent on parents. SAL can also be used for pupils to communicate with their classmates. SAL is fully customisable and arrives with a sticker pack to kickstart children’s imaginations, however it can be decorated in any way to reflect the pupils’ identities.
SAL before customisationSALs after customisation
The Learning Identity Badge provides
routine for children with additional learning needs. Lack of routine resulted in
increased anxiety levels for many pupils within this group that prevented them
from settling into home learning. The Learning Identity Badge can be added onto
any item of clothing to transform it into a ‘home uniform’. Putting the badge on
at the same time each day allows pupils to create their own routine for
learning at home. The badge comes disassembled, meaning pupils can customise it
with any design they feel will best express their individual learning identity.
The Learning Identity Kit and a completed badge
Thank you for expressing interest in the future of education for children with additional learning needs, we hope to see you again soon!
We are two documentary journalists, being sent to London and Palermo in the year 2120, a future of rewilding. Please click the picture below to explore our expedition through pictures and recordings:
Behind the story:
Scientists have raised the concern that potentially the majority of global burden of disease is going to result from our impacts across the natural systems, all of those transformations are accelerating at a pace that threatens human health. We moved from a perfectly designed ecosystem to a ruthless “ego-system” in which there is more power in consuming and letting go than holding on.
This future of rewilding is to remember how important it is to understand that people and nature are deeply connected. We’ve created two sets of collections as our physical artifacts that represent our whole journey. We sincerely believe this new future will exist as long as we honour, respect, and cooperate with nature's inherent ability to sustain life.
Please click on the audio and scroll along. For a better experience please use earphones.
Year 2100 | 12:30 pm | Mumbai
I flip through the book, scanning the pages that I have already read. The air is hot against my skin. I stop, gripping the book tightly to fan it against my face. In the world that I live in, the sun is always blazing, the temperatures soaring during the day. First, let me introduce myself. My name is Alaya and I am 11. The book I am reading is a book that every child is given to understand history. It’s like a diary written by two people Zoya and Mahi, Mahi being the daughter ( I already looked up what daughter means ) of Zoya, starting in 2030. Many parts of the country are now barren. A lot of things have changed or at least that’s what I have been told by the elders.
The view from my window
This is what the book looks like
I flip to the very first page of the book, the part where Zoya mentions her reasons to start writing the diary.
I flip again to read the first entry of the book.
Year 2030 | Mumbai
I stop and think about what a mother or a father is. I don’t understand the love Zoya had for Mahi. How could she care so much for a person? I wonder what that must feel like, to be protected. I have always been told that love is about everything, the planet, the trees, water, the air we breathe, all of it. Nothing belongs to us and we belong to nothing. We are the protectors and companions of the planet and everything that resides in it.
She mentions a toy. What is a toy? I also wonder what a farmer is. I quickly turn to the end of the book where the definitions are.
Dictionary of Lost Words and Feelings
The word farmer means someone who owns a piece of land. We don’t own any land! I wonder why would they want to own any land? It seems so cruel. We always share and respect everything we take from the planet even though the planet doesn’t speak to us, it’s still our friend. We don’t have farmers but something called Prithvi ( Earth ) Rakshak (protectors) who love the land, care for it and it in turn cares for us. When I was born I was assigned the role of a Prithvi Rakshak. Every child is assigned a role. We also have Jal (Water) Rakshak (Protector) and Vayu (Air) Rakshak (Protector). Although we are assigned specific roles, we learn about everything, to respect, and care for all the roles equally. As a Prithivi Rakshak, I particularly learn about alternatives to food and growing. I am the protector! I even have a mark on my arm.
This is interesting. I flip again to a few months ahead
Year 2030 | Mumbai
She has documented every little detail about her daughter. I flip ahead to 10 years later.
Year 2040 | Mumbai
I want to reread the part about Mumbai. Oh, here it is!
Year 2050 | Mumbai
I stop in horror. A large part of Mumbai did submerge but why was she only worried about Mahi? There were so many people in trouble. Shouldn’t she be helping others too!
Snapshot of the cyclone in 2050 that took a large portion of Mumbai
Let’s see what happens a few months later after the incident.
Year 2050 | Mumbai- The law for controlling the population. No more babies!Snapshot of an online page from 2050
It seems like Zoya was worried about Mahi’s life ahead.. Isn’t this a good thing though, to not have children?
I wonder what Mahi would write about now that she can’t pass this dairy to her child. I stop at the page where she had just received it from her mom.
Year 2060 | Mumbai
I begin reading her entries. 2060 was when the wall was built since cyclones had become a regular phenomenon.
Year 2060 | MumbaiSnapshot of the wall that was built to prevent flooding in 2060
So this is what the city looks like from the other side! Yesterday we took a field trip to the wall to remind ourselves of our duty to protect and care for the planet, that the water is not our enemy but it was because of us that there is now a wall between us.
Me and the others from yesterday
I continue reading her entires..
Year 2075 | MumbaiYear 2088 | Mumbai
The law of not having children was revoked in 2088. Now, the government decides the number of children that will be born, and they aren’t the creation of two individuals but a part of a community. I don’t know what it felt like to belong to someone or to be loved and cared for by two individuals, to have that support. Perhaps I would never understand that and maybe they will just be concepts that remain tucked in the confines of this book and maybe that is okay.
The Digital Department of Social Media is officially launching a 120-day pilot that will educate citizens on how to apply for the new 2040 social media scheme and acquire their social media navigation license.
The DDSM strives to provide each user the pertinent information to ensure they are safe and aware while navigating social media channels in the United States of America.
The information contained in this handbook will not only provide users with an understanding of rules, responsibilities but also encourage a deep understanding on how to safely navigate social channels when it comes to different social media conditions and circumstances.
Introduction
Glossary
The beginning
“Users will be granted the official license which holds their new navigation number 5 days after passing their test”.
(1) Cle/Air, 2040 by Haneen Jamal and Muneera Albarrak(2) Cle/Energy, 2040 by Haneen Jamal and Muneera Albarrak
Welcome to our “ Dar Biophilia – where the Love of Life and All Living Worlds exist”.
(3) Dar Biophilia bilingual logo
(4) The entrance of the district
Dar is an Arabic word means home and Biophilia is a theory introducing the idea that humans are instinctively drawn to nature and other forms of life. In Dar Biophilia district, we celebrate the interaction between nature and humans.
All of our houses are designed to be self-sustainable, adaptive, and connected. The spaces in these homes support natural and social life, and one of those spaces is “Blooming Cloud” whichyou will be seen in the tour. This space is a foldable planting deck that transforms into a balcony which responds to the climate and human modes.
(5) The balcony mechanism
(6) Blooming Cloud
Now, we will start the tour in our Dar Biophilia. For each tour, one tree will be planting in our district. At the beginning, stick this Cle/Energy – small magnatic solar device in your clothes or bag – that collect human and solar power to generate energy while we are moving around.
(7) Cle/Energy solar magnet
(8) Tour through “Dar Biophilia”
This is the end of our tour, hope you enjoy it. We are happy now to tell you that your Cle/Energy contribute in generating power for 1 hour of energy.
(9) The QR code on Cle/Air
Please accept a piece of our Dar Biophilia that allow you to experience one of the “Blooming Cloud” features that embodied in Cle/Air to explore the power of plants.
(10) Cle/Air digital brochure
For more details about our story and promotional item, take pleasure in scanning the QR code on Cle/Air – with the hologram feature on your smart phone – to get the interactive brochure with full details of our 20 years journey and the modes offered by “Blooming Cloud”.
(11) Dar Biophilia digital brochure(12) The story of Dar Biophilia(13) The modes of Blooming Cloud
We can’t wait to have you as a part of our community.
Sources:
(1) Created by the designers
(2) Created by the designers + https://bit.ly/3dhOlWS + https://bit.ly/3fHayPF
(3) Created by the designers
(4) Created by the designers + https://archello.com/project/rebel-2 + https://www.pinterest.fr/pin/480759328966116458/ + https://www.pinterest.com/pin/391391023863165818/
(5) Created by the designers
(6) Created by the designers + https://archello.com/project/rebel-2
(7) Created by the designers + https://bit.ly/3fHayPF
(8) Created by the designers + https://archello.com/project/rebel-2
An 11-Year-Old Girl Opens a Museum in the Memory of Her Grandfather
Katarzyna Marczyk Human Stories Correspondent Fri 12 September 2070 05.00 BST
It has been 10 years since scientists identified the reason for a significant decrease in fertility, as well as a massive increase in prostate and breast cancer. Despite efforts for finding a solution, Xenoestrogens – environmental chemicals that mimic female estrogens – are still present everywhere from water, food, plastics, personal care products, pharmaceuticals, to industrial chemicals, and beyond.
To limit the exposure to the chemicals, people changed their lives completely – moved away from polluted cities, work from home, limited their consumption, switched to natural cosmetics and medicines, learned to do things by hand, and stopped using fertilisers as well as detergents. Yet, this lifestyle change has been followed by another momentous shift – the shift towards value-driven society.
Now that cancer is taking our relatives one by one and the adverse effects of xenoestrogens on fertility made having children close to impossible – we finally realised how important family is. For the first time in history, men and women around the world equally adjust their careers to family life as well as equally contribute to unpaid care work and housework – not because they should, but because they want to. The research from the Ministry of Values shows that masculinity is now associated with care while femininity is a symbol of strength – after all, there is nothing braver than keeping on trying to have a baby after years of effort and series of miscarriages. Interestingly enough, the word “family” extended its meaning – because we do not have many living relatives we now consider close friends and neighbours to be our family members as well.
With funerals more frequent than ever, the threat became real. Not knowing how much time we have left, we started to question what is important to us, pursue only what matters, and accept everyone’s right to live as they want. But how do we pass down the value-driven lifestyle towards the next generation? A grandfather from Poland found a beautiful way of teaching that to his granddaughter – a handmade box made to help her realise and remember what matters.
On the biggest heart: “Remember what matters. Grandpa 2068”. On the smaller hearts: “Love”, “Friends”, “Life”, “Care”, “Time together”.
The instructions were simple – write down on pieces of paper what matters to you, put it in the box, and have it always near you, so that you remember what is truly important. Yet, the granddaughter went a step further – after her grandfather passed away from cancer, she made a video in his memory, in which she asked her loved ones what matters to them.
The video went viral and the question she raised at the end prompted a conversation about our values. People started to make their own boxes and post photos of their contents on social media. Together with her dad, the granddaughter created an online museum that virtually collects and exhibits inventories of boxes from people all around the world.
The museum is a tribute for the girl’s grandfather, who with the genuine act of making a wooden box, taught her and thousands of people the value of realising what matters.
I don’t know if you heard about the COVID-19 pandemic which upended the most basic tenets of social life and the economy a hundred years ago.
Back in those days, social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube were the primary ways of people interacting with and making sense of the world.
But at that time, these platforms hid behind the fiction of “neutrality”—that sorting news feeds by what people liked and shared the most, would result in the ultimate democracy. Not only was that fiction wrong, but it was also dangerous. It fuelled the mass spread of disinformation, polarization, and the ultimate breakdown of truth—a breakdown that’s made it harder to agree on obvious threats like COVID-19.
At the same time, due to the stagnation of economic development, the intensification of class and race conflicts, and the prevalence of the movement for safeguarding rights around the world, there were increasing incidents of resistance and violence. People were facing the dual threat of physical and mental health problems; attention spans decreased because people were inundated with information. They spent too much time online, often devouring fake and biased items. They grew hateful of each other rather than closer in understanding. Negative and harmful ideologies had platforms that could reach much farther.
Media and other related industries ignored moral standards, indulged, or even promoted the development of this situation in order to gain increased sales and clicks. The government also had no regulatory measures, and they even deliberately let the international offensive of public opinion spread, deepening the national resentment, so as to achieve the purpose of calming down and transferring the dissatisfaction of our own people. Governments, industries, and hackers all benefited from data integration and sharing involving other people’s personal privacy.
There was little analytical reflection from individuals or even the whole society, and the situation got worse.
Let’s go back to 2120, a world where wars continue, laws fail, violence is advocated, black and evil forces and leaders of heresy are followed by fanatics. The people are still unbridled to vent their anger, reach their selfish desires, use and be used, and lose their basic morality and right and wrong views.
In my world, there is a great scientific and technological product, which is a transparent loop covering the eyes. Wearing it will not affect one’s vision, but it can rationalize and activate any information you hear and help to express your mind more decisively. More and more people choose to wear it actively to escape the truth, and cruel facts, and blindly follow the information they want to hear and express it recklessly……
Coincidentally, the world I live in also had a similar history a hundred years ago. The plague was rampant, the economic development was stagnant, the class and race contradictions were intensified, the rights movement was prevalent all over the world, resistance and violence, and people were submerged in the flood of information at the same time.
But the difference is that the government began to release information through official channels, banned relevant media platforms, and prohibited people from discussing any social event on the Internet platform. People’s interaction is becoming more and more isolated, and knowledge and understanding are becoming more and more balkanized. The government has put forward some standards and policies, such as resolutely putting an end to public gatherings and processions, and forbidding domestic citizens Free entry and exit, it is also not allowed to discuss or express dissatisfaction openly on the Internet platform……
Let’s go back to the moment in 2120, when countries are isolated from each other, and the system is rigid like an old machine, with huge class differences and prevailing monitoring. The cultural form is single, subculture is blocked, programs and publications are strictly controlled, individuals have no right to use the Internet, people lose personality……
In my world, there is also a great scientific and technological product, which is a transparent loop covering the ears and mouth. Wearing it is equivalent to automatically shielding the real voice and giving up the right to express for the truth. Nevertheless, more and more people are eager to wear it, because wearing it means becoming a member of the system’s supporters, even though the bondage is so thorough……
Nowadays , nearly half of a person’s life is devoted to work, most people have similar routine, work takes most time, a small part time is under people’s control. Many people complain that they are just make a living rather than having a life, what they want is more freedom.
Life with more freedom is definitely the life that most people are expecting, but will our world society better and people become happier in this situation? Actually, we are not sure.
What will people’s life be like? what work mode will they have in the future ? Will they still work like a machine or have more freedom? Let’s see what will happen in 2065…
NARRATIVE
LiveLife Company in 2065
Hello, guys! welcome to 2065
Good morning, everyone! I am John, the executive of LiveLife Company. LiveLife is a newly established technology and innovation company in 2065, which offers flexible working times.
Have you been bored with traditional 8-hour working mode? Do you want more freedom? Then you can join us! In our company, you are free to arrange your working time. You only need to work for 6 hours a week. Generally, 3 days a week, 2 hours per day. The rest time is completely at your disposal. Not only that, you’ll get paid more than any other regular employee.
How to work in IiveLife Company?
That’s because our company invent a new set of brain connections, it can replace traditional communication way– through language. Now, employees just need to wear this device, then information can be transmitted through brains directly. This mode can dramatically increase the working efficiency.
The brain connected to the machine will always working in high speed mode, so we recommend no more than two or two hours per day.
While, there is also some side effects. The high efficiency work mode will cause some damage to your brain and influence your lifespan, generally if you work in this mode for 4 years, it will reduce the lifespan of a year; But it is also up to you to some extent; If you manage your life well and live in an active and healthy way, the side effects will reduce and even disappear. But if you live in passive and lazy way, you may also exacerbate the negative effects.
LiveLife Company Evaluation System
Because our company is the first company who create this new work mode, actually we don’t know whether it is a better work mode compared with traditional 8-hour work mode from a long term. So we establish an Evaluation System to evaluate your whole life from four areas: Physical Health, Mental Health, Social Value and Personal Value. These four parts contain all the life meanings from society and individual perspectives.
When you are nearly at the end of your life, you have the chance useour Evaluation System and you can get a life report.
ARTEFACT
A special LIFE REPORT for you
After many years
Our company has run for many years, and we also have made many life reports to our employees. Here are two specific reports examples of our employees.
Steven’s Life Report
After graduating from, school, Steven came to our company and worked until he retired. He worked two hours a day, three days a week, as recommended by the company;
Here is his life report
Notice: Steven died when he was 76 years old. This picture was taken when he was 75 years old
Steven is a very self-disciplined and excellent man. He has many hobbies, such as traveling and reading books. In his spare time, he did a lot of things to enrich his life and improve himself. So we can find Steven has a high overall score and he can ranks Top 31%.
Steven has a good physical condition. Although this kind of work mode tends to cause some damage to his physical health, he did a lot of sports and have a healthy diet. The side effect has been reduced and he has a 75 score for final physical health.
Steven has an excellent mental health condition (90 score). This work mode gives him enough freedom and he doesn’t have work pressure problem. He can do many things he would like to do.
Besides working in LiveLife Company, Steven also sets up a cafe shop because he likes chatting and making friends with others. He is also a very kind person and helps some families in some poor areas. He brings a lot of economic and love value to our society.
Work in LiveLife Company and running a cafe make Steven earn and save a lot of money. He goes out to travel with his friends once a month to boarded his horizons. He also read books to improve himself. At the same time, he is very disciplined. He has a health diet and exercises every day. So he brings a lot of value to himself including money, pleasure, love and knowledge.
Christina’s Life Report
A Summary for Christina’s life report
Christina is a very smart woman, she came to our company after her undergraduate study; But Christina is not a very self-disciplined person. After work, she spends most of her time online playing games, and most of the money she earns is spent on games to buy game equipment. And she didn’t follow the company’s best advice. She worked every day when she was short of money, sometimes four hours a day, which causes huge damage to his physical health. Besides, she often plays games every day and night, eats take-away food and never does exercises. So we can find she has bad scores for all four areas especially the physical health and personal value.
SUMMATY
From our company’s different employee experience and life evaluation report, we can see that in such a free working mode, some people live a more wonderful life, while others have a more bleak life. So what will your life be like if you join our company one day?
And also we have to think about this question: Is life with more freedom better or worse? Nowadays most people have similar routine, they have to work for most of their life and only a small part time is under people’s control. But if one day people do not need to work for such a long time, most time is under people’s control, they have more freedom, what will happen? There will be bigger and bigger difference between people ‘s life such as Steven and Christina in our narrative. Some people are positive and they can arrange their life better while the others are very negative and waste a lot of time. That’s also why our company set up the life repot to evaluate people’s life so that we can find the meaning of people’s life and find which work mode is better to individual and our society from a long term.
Nowadays, many people often complain they do not have their own life and want more freedom. If one day our dream comes true, how might we balance freedom and working? How might we choose living or life? what will our society be like?
We hope our project can raise your thinking about this topic. Thank you for your time.
