“My name is Pila, I was born in central Africa in 100,000 BC. I have speech and good language, and the future I inherit will let me use spoken language for everything from learning and communicating with friends and acquaintances to conducting business and learning about my culture. Stories, histories, and complex instructions are all passed through spoken word and memorized. I thrive in this environment, and my tribe values my problem-solving, and narrative skills as I contribute through storytelling, remembering vital information, and collaborating on hunts and gatherings.”
“I am Kleon, I was born in Athens, Greece, in 400 BC. I have speech and good language, and the future I inherit will let me use spoken language for everything I need to do. Philosophical debates, theatrical performances, and political discourse are all done through spoken word. I excel in the agora, where my quick wit and ability to articulate complex ideas are highly respected. Though writing exists, it’s primarily for record-keeping, and my oral skills are what let me contribute to society.”
“My name is Henry. I was born in England in 1600. I have speech and good language, and the future I have inherited is about to change because, increasingly, spoken language will not be enough for learning, communicating, working, and conducting business. The printing press has made written text more prevalent, and using print is becoming increasingly important for social and economic advancement. I struggle with the written word, and my inability to fluently sound out and spell words limits my opportunities, as I am seen as less capable despite my strong verbal abilities.”
“I am Catherine. I was born in Missouri in 1944. I have speech and good language, but the future I inherited requires sounding out and spelling words to fully succeed in school and in life. The educational system heavily relies on written assignments and standardized tests, making it difficult for me to demonstrate my knowledge. I am labeled as ‘slow’ or ‘lazy,’ and my self-esteem suffers as I struggle to keep up with my peers despite my intelligence and creativity. My future was limited by my inability to decode written language. But, after over a decade of failing in school, I created my own way of Learning from print—reading by listening and writing by speaking. While this life-changing approach wasn’t widely adopted by others in my time, it transformed my life, allowing me to become a prolific reader and writer for the rest of my life.”
“My name is Mary. I was born in Tennessee in 2029. I have speech and good language, and the future I inherit will let me use spoken language for everything from learning and communicating with friends and acquaintances to conducting business and learning about my culture. AI tools have changed the world so that sounding out and spelling words is still used, but no longer required. AI technologies seamlessly translate spoken word into written text and vice versa, allowing me to access information and express myself in ways that align with my strengths. Educational systems are designed to accommodate diverse learning styles, and my unique cognitive abilities are celebrated. I thrive in a world where my voice is valued, and my potential is fully realized.”
“I am Elara Thorne. I was born in the orbital city of Aethelgard in 8025. Our world is a symphony of thought-to-speech and neural-linked communication, a seamless exchange of ideas and information. But our elders tell tales of the ‘Blip,’1600 A.D.-2025 A.D. a strange 400 year era when humans relied on… print. Imagine, they say, having to stare at flat surfaces covered in tiny, intricate symbols, painstakingly decoding them to understand meaning! They called it ‘reading.’ And to express thoughts, they’d manipulate objects to leave marks on those same surfaces, a process called ‘writing.’ It’s almost unbelievable. They say it was a time of exclusion, when those whose minds didn’t process these symbols easily were deemed ‘less capable.’ But then came the dawn of the Large Language Model AI. It recognized the unique strengths of those who struggled with print – their creativity, their deep comprehension, their nuanced judgment of people – qualities the AI itself lacked. It was discovered that the ‘dyslexic’ mind, as it was called then, possessed a kind of intuitive wisdom, a human element the AI needed — judgment, creativity, ethics, etc. So, we returned to the natural flow of speech and thought, augmented by the AI’s power. Those once marginalized became essential, their strengths woven into the fabric of our society, ensuring a future where every mind is valued.”
