The Spark Magazine (Jan 2018)
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FastForward<br />
Fantasies of A<br />
Techie Bachelor<br />
What’s the future of tech? How would life look like in the next 10 to 15 years<br />
if the new inventions we see today become everyday gadgets? Well, here’s<br />
an example.<br />
- By Segun Adekoye<br />
It’s 5:30am, yet your room takes on the gradual amber glow of<br />
a rising sun. As you approach the window, your venetian blinds<br />
feel your presence and part to reveal a deep-blue starry sky.<br />
You know it’s the crimson glow of your intelligent bulb that has<br />
simulated an artificial sunrise to help your body respond better<br />
to your morning alarm.<br />
“It’s not even 6am yet”. You fall back on the bed, crawling under<br />
your duvet. 15 minutes later, your Amazon Echo makes a whirring<br />
sound, followed by a 5:45am ding. You snooze, muttering<br />
to yourself how deserving you were of more sleep, because<br />
the Bank’s website you updated ate into your bedtime. You’re<br />
half-thinking about that, half asleep and then you feel a shortvibration<br />
on your wrist followed by a mild electrocution.<br />
“Damn you this wretched wrist-band!” you curse out, yanking off<br />
your Pavlok Shock wristband from your wrist, before throwing<br />
it into the waste bin. You get up, dragging yourself slowly to<br />
the waste bin to pick up your Pavlock because it has saved you<br />
several times from oversleeping.<br />
“Sisi” you mutter, looking over at your Amazon Echo. “Sisi, turn<br />
on the water heater. Thirty-five degrees”.<br />
As you approach the bathroom, Sisi switches on the light, turns<br />
off the Air-conditioning unit in your room and activates the<br />
bathtub speakers.<br />
‘So make I dey your body like skin tight<br />
Wey I go dey by your side’<br />
It’s 7:15am now and you rush out of the house. Your garage<br />
opens as you press hard on your car key, while your 2017 BMW<br />
750i drives itself outside the garage and unlocks the rear door<br />
for you. ‘999c Danmole’<br />
“Express or Beach road sir?”<br />
“Beach road, Romanus”, you respond to the car without looking<br />
up.<br />
Ping! You receive a notification from your doorknob, Sesame.<br />
“Hey! You forgot to lock the entrance door. Are you expecting<br />
someone or do I activate soft lock?”<br />
“Hard-lock Sesame. Thanks.”<br />
Your car makes an abrupt stop, avoiding a collision with a danfo<br />
bus that just veered into your lane without warning.<br />
“You dey mad abi? You dey drive this kain car wey no get driver?”<br />
<strong>The</strong> bus driver yells as he speeds past.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se types of cars cannot survive this city, people say. Your car<br />
is close to your office but has been indicating a left turn for some<br />
minutes, no one is willing to give you a chance. You pull out your<br />
phone, typing a message that pops out on your car’s rear glass.<br />
You had installed Ototok a few days ago to communicate with<br />
other motorists like yourself.<br />
‘Abeg, make I pass’, your Ototok’s led light flashes across the<br />
screen. Romanus, your self-driving car makes its way finally to<br />
your office car park.<br />
You’re so attached to your devices that you have given all of<br />
them unique names. Sisi handles the home affairs. Romanus<br />
takes care of you on the road, while Kike, your Google assistant<br />
handles your schedule at the office and quick errands such as<br />
meal orderings, soccer score updates and more.<br />
You settle down, googling ‘errand robots in China’. Your day<br />
begins.