humanity
The evolution of humanity, from one advancement to the next.
We Don't Know the Way...
I unplugged my phone, rolled onto my side, and tapped the small blue icon. That dotted white chat bubble was supposed to open last night’s conversation, where my unfinished draft sat waiting. Instead, nothing happened. The home screen wouldn't let me into the world I craved so desperately—the one I had conditioned myself to need. It just stared back at me, frozen. Forever stuck. Forever waiting. Forever gone.
By K.H. Obergfolla day ago in Futurism
No Service, All the Chaos.
The Day the Phones Went Dark At 9:17 on a Tuesday morning, every smartphone in America stopped working. Not lost service. Not low battery. Just dead—silent, blank, and unresponsive. No warning, no alert, no final ping from the universe. One moment everyone was scrolling, swiping, tapping, checking, posting. The next, every phone became a useless little slab.
By Syl De'Vil3 days ago in Futurism
Saltwater Silence
Sara Foxgrove remembered the last normal moment of her childhood as something small and quiet. She sat on the back steps of her mother’s cabin 0n Popham Beach, peeling bark off a stick and pretending it was a wand, the kind that could call storms or open secret doors if she pointed it just right. The tide had pulled back far enough that the sandbar stretched toward Fox Island like a pale, exposed spine. Her mother, Mara, wasn’t home. Neither were her father or her brothers. They had left an hour earlier to drive into Bath for groceries and a part her father needed for the woodstove. They’d promised to be back before the tide turned. Sara had waved as the car disappeared down the dirt road, not knowing it was the last time she’d ever see them. The afternoon felt suspended, like the world was holding its breath. Even the gulls seemed quieter, circling lazily above the water as if waiting for something.
By Syl De'Vil3 days ago in Futurism
IVF
Every morning I open the fridge and grab the little bottle of progesterone oil. Needle already filled. I sit on the bed in my underwear, pinch the skin on my hip, and push. It burns every single time. Then I get up and make coffee like this is normal, like my body isn’t being forced to act pregnant with a bunch of timed chemicals.
By Jyoti DiClemente6 days ago in Futurism
Borderless
Electronic messaging is a wonderful invention. In the matter of seconds—not even minutes—we can send the written word to people not just across the country but across the globe! You can talk to your doctor, your grandparents, or your former roommate without ever having to see them or even hear their voice. There is not just one form of electronic messaging, either. From e-mail to chat to WhatsApp to text messaging, the possibilities are endless. And the ways in which the electronic messages can reach you are evolving every day. Whether you’re on your phone, tablet, or computer, these messages can reach you anywhere, at any time, no matter what you are doing…and that is exactly the problem.
By Stephanie Hoogstad6 days ago in Futurism
AI and I
Writing about AI here on Vocal feels a bit too easy a choice for this challenge, but there's a reason I decided to go ahead with this piece. Frankly, I was a bit surprised when I considered how I feel about it these days. I've developed a love/hate relationship with the technology. (There I go, personifying it already, and that's one of the things I hate about it.)
By Dana Crandell6 days ago in Futurism
It started with a spell check
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Arthur C. Clarke When I first started writing, I wrote with a pen. Teachers had taught me the fundamentals. Reading showed me how others did it. I checked my spelling with a dictionary. Broadened my vocabulary with a thesaurus. Read grammar books to remind me of my school lessons. And used style books to keep up with the times. Strunk and White, along with William Zinsser, stood in for the tweed-jacketed academics of my youth.
By Pitt Griffin6 days ago in Futurism
