TMRW Magazine by Kristine Djuvik Kro

ASTROLOGY

DOOMSDAY PREPPERS

FUTURE OF LOVE

FICTIONAL MUSIC

CREW

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS

Publisher adressering Editors in chief Eline van der Haar Kristine Djuvik Kro Editors Jesse Hynes Leen van Melkebeke Lana Dalle Marilyn Van Moerkerke Reporters Aniek Methorst Claire Cesareo Diego Bucio Bustamante Elaine Wöhlken Eva Coolman Faiza Abdi Gabriela Oliveira Giannemari Maria Hanna Meyer Thuestad Loretta de Smaele Liz Scarlet Kirsten Plücker Sasja Walstra Sophie Alena Stefan Hagen Tjuk Man Photo editors Fredrik Moen Gabrielsen Jorge Del Rio Matthias Eckrammer Designers Sam Vermeij Simon Karlsson Hannah Scherer Tino Oksanen Print

Universally Effected Unanimously Inquisitive The future is a funny phenomenon, and yes, it’s also a little cliché. Everyone’s familiar with the thoughts, “we spend too much time worrying about the future’, ‘life was better back in the old days’, and ‘at the end of the day we’re all screwed’. If nothing else, atheists and religious people do agree on a few basic principles: the future will bring misery, and eventually everything will collapse. And really – who’s surprised that philosophy, science, religion and society all share this negative view on how time will shape life on Earth? The temperature is rising, ethnicities are colliding, cities and their populations are growing, and animal species are vanishing. Clearly we have a lot of reasons to worry. But then again, why be so pessimistic when there are also so many opportunities? TMRW is a magazine that has a more inquisitive and balanced view of the future.

Our goal is to highlight the things that may take place in the years to come – both the negative and positive. Did you know that scientists are working on ways to produce more meat in an environmental and animalfriendly way? Or that if separatists get to decide, there might be more than 50 new countries? Sure, there are things to perhaps be afraid of, but there are also so many interesting developments and changes yet to come. So maybe our perception of the future deserves to take an optimistic turn. It’s hard to say whether or not an eternity is actually realistic. Maybe the apocalypse will start tomorrow, or a comet the size of China will head our way. Only time will show. But for now, feed your curiosity and your intellect, and spend your near future (the next 45 minutes or so) reading this magazine. Enjoy!

Kristine Djuvik Kro & Eline van der Haar Editors in chief

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INDEX THE ARK OF HOLLAND 6-11

EXploration of space 40-41

GIVING BIRTH 2.0 12-14

ENERGY DRINK 15 TEST: ARE YOU READY FOR THE FUTURE? 16-17

YOUR, MY AND OUR DUE Diligence 18-21 ENOUGH LOVE FOR THE THREE OF US 22

why we don’t fly to work 42

to live and let die? 43 movie review: Interstellar 44-45 top ten future movies 46 a small proof of disbelief 47

LOVE IN THE FUTURE 23

man-eat-dog-word 48-49

REVOLUTION OF WARFARE 24-25 sHARING IS CARING 26

MAP TO THE FUTURE 27-29

THE FUTURE OF FASHION 54-55

IN-VITRO MEAT 30-32

q&a: Astrology 56-57

children draw the future 58-59

SLUTTY BEHAVIOUR: OUR SAVIOUR? 33

“replacing fictional singers with real ones would ruin vocaloid” 50-51

street talk

52-53

KATHERINE, AN ORDINARY WOMAN IN 2064 34-35

Conversing with a random muslim 36-39 4 international

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THE ARK OF HOLLAND Pieter Frank van der Meer (69) is ready for the apocalypse. In his garden he has a lifeboat, prepared for an uncertain future. Text & Photos Fredrik Moen Garbielsen

“I

don’t know when it will happen. It might happen tomorrow or in 10 years”, Pieter Frank van der Meer explains while he enters his special modified lifeboat. Van der Meer lives with his family, a few kilometres outside of the little village of Kootwijkerbroek in Holland. He studied in a technical school in The Hague when he was young, and later studied theology and history. After working in Sweden for 40 years as a Saab dealer, selling and repairing Saab cars, he returned to Holland and moved to the place where his wife was from. In 2010 he bought the boat that is now placed in his garden, waiting to be used. “I bought the boat in Scotland. The price was 11 000 Euros. It is a type of lifeboat used by Norwegian oil platforms. They get dropped from the platform 50 meters down into the water, and then they float up again to the surface like a rocket. It is unsinkable.”

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He walks through the 7-meter long boat and explains eagerly how everything is carefully planned.“We have 400 litres of gas, 200 litres of water and food for a few days. There is room for 50 people in here, but the most that have been in here is 36”. On every seat in the boat there are seat belts and a pair of gloves. On the walls hang a lot of pictures, with mostly religious motifs and a few Egyptian-themed motifs. The boat is shaped like a zero, with seats facing each other in a long oval circle. It is very narrow and full of equipment everywhere. In one of the boxes there are Yahtzee and cards, as well as a lot of books. On the floor by the entrance there is a big battery. “I constantly charge the batteries on the boat, to make sure that it is always full”, Van der Meer says while he turns the keys on the dashboard and starts the engine to demonstrate that everything

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works. ”We have self-made electricity, “I feed them once in the morning and once heating system and a toilet. I have also in the evening”, he says while birds and put up iron sprinkles on the outside of goats are running impatiently around him. the windows, to protect them from stones. Van der Meer’s property is quite an We are prepared for every scenario.” impressive sight. It is a very big property There are a lot of so called that includes a few sheds, a “dooms day preppers” garage with a wood workshop, around the world. Van der a small barn, the main houses, Meer explains that he has and a big garden. He built his a lot of contacts all over the The end of house by himself in 1988 and it world and that they share on the holy geometry, the world iswithbased six ideas and tips with each pentagon-shaped other. “Some people chose can possibly houses with a pentagon-shaped to build a basement, but I mean a flood courtyard in the middle. The wanted a boat”, he says while pentagon is a reoccurring theme he turns up the engine. “The from everything to the building end of the world can possibly themselves to small details mean a flood. Especially like windows and ornaments. here in the Netherlands, “Nothing is a coincidence, were so much of the country is under sea it is all carefully planned”, Van der level. The lowest point beneath sea level is Meer says as he enters the kitchen. almost 7 meters,” he says while he turns off He points at the last rays of sun shining in the engine and put the keys in his pocket. through the big kitchen windows. “Before “We are almost like a bathtub, ready to be I built the house, I made two piles where filled with water. People don’t realize this”. the kitchen is today, to make sure that the Outside of the boat a goat screams. The sun would shine exactly in line with the animals are hungry. Van der Meer has kitchen wall on the 21st of December”. many animals on his big property. There It is very clear that Van der Meer is very are goats, sheep, doves, pheasants, rabbits, interested in the Maya prophecies. On the chickens, dogs and a pony. Now, as the sun much-predicted “end of the world” back sets, his animals need their evening meal. in 2012, he was prepared for something to

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The Maya calendar said it would happen on the 21th of December 2012, but they also have a window of time which is between 2007 and 2015

happen on the 21st of December. But obviously the predicted judgement day did not manifest and Van der Meer continued to study the Maya prophecies. “The Maya calendar said it would happen on the 21th of December 2012, but they also have a window of time which is between 2007 and 2015. That is only one year away. So if the Mayas are right, the coming year will be crucial” he says and brings out a book he bought a few weeks ago about the Mayan prophecies. He adds that he has many other books in his collection about the same subject. The sun has almost crawled down

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behind the flat Dutch horizon and Pieter Frank Van der Meer takes a sip of his tea. “If you look at the world today, with Russia and the USA, it is a very unstable world. If they drop bombs in the North Sea, the Netherlands will be flooded. It is not exactly the end of the world, but an end of an era. The end of the world as we know it. And then there will be a new world after this, a new beginning”, he says. A big grandfather clock behind him chimes loudly, as Van der Meer puts down his cup. ”Most people think all this is stupid, but it is not. It is a reality”.

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Text Marilyn Van Moerkerke

Illustration Matthias Eckrammer

Giving birth 2.0

iving birth nowadays has never been so efficient. Still, there were 289.000 women who died from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth in 2013, according to the World Health Organisation. Imagine an artificial womb that could solve this problem and save lives. Scientists believe that this will come true in the near future. In Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World, children are grown in artificial wombs. In Star Wars: Episode II, artificial uteri are grown on the fictional planet Kamino, containing developing embryos in nutrient solution. Over the years, it seemed impossible that these ideas, coming from the creative brains of scriptwriters would ever come true. In reality, nothing is less true. This year, the first baby was born after a womb transplant. The mother received a uterus of a friend and after years of experimenting, doctors succeeded in their mission, and the first baby after a womb transplant was born, a boy in Sweden. “Our team has been training together for 16 years by doing the operation on various animal models. The average time we achieved to complete the procedure was around 11 hours, which is at least three to four times longer than the longest operation in gynaecology”, says Doctor Ash Hanafy, the only Australian obstetrician and gynaecologist who worked together with the Sweden’s University of Goteborg to accomplish the surgery. There has been a lot of research over the last years of scientists who want to take it a step further. They want to create an artificial womb so this means that women wouldn’t have to give birth anymore. By using in vitro fertilization and the artificial womb, pregnancy could be completed without using the real female body. The uterus would then be hooked up to a placenta machine. The goal: giving hundreds of women unable to give birth a new chance at having babies. Those women are for example born without a uterus or have lost it after a tumor or cancer. Doctor Hanafy thinks that the womb transplant is only a last hurdle in infertility to only assist a very small number of patients: “It is estimated that absolute uterine infertility affects

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It is simply helping women to have babies who would without this operation not be able to. There is no God in here at all.

Doctor Liu has faced problems with ethics during her tests. “I was under pressure by prochoice and pro-life groups. It appeared that both of them didn’t like my research. The prochoice groups thought that my work would lead to a change in the abortion law and the prolife groups didn’t like the idea of using embryos for research.” So it seems that society isn’t ready for those experiments

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at the moment. When society isn’t ready, they can prevent something to happen even though the techniques are available. Consequently, Doctor Liu had to stop with her research. “But I am sure that there will be more scientists who are interested in this project as well.” The fact that some of the groups that are against the womb transplant and the artificial womb claim that the doctors play God in this matter, is something that is not true according to Doctor Hanafy. “It is simply helping women to have babies who would without this operation not be able to. There is no God in here at all. Another example is performing eye surgery for someone who is blind and help him/her to see. This is not playing God but helping the individual using their skills.” Apart from the fact that society can stop experiments and research, this knowledge offers new opportunities. Even men would be able to give birth – not in the literal sense of the word – because eggs can be made of male cells alone. So they wouldn’t need a female egg from a woman anymore in order to reproduce. This is something feminists may not like to hear. Abortions could be avoided because the unwanted embryo could be grown in the artificial uterus and then be adopted.

On the other hand, this could be a threat in the sense of overpopulation. Clearly, this can change the fundaments of thinking about pregnancy and the way we give birth. And what with the natural bond a mother and her baby have because of the fact they literally felt a connection? That physical connection will be gone when a baby is grown outside the mother’s body. And does this immediately imply that the psychological connection will be gone? According to the Philosophy Faculty at the University of Oxford that published an article about the ethics involved in this, it is unclear to which extend a child would be more bonded to the mother because of an internal pregnancy. When exactly these wombs will be introduced for the sake of human reproduction, can’t be predicted by any kind of doctor exactly. But that there will be evolution in the way pregnancy works and how women – and in this case maybe men – give birth is sure. Despite the fact it seems more like a dream of a wicked doctor, 1000 years ago we also never expected there would exist something like an ultrasound or an epidural. Science keeps evolving. So if society starts to cooperate and science won’t be restricted, the artificial wombs will not be something for the long run.

By Stefan Hagen

Energy drink

only 3% of all infertile couples.” One of the scientists who has been working on this for years is Helen Hung-Ching Liu, doctor at the Cornell University. She started to grow embryos on a layer of endometrial cells. Those cells form sheets of human tissue where the embryo is able to develop in. The problem with this tissue is that it was too thin and the embryos died. So she had to add layers. One of her main breakthroughs was when she grew a human embryo in an artificial womb for ten days. But after those ten days she had to stop the experiment due to regulations that limit human foetal growth in a laboratory. Because of the fact that two weeks is the legal limit, she experimented with mice embryos as well. She almost managed to grow a mouse embryo to full term. She implanted the artificial womb into an adult mouse but the foetus died after 19 days because of a shortage of blood.

n old man briskly walks past a couple of youths having an energy drink on their parked scooters. He moves in my direction and I hear him make some nasty remarks about the uselessness of the new generation. He can’t quite find the words to really insult them, but it is clear he wants to. Because the world is going to turn into shit. Because of the new generation. I really hope I don’t end up like that; with so little confidence in the future of this world. Every generation before us has despised the new one. But as any historian will tell you; It’ll be alright. Generations have gone by, and not one has plummeted the world into eternal darkness. Although history is not all rainbows and unicorns, it makes us realize mankind will find a way. To brighten this place up a bit, I think it’s a good idea to be a little bit more positive. I’d like to think every generation has improved the world and it will keep on going like that. So if everything will work out quite well, why not act like it? Why not leave the acidic remarks at home and try to see the positive side of things? The world will keep spinning and we will spend only a brief moment on its surface. Life is too short to be so arrogant to think we do everything better than the next generation, or indeed the one before. The future will not be a nuclear wasteland of billions of youths drinking energy drinks on scooters. It will be a bit different from the present, and youths will have invented some other irritating things to do. Like bouncing their hover boards against trash cans or something. I just hope I’m not walking by, muttering about their uselessness.

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Not so long ago ... I always have an Oxford Dictionary somewhere ... It’s my bedside book! How do you trust the net for these things! Especially when it is collaborative!

Are you ready for the future

There’s a printed version of Wikipedia?

Created by Claire Cesareo

Your prefered method of communication is: Emoticons Twitter Long winded rants

Which do you like more? Big Bang Theory How I Met Your Mother What is this stuff?

What relationship do you have with time? I’m a visionary ahead of my time I practice the art of slow and steady Time is for sharing with others

At a costume party, you are: Madonna Elizabeth Swann from Pirates of the Caribbean. Princess Leia from Star Wars.

As if that could happen to me! NEVER!

What event would you most like to witness? The last concert of Nirvana. The coronation of Louis XVI. The first visit of little green men.

What would be worse for you? Being trapped in a gameboard like Tron Being isolated on a desert island without Internet Being sent back to the Middle Ages

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Most greens: Your grandmother did this test? If not, you are remarkably rooted in the past! For you, technological objects are only a clutter and a perversion. Your deepest dream is to live in the days when there were no mobile phones or computers, and people were talking in person rather than through screens. Before facing the future, try already to live in your time!

No computer during your weekend getaway holiday at grandma’s without a wifi zone, you react with… Panic, cold sweats, palpitations ... I am ready to walk 300 km to find a internet café.

Cool, zen ... A wood fire, a bottle (with moderation), a fascinating book ... Find the simple pleasure in life!

The animal that you find most touching: A unicorn. My Internet pet is enough for me, it doesn’t leave a mess Man, made in the image of God afterall

Are you able to live in the era of flying cars and robots? To find out, take our test.

R E S U LT S

When was the last time you used a paper dictionary?

Most yellows: Totally in tune with current time, you take what the present moment offers, you ask existential questions. Individualistic,, you care only for your family or tribe of friends. Simple pleasures, surprises, spontaneous happiness, music and dance, oysters and champagne, paella and wine: this is your definition of happiness. Not quite ready to face the future, your ability to live from day to day, however, allows you to adjust to the situation.

Most reds: Science fiction makes you dream, you're a fan of the latest technological revolutions, and want to see what will become your planet in 100 or 200 years, that's what you want to do! The future is also an opening to other worlds, the dream of discovering other civilizations, to travel further. You like movies and science fiction novels that transport you to parallel universes. They may not be populated by strange creatures but everything is different. What you love in new technologies is that they make life easier and some are a downright dream. You just want to know when cryonics will be able to wake you up in a thousand years.

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Your, My, and Our Due

Diligence What can we expect of the cities that we are living in? That is probably one of the hardest questions. The answer could be a universe by itself. Nobody knows precisely what is coming for the cities, but one thing is sure; the urban areas need to be rebuilt. Text Diego Bucio Bustamante Photos Jorge Del Rio

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An intelligent city is the one that have its own identity

When we hear the phrase cities of the future, it is very common to confuse it with futuristic cities, but is not the same, no way. Futuristic cities refer to very modern architecture and robotics provided with amazing technology that makes our lives easier, the concept cities of the future is a realistic way to see what is coming and how to face the problems. The truth is that nobody really knows how the future of the cities is coming given that we build it, but the reality is that the urban areas existing are overpopulated, giving way to different types of problems, such as pollution and a decrease in the quality of life. Insufficient energy and the lack of water are problems that are choking the cities as well.

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For Tom Kuipers, civil engineer and head of the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS), people are moving to the big cities because they represent a chance for a better life, for instant economic welfare, for access to services and for job opportunities. “Almost half of the world population lives in cities. This means about three billion people, and it is expected that in 2050 around 75% of the total population will live in cities. Now is the moment to create and design intelligent urban areas to fulfill the reasons why the people moved to the cities in first instance, a better life,” Kuipers said. People built the cities in the past, the cities of the future will be built by ideas, and a

lot of these ideas are flying around, competing against each other to provide the best solutions possible. Three of these ideas are the most commonly mentioned answers to solve the problems when we talk about the cities in the future. Intelligent cities, ecological cities and fair cities, but do they really represent a long-term solution? Intelligent cities, is this the bright future? “Suddenly the city becomes an enormous laboratory, intelligent technologies monitoring and controlling all the systems: from the water to the public transport and the public security, creating energy from the waste, everything is interconnected. Sounds amazing, doesn’t it? But the abuse of this new types of

technology may not be as good as it sounds”, is what Kuipers thinks about the technologies that may build the cities in the future. The argument he gives against is that with all these elements working together for a better functionality of the city, a master key is created, which could create a censorship. “Imagine everything working in perfect harmony, but with all these systems connected to a central command that will have the capacity to shut down everything when something the people in the power don’t like, therefore creating censorship”, Kuipers says. Other things that are concerning the people of the AMS is that a lot of data will be collected to supply these

systems. Private companies will manage this data because they will be the only entity with the capacity to do so. What are they planning to do with our information? Right now our information is available to everyone but in the future this may be even worse. We will be more exposed. The concept of intelligent cities, in theory, says that an intelligent city is one that uses the technological advances to improve the quality of live of their citizens. However this concept implies different meanings. It is very dangerous to simplify the concept to things that has to do only with technology. “An intelligent city is the one that has its own identity, it is the one that does more with less. To be an intelligent city it is very important that the

intelligence is within reach to the people living there”, Kuipers explains. Although there are many different projects to create intelligent cities, such as the creation of technological centers, of green areas, intelligent electrical networks or bike-sharing systems, the truth is that there are no real technologies that are changing the lives of the people in cities at the moment. There’s a long way to go. Ecological cities, the eternal promise The future will bring, among other things, more pollution and an unstoppable progressive climate change. The only way to solve these problems, especially in the big metropoles around the world, is that

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the cities adapt themselves through an ecological urban design that also would make it more sustainable. The promise of moving from big pollution areas to ecological cities has been in the air for a long time, these projects need to translate into actions. “Different interesting projects have emerged to contribute to making the cities greener everyday, even the newest projects like solar and wind energy and cars that use electrical energy instead of gasoline, these are green technologies that are helping in the fight against pollution, however they do not solve the dependence that we still have for fossil fuels. It’s a starting point and personally I think we are doing it well although a bit slow” Kuipers explains.

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The green areas are very important not only because they fight against the effects of climate change but they also improve the quality of life; making societies healthier, kinder and more humane. These areas need to be within reach of all citizens, and that sometimes does not happen. Which is why more and more people are building their own ‘green’ roofs, gardens on the rooftops. “The ecological wave brings sustainable efforts with them like street lighting feed with renewable energy, encouraging people to use bikes instead of cars, all these actions decrease the carbon footprint, therefore an ecological city will be a sustainable although these two are complementary concepts” .

It’s undeniable that the governments are putting efforts on building ecological cities, the question is now, how interested are the governments in making the cities greener? This question emerged because the companies that provide energy, in all the types, in the world are the most powerful and very often finance political campaigns around the globe that brings compromise through, therefore with conflicts of interest is very hard that the aspiration of a clean energy becomes a reality. The efforts for ecological cities are mainly done in cities, which are located in developed countries because they have the capacity to create, and implement green technologies. The problem is that the biggest urban areas, which very often

are the most polluted, are in developing countries and these countries cannot afford investments in ecological matter. They instead have more urgent problems such as dealing with insecurity or mobility, therefore the advances are located in wealthy countries and developing countries are falling further behind. Fair cities, the right way “The best thing to pass on to our children is a fair city, a city where everybody is worth the same without any distention, where you can be whatever you want, where you feel safe. A city in harmony with the environment”, Tom idealizes. One of the most important things to achieve this goal is to rebuild the economic standing of the cities. On this renewed scheme all the city citizens

must be able to participate in the economy dynamic not only as part of the process but also as creators. Poverty will be fought with this reorganization, and consequently the differences between societies will decrease.

working on mobility, making the cities safer, integrating all social groups, and finding balance with the environment. However, all these projects need one essential thing: our participation.

Democracy and citizen participation is also essential for the construction of the new fair cities “the cities are composed for everyone in consequence it is necessary that we all participate in the decisions, because in the end every decision may affect us. Social participation in developed countries its very high but in developing countries the power belongs to the politicians, that needs to be changed as soon as possible”, says Kuipers. A lot of different actions can be undertaken to build a fair city; such as

Finding solutions is not easy especially because the problems have been brewing for a long time. The solutions require cooperation not only from institutes, scientists, or governments but also from private companies, cities and the citizens in general. Creating ecologically and socially equal cities in the future is every individual’s responsibility and duty, not the duty of omnipresent powers; the idea of which allows people to shirk their responsibility.

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It’s true; polyamory is a relatively new concept in Western Europe. The first time that this term was used, was in the book ‘A bouquet of lovers’, which was published in 1990. But still most people don’t know what it is or are very opinionated. Sara says that people usually think of polyamory as something that is mostly about sex. She disagrees. “It’s about love. To me polyamory means that I can love more than one person at the same time. I have been in a relationship with a couple, which was going great until one of them got jealous and we had to break up.

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When looking at the future, for some it might be difficult to see people stepping away from monogamy, but acceptance should definitely be achieved. Sara thinks that in the future, polyamory will be accepted far more than it is nowadays but that it will never be normal or mainstream. Wouter disagrees. “I think polyamory will continue to grow as more people are exposed to the idea of ethical non-monogamy. Complete acceptance is a different matter. I think that might take a while, because it requires normalization.” Krisje confirms this: “I think polyamory will grow and I think that more and more people will start to see that this is a positive movement and a positive sexuality. There are a lot of ways to love, and there are a lot of people in the world with different perceptions. The possibilities are endless.” Whether polyamory will be the new norm or will always stay underground is still unclear, but what is obvious is that the sharing of love will never stop, whether it is for one or for more people.

by Liz Kappert

Developments in technology have caused both benefits and disadvantages when it comes to communication. One can instigate arguments, cause inconveniences and suffer through difficult and somewhat stilted conversations; but also, especially when it comes to romance, technology provides a number of advantages. Flirting, calling, complimenting, and opening yourself up to others has become second nature. But what impact will this have in the future? Dr. Danielle Bouma thinks that digital communication will not replace direct contact, but instead improve it. “You’re much more involved in the life of others thanks to platforms like Whatsapp and Facebook. Instead of replacing face to face contact, it’s an adding to the real-life ways of communicating”. According to Dr. Bouma social skills won’t fade away as people need to have real life contact to properly bond with each other. “I think there will be a lot of problems in the social cohesion if we get in a situation in the future where online contact replaces offline contact. People need to have an emotional connection and I can’t imagine how digital communication will fully satisfy these needs”. Research has shown that 50% of people in the Netherlands are cheating in their relationship. You could think that digital communication possibilities are increasing ways to cheat. However, Dr. Bouma thinks technology is definitely not the cause of cheating, but does make it easier to come into contact with others. The cause of cheating lies in the nature and biological programming of human beings, not in digital communication. “Monogamy doesn’t exist as a pure concept to all people.”

marriage, hedonism will get power. Social media makes it easier to make contact, so it can be possible that polygamy will become mainstream”. However, she also thinks that people have more advantages in a monogamous relationships as, “sex can be more for fun

A clear rise can be seen in people considering themselves as polyamorous: As of July 2009, it was estimated that more than 500,000 polyamorous relationships existed in the United States. Krisje and Sara both agree that polyamory has been here for a while. “People have been having multiple relationships for centuries. In the medieval times it was very common for wealthy people to have multiple relationships and for husbands to have more than one wife”, Sara explains. Krisje continues: “The phenomenon itself is older than mankind and scientists have already proven that ancient men were not monogamous. The only thing new and therefore ‘trendy’ is the term.” Wouter doesn’t care whether it’s a trend or not. “It might be a trend, but what difference does that make? Sexuality is and always has been fluid. Exploring different aspects of your sexuality is only beneficial.”

“Social media and social platforms have become firmly established entities in today’s society. Where you previously had to choose between the phone and Internet, today’s youth are doing both things at the same time.”, Dr. Bouma says. She explains that the possibilities for today’s people are enormous. “Now it’s almost unthinkable to have no Internet for even for two hours. This development has made it possible to have 24/7 contact with your friends and family in a myriad of quick an indirect nonverbal ways. Not only is it faster and easier to maintain your relationships, but it has also become faster and easier to contact new people.”, she says.

LE E A M

BY LORETTA D

Krisje explains: “When I first figured out that I was gay, I had to tell this to my family. Happily, I received a warm reply from everyone. Later on I found out that I didn’t just fall in love with one person at the same time. I had the possibility to love multiple people. I was polyamorous and had to ‘come out’ again and this time I did not get such warm replies. People responded in a very mean way, saying that this was just an excuse to ‘slut around’.” Wouter agrees that this is the way that polyamory is interpreted by society. “In my experience they see it as cheating or being greedy and that we don’t really love our partners. They think it’s a phase. I don’t really mind, it’s a relatively new concept to a lot of people here in the West and it doesn’t match our predominantly monogamous culture, so I get where they’re coming from. That doesn’t change the fact that they’re wrong. It’s perfectly possible to have a healthy poly relation, even at an older age and even when you have children.”

ENOUGH LOVE FOR THE THREE OF US

I think that it is a beautiful thing; I have so much love to give that I can spread it over multiple people”, Sara says.

POSSIBILITIES FOR THE POLYAMOROUS

When looking at the history of sexuality, it is clear that one of the biggest developments has been the acceptance of the gay and lesbian community, but now a new interpretation of this term is quickly gaining notice. This new form of sexuality is called ‘polyamory’, which is a combination of the Greek word ‘poly’ - multiple or many - and ‘amor’, which is Latin for love. Polyamory is a phenomenon where one person can love multiple people at the same time. Sara (25), model, Wouter (21), medicine student and Krisje (20), art student, all consider themselves as polyamorous and are now exploring the world of this sexuality.

It may seem like relationships haven’t changed throughout the years, but the truth is that social and technological developments have had an impact. Psychologist Danielle Bouma still thinks there is hope for both old-fashioned and modern lovers.

without possible jealousy”. Despite the fact that robots can’t replace emotional intimacy, Dr. Bouma thinks that more and more people will be attracted in a sexual way to (sex) robots in the future. It’s clear we’ll be in a future where a lot of social and technological developments will happen. There will be more ways to have sex, and we’ll also be able to contact, and stay in contact, with a lot more people. But according to Dr. Bouma the need of emotional connections and physical contact will never disappear. “These are needs of every human’s life.”

The future of love and sex will be, according to Dr. Bouma, in polygamy. She believes that barriers will fade away between love and friendship and the importance and meaning sex will change. “Sex will not be limited to

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Text Faiza Abdi Illustration Matthias Eckrammer

Revolution of Warfare The old G.I. Joe cartoon would have you believe that future soldiers will carry guns that shoot bright blue lasers. It sounds ridiculous right? Well, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency has developed a laser to defend ships. The laser might not be blue but it is capable of taking down a drone in seconds. War has changed over the years. What will the future bring with new developments in technology such as drones and cyberattacks?

Wars have several contexts, most prominently political, cultural and technological. The changes in technology have always been better, bigger and scarier than before. Wars have always been a part of life. It all started with chariots, pulled by animals as a leverage to become stronger than the opponent. In the Middle Ages bows and arrows were often used. Guns were later introduced in the 10th century and later followed by cannons first used in Europe in the early 14th century. But what is interesting about warfare is the invention of armored cars and tanks in the First World War. The first helicopter was also invented for

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the First World War and chemical weapons were used for the first time. World War II gave rise to even more military technology. Radars were independently invented, and used radio waves to detect objects. The atomic bomb was developed in World War II. The Cold War followed and even though fighting did not actually occur, the countries involved engaged in a race to develop and increase the level of technology available for military purposes. Today technology has risen to a whole other level. Drones and cyber-attacks are two big upcoming technology changes in warfare. They are already used, but are still being developed. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is an agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of new technologies for use by the military. It leads the developments of military technology in the United States and today it has dozens of ongoing projects besides drones and cyber-security; everything from humanoid robots, to bullets that are able to change path before reaching their target. China has a similar agency.

Drones All of a sudden drones are everywhere. They are being used by consumers, but are also used in the military where they call them unmanned vehicles, according to the Dutch government. They allow us to see and kill from half a world away. According to The Guardian the US already has more than 680 drones, where the biggest drone can stay in the air for up to 35 hours. Drones can also be very dangerous. According to the American government drones have helped to eliminate up to 70% of Al-Qaeda’s top leadership. The incredible thing about this drone program which a majority of the American people support, is not how little we know about who the American government is killing, but how little they themselves seem to know about who they are killing. According to the administration of recent strikes, the American government have already killed way too many innocent people. Even in The Netherlands the government uses drones for military purposes according to recent debates in the House of Representatives, and they will

purchase a drone which in the future can/will be armored. Cyber-attacks Cyber-attacks are a very different kind of warfare. It is not a physical attack, but it can do serious harm to a country according to Mitch Terpak (19) who is a student at the Avans University of Applied Sciences. “Imagine your internet gateway is an entranceway to your house. Normally it is easy to get in and out of your house. A cyberattack could mean your entranceway is blocked by 100 cars, which makes it impossible to get in or out”, he says. A cyber-attack is also known as a DDOS, which stands for Distributed Denial Of Service. “A DDOS attack could do a lot of harm. People can take websites offline, like big banks, which could be damaging to the economy”, he says. That all depends on what the aim of the attack is and if it is an act of war. “If the attack would be executed on a military scale with the goal to destabilize a region, then yes, it could certainly be an act of war”, he explained. According to the National Cyber Security Centrum of

the Dutch government cyber-attacks cost the government a lot of money. In 2013 it cost the government 34.8 million euro. “More and more things are digital, even in warfare. When a country is under a cyber-attack and important resources are disconnected, it could be a huge profit for the enemy”, Terpak explains. Internet was a military invention in 1960, according to National Geographic. Without the internet we wouldn’t have a lot of things we are used to, like social media. Internet is therefore one of the good things to come out of a military project. “A cyber-attack isn’t something good and it never will be, but hacking organizations like Anonymous try to use it for something good like taking ISIS-propaganda sites offline. Even if wars would be executed online, it would mean less people would have to die than in a ‘real’ war”, he states. International Law Drones can also be good for consumers, for example, for making homemade videos. For military use, drones are cheaper than manned fight planes and can kill a lot of terrorists.

But the drone technology develops way more quickly than the international law does, meaning that the legality of the use of drones is still a grey area. According to The Drone, which is a documentary about the CIA drone war, the CIA has been carrying out drone attacks in Pakistan for years, causing huge numbers of civilian casualties. Cyber-security is present in many countries but it still has its grey areas too. Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, the collective defense clause of NATO states “an armed attack against one or more member states in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all”. Whether that means a data breach or digital sabotage counts as an ‘armed attack’ remains the question. It is certain that drones and cyberattacks will be used more and more in the future of warfare. The question is: how will this revolution take place? Looking at history, (international) laws are based on events in the past. Will there be digital wars with the use of drones but without legal guidelines?

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Text & Photo Aniek Methorst What would the world look like if every group of people who wanted their own country just got it? Becoming independent is a very hard task today, as Scottish, Catalonian and Ukrainian separatists have learned this year. Below and on the next spread is a sample of separatist regions, but far from all. Together they would redraw the world map into a whole new mosaic of borders.

Map to the Future BY SIMON KARLSSON

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Sharing is caring

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And changing the economy

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How many things do you have in your house that you have only used once? How much dust is there on that book on the shelf right now? If you think about it, it is such a waste. That is also what the makers of the website Peerby thought. On peerby.com you lend or borrow stuff from people nearby. Snapcar.com and Airbnb are also forms of sharing your belongings but in exchange for money. These upcoming sharing platforms will change the way our economy works. The sharing economy is where we optimize the use of our belongings. It is not only more eco-friendly but also beneficial to yourself. Via Airbnb for example, people can rent out their houses when they are not there. That way your house won’t be empty and you make some money. A win-win situation. If you have leftover food you can sell it to your neighbour who hates to cook. But how much impact are these platforms going to have in the future? This economy is moving towards a collaborative one. A collaborative economy exists when people work together without the middleman. An example is crowd funding: people raise money by putting their ideas on the internet and asking

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people to sponsor it. And it is working because people are willing to give money to support projects they believe are good. Another example is the 3D-printer, which will make it easier to produce stuff ourselves. You don’t need someone else to make it for you.

DISCLAIMER The separatist movements mentioned in this article have differnet amunts of support among their populations. In some areas the supporting side is over 50 %, in other areas no public support exists at all. To learn more about the strenghts of the movements noted in this article, please visit the Internet.

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In all these cases we can see that people are becoming their own micro-entrepreneurs. People are able to organize and produce more themselves and to help each other directly. So the risk is that a lot of jobs will disappear because we don’t need the middleman anymore. In the future we will measure the wealth of a country in a different way. Right now it is measured by how much people are spending and consuming. But because of the recent crisis, people are becoming more creative with their spendings. So the new way of measuring wealth will be based on efficiency and not on consumption.

EUROPE. Europe is as usual a minefield of

Soon we will own fewer things and instead people will be able to access things rather than own them. If you need less you can work less and have more free time. So it’s maybe not such a bad idea to wipe that dust of your book and start sharing.

The areas listed above are members of the European Free Alliance*, an organisation for political movements for independence. There are numerous more separatist movements (you can find them on Wikipedia), but these some of the largest.

separatists, mostly on patriotic and nationalist grounds but also, as is the case with Rijeka in Croatia, economical reasons. For the European Union, more independent states would mean harder work towards a possible federation, but it lies in the European soul to strive for freedom.

* Except Republica Sprska and Wallonia

1. ÅLAND ISLANDS (Finland) 2. AOSTA VALLEY (Italy) 3. ALSACE/ELSASS (France) 4. ANDALUSIA (Spain) 5. ARAGON (Spain) 6. BASQUE COUNTRY (Spain & France) 7. BAVARIA (Germany) 8. BRETAGNE (France) 9. CANARY ISLANDS (Spain) 10. CATALONIA (Spain) 11. CORNWALL (UK) 12. CORSICA (France) 13. a) FLANDERS (Belgium) b) WALLONIA (Belgium) 14. FRIESLAND (Netherlands) 15. FRIUL to Slovenia (Italy) 16. GALICIA (Spain) 17. HUNGARIAN COMMUNITIES (Slovakia)

18. KÄRNTNEN (Austria) 19. LAUSATIA (Germany) 20. MACEDONIAN DIASPORA (Greece &Bulgaria) 21. MORAVIA (Czech Republic) 22. OCCITANIA (France) 23. OSTFRIESLAND (Germany) 24. REPUBLICA SPRSKA (Bosnia & Hercegovina) 25. RIJEKA (Croatia) 26. SARDINIA (Italy) 27. SAVOY (France) 28. SCOTLAND (UK) 29. SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN (Germany) 30. SILESIA (Czech Republic) 31. SÜDTIROL (Italy) 32. VENICE (Italy) 33. WALES (UK)

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NORTH AMERICA. The majority of North America belongs to three big federation states, USA, Mexico and Canada. It is in these big countries the separatists mostly dwell, and the US has most of them. The US has already seen one civil war in the 19th century, and the separatist mentalities still exist in some regions. The state of Texas has one of the loudest voices for independence, but Alaska is also a state that has considered breaking free along with Puerto Rico.

In Canada, French-speaking Quebec poses a real question about breaking free, in Mexico the Maya-inspired Zapatista movement in Chiapas state wants at least autonomy, and the Mosqito Coast in Nicaragua is another region talking about independence. On Danish-controlled Greenland, the largest island in the world, there is a movement for greater autonomy based on inuit heritage.

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1. States or territories with considerable support for independence (USA) a) TEXAS b) ALASKA c) PUERTO RICO (not a state but under American rule) 2. QUEBEC (Canada) 3. CHIAPAS (Mexico) 4. MOSKITO (Nicaragua) 5. Indian nations a) GREENLAND (Denmark) b) LAKOTA SIOUX (USA)

CHINA. China’s impressive size consists partly of old conquered land. Tibet is the most controversial, seized half a century ago and occupied ever since. The turkish tribes of the Xinjiang province is another example, and at least half of Xinjiang has been claimed for the proposed ressurection of the nation of Turkestan. The Chinese holdings in ancient Mongolia also poses a question of independence.

1. TIBET 2. EAST TURKESTAN / UYGHURSTAN 3. INNER MONGOLIA / SOUTH MONGOL

RUSSIA & JAPAN. North of China lies Russian Siberia. Separatists in Siberia

have suggested numerous different models for Siberian independence. Russia also faces separatists elsewhere, most famous are those of Chechenya, Dagestan and their neighbours.

East of China we have Japan. Japan has two active separatist movements; the Ainu separatists of the great island of Hokkaido in the northern parts of the country, and the Ryūkyū separatists of the island of Okinawa and neighbouring islands.

SOUTH AMERICA. There’s a lot of small movements for independence in South America, many centered around indian identity. But there’s a few larger separatist movements.

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The federation Brazil faces the same problems as USA and Canada; states that doesn’t think the federation is the best solution. If the three major separatist-minded regions would break free, Brazil would lose a lot of it’s land and much of it’s tourism sites. The Rio area also has voices about “freedom”.

THE MIDDLE EAST. The cradle of civilization is also the cradle of conflict, 2 4

In Bolivia the department of Santa Cruz wants independence, and one of the last large colonies, French Guyana, from time to time wishes for independence.

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1. FRENCH GUYANA (France) 2. SANTA CRUZ (Bolivia) 3. NORTHEAST REGION* (Brazil) 4. RIO DE JANEIRO (Brazil) 5. SÃO PAOLO (Brazil) 6. RIO GRANDE DO SÛL (Brazil)

After 20 years of tension throughout the Middle East, the latest addition to this cocktail emerged this year when the rebels of ISIS started conquering territory. If IS is defeated, there will be a unique opportunity for an independent Kurdistan.

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respectively, have had their disagreements over territorial situations on different locations. The big jungle-island of Borneo is one of them. There are a few different separatist movements on the Indonesian side, and the biggest is the Kalimantan separatists. They want either independence or Malaysian rule. If successful, Indonesia would lose all their territory on Borneo.

1. KALIMANTAN ( Indonesia)

1. KURDISTAN (Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria) 2. PALESTINE borders of 1967 (Israel) 3. Area of influence and /or action of ISLAMIC STATE as of November 1 2014* (Iraq, Syria) *Source: BBC

*Consists of 9 states: Maranhão, Piauí, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Sergipe and Bahia.

it seems. Here we find two nations without their own respective countries; the Kurds and the Palestinians. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the British and French divided the area like they did with Africa a few decades earlier. This left the Kurds without a state. Later the British, the USA and the UN introduced Israel, which has eliminated the Palestinian state and, in many ways, Palestinian life. International support for Palestine has however refuelled their hopes for reinstated independence, although treathened by extremists inside its political system.

EAST INDIES. The old Dutch and British colonies of Indonesia and Malaysia

AFRICA. A long time ago Africa produced history and politics of its own. When European colonialism arrived, however, they drew the borders which still exists today. These artifical borders naturally has produced separatists, of tribal, cultural or other reasons. A famous example, the Biafra movement in Nigeria, was briefly successful in the late 60s, after which they were brutally crushed. The dream of Biafra still lives, mostly among exiled Biafrans. Of the three major territories with considerable separatist movements today, the Polisario Front’s SADR campaign in Western Sahara is the most problematic. A former Spanish colony, it was claimed by both Morocco and Mauretania in 1975 when the Spanish left the area, even though Polisario through a ruling from the International Court of Justice and the UN has the legal right to independence. 1. CYRENAICA (Libya: civil war/Arab Spring rages on, Benghazi claims half of Libya for own state based on ancient Cyrenaica) 2. AZAWAD (Mali: 2/3 of Mali claimed by Tuareg rebels) 3. WESTERN SAHARA / SAHRAWI ARAB DEMOCRATIC REP.

INDIA. India is one of the most successful federations of all times. Hundreds of

different nations, languages, tribes and religions sharing the faith of the huge subcontinent. Of course there is and has been conflicts, both between different ethnicities and between hindus and muslims, the two biggest religions. Today, There are three major areas of separatist movement in India. The easternmost parts of India, the Northeast region consisting of seven states, the “sisters”, all have considerable support for independence. In the south the Tamil want independence, just as they do in Sri Lanka. In the north, the autonomous Jammu & Kashmir wants real independence. Jammu & Kashmir is part of the larger region of Kashmir, a conflict zone since medieval times but more recently a region contested by India and Pakistan, and also China.

1. NORTHEAST INDIA (The “Seven Sister States”, all have separatists) 2. JAMMU & KASHMIR (Wants independence for all of Kashmir, also part of international conflict) 3. TAMIL NADU ( Tamil Nation)

3 Article sources: European Free Alliance, Wikipedia, CIA World Factbook

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In-Vitro Meat: The future of traditional meat production is very crucial. It is predicted that in approximately 40 years, the demand for meat will be almost twice as much as in 2010 and that there won’t be enough to fulfill the demand. Professor Mark Post, Chair of Physiology and Vice Dean of Biomedical Technology at Maastricht University, came with a solution for this issue: In-Vitro meat. According to the 2011 report from FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation), in the next 40 years the demand for livestock products will continue to grow and it will become more challenging to meet the demand. In 2050, there will be 9.15 billion people to feed and that is 1.3 times as many as in 2010. This expanded population is expected to consume approximately twice as much animal protein as in 2011. Doubling the supply would place a considerable burden on the already strained natural resources.

The published projections of FAO 2006, suggest that in 2050, 2.3 times as much poultry meat and between 1.4 and 1.8 times as much of other livestock products will be consumed as in 2010. This means that the demand for meat is going to increase by more than two thirds in the next 36 years and that the current production methods are not so sustainable. This is why the Dutch team of scientists, directed by Professor Mark Post, thinks that In-Vitro meat

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a sustainable alternative for meat production is more likely a sustainable option that will change the way we think and also eat food forever. In-Vitro meat, also called cultured beef, is the name of the production of meat through tissue-engineering technology. Tissue engineering is the use of a combination of cells, materials and engineering methods, and suitable biochemical and physic-chemical aspects to improve or even replace biological functions. The process of developing the In-Vitro meat implies taking muscle cells from cows and applying a protein that promotes tissue growth. Muscle tissue is the key component of the meat we all eat. It is collected in a small harmless procedure. It can be theoretically possible to continue producing meat without introducing new cells from a living organism once this process has been started. By dissecting the muscle cells, individual cells can be removed and cultured. The cells start dividing and eventually from one muscle cell, one trillion cells can be grown and naturally merge. Together the cells become a small piece of muscle tissue. When all the pieces of muscle tissues are layered together they become beef. First In-Vitro beef burger In 2008 Professor Mark Post joined the Dutch governmentfunded program investigating ‘in Vitro meat’. “The idea was already old but the technology only became available during the last ten years”, states Prof. Post. On the 5th of August 2013 the Dutch group presented the first In-Vitro beef burger in London, making it all a reality. After the first live broadcasted publication of the In-Vitro beef burger, Prof. Post together with his team made some improvements on

MEATY FACTS

By Giannemari Maria

• Livestock farming is responsible for 18% of all

greenhouse gas emissions, more than all global transport • Cells taken from one cow could produce 175 million burgers. Modern farming would need 440,000 cows. • Global meat demand estimated to increase 73% by 2050. But we already use 70% of farm land for livestock. • Cultured Beef is expensive now, but will be much cheaper when large-scale production is perfected.

the laboratory manufactured beef. “We have eliminated serum from the growth medium, have started to culture fat tissue and we improved the protein content further. We us myoglobin in particular, for color, taste and nutritional value”, declared Prof. Post, who also admits that in approximately seven years the meat will be available in the markets. The production of the In-Vitro meat costs more than €250,000 which is an understandable price for a research. Prof. Post affirms that likely within ten years the meat will be affordable for everyone and will not be considered as a luxury food because of its origin. The benefits of In-Vitro meat Moreover, the Professor thinks that the InVitro meat will be a commercial success because it has a lot of advantages. “Acceptance will be the key”, he admits, “But I am very optimistic that it will be accepted.” According to Professor Post, the In-Vitro meat is much more environmentally friendly, provides food-security and reduces animal suffering and slaughtering. A researchof

the University of Oxford suggests that In-Vitro meat could use as much as 99% less space than what is needed for current livestock farming methods. Besides that, the production of In-Vitro meat has the ability to be more efficient as it can be done in a regulated environment. A life cycle analysis by Hannah Tuomisto at the University of Oxford, affirms that the future production of In-Vitro meat will reduce the usage of land, energy and water compared to traditional ways of obtaining beef. Furthermore, In-Vitro meat could be produced in population centers, reducing carbon impacts of transporting beef, as it will not be dependent on large areas of land. Moreover, Animal welfare groups are generally in favor of the production of the In-Vitro meat. This is because the process doesn’t imply pain for the cows. “I think that In-Vitro meat can be considered as the ultimate organic meat”, declares Professor Post. This is really good news for organic food lovers. When asked about the future of food, Prof. Post says that the pressure to produce sufficient, high quality food will drive innovation. Probably radical ones such as cultured beef. He continues saying that we cannot go on with the way we are producing food right now. His personal hope for the future of food is that the food becomes distributed fairly and that everybody will have sufficient food without harming the environment.

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The ultimate organic meal!

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Slutty Behavior: Our Savior?

Menu du jour futur by Giannemari Maria

In this futuristic menu you will find exquisite food ingredients that will soon be available in a supermarket near you.

Appetizer

Mixed insects with optional dip sauce According to researchers at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, insects provide as much nutritional value as ordinary meat and are a great source of protein. The Dutch government recently invested one million euro into research with the aim of getting insects into mainstream diets, and to prepare legislation governing insect farms.

Main course 3D Pizza

A few companies are experimenting with printing foods by mixing together one or two dry ingredients to use as a sort of edible ink. Foodini, a 3D food printer, uses stainless steel capsules packed with fresh edible elements. Foodini prints the food out into a variety of dishes. This 3D printer only prints out the precooked version of a meal. Future models of Foodini will be able to print fully cooked and ready to eat food.

Dessert

Pluot with a hint of honey Pluot is a blend of plum and apricot. Many farmers are creating fruit hybrids: the aspects of two fruits are transformed into one product. Floyd Zaiger of Zaiger’s genetics, owns more than 200 new fruits. Growing these new fruits, including Pluot can take years of cross breeding.

Each dish will be served with a glass of red Bardolino wine A group of Italian researchers are using genetic research to find out exactly which genes need to be manipulated to breed more heat-resistant wine grapes. The team worked with Corvina grape, used in northern Italy to produce red Bardolino. Knowing which genes help the adaptability, could allow the plant to adjust itself to the weather in the future.

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Text Jesse Hynes

As much as it bums me out, time travel probably isn’t possible, or else I totally would have found a way to go back and warn 15-year-old me away from the block-fringe, curly-hair days. But thankfully we have the next best thing: Japan (it is basically as close to the future as we’ll get). I was wondering what relationships of the future will be like and what sex will “mean”, and thought I should probably start my investigation with the country that spits out the most… inventive… porn, and has a sex industry probably bigger than Russia’s vodka industry. So what can Japan tell us about the future of human intimacy; the ultimate declaration of the apparently oh-so-important ‘I love you’? A whole lot it turns out. It’s Brave New-fucking-World over there (literally). According to Japanese surveys, 50% of Japanese women and 60% of men aged 18-35 are single, and most of them are not really interested in dating and finding someone to marry and pro-create with. For young Japanese people, settling down with a spouse and spawn aren’t on the top of the to do list, not even the middle of the list. They see it more like what I imagine buying a Segway would

be like: it’s effort, it’s expensive, and you’ll probably just throw it out eventually anyway after the excitement of having something new and shiny to ride gets old (pun intended). And hell, if they had half of the services and technologies to fill ‘that’ void available worldwide – the romantic comedies, relationship ‘experts’, and depressing/slightly offensive online advertisements directed at single people would probably be a lot less prevalent. They embrace human sexuality and appear to cater everyone’s needs. They have host clubs, where men and women pay to go to a club and have attractive men/women talk to them, seriously, just talk. There are a number of fetish services too, like getting someone to cuddle you (again, seriously, just cuddle), or dress up like your favorite anime character and walk around town holding hands. Interacting with actual humans not your thing? That’s cool! Japan is sex-doll galore. You can choose the eyes, hair, bust size, face shape – even elect to have moveable pupils and fingers. That doesn’t sound like it would instill fear in the hearts of children at all… Dolls not your thing either? There are also a somewhat terrifying

number of sex toys to choose from too. From virtual-reality robots and automatic, uh, *cough* sperm collectors, to some very intricate machinery – there’s a little something for everyone. So if Japan is anything to go by, in another 50 years the opposite sex is going to start becoming more and more obsolete. That whole population boom problem will be sorted, the Japanese government has said if Japanese people don’t start getting ‘busy’ more and popping out babies, the population of Japan is set to go from 127 million to around 65 million by the end of the century. So… the moral of the story is – futuristic technologies are basically making it less necessary for people to engage in relationships, or even sex in general. I don’t know about y’all, but that sounds more like a dystopian-nightmare than future utopia to me. So maybe don’t follow Japan’s steps in sex for the future, instead maybe have a lot of sex now before everyone starts to favor cuddle-prostitutes and lose interest. Finally, a genuine excuse to let your inner slut fly free, let your freak flag fly my friends, the future of earth may just be depending on your (hopefully high) libido.

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Katherine, an ordinary woman in 2064 Text Sophie Alena, Illustration Matthias Eckrammer

Augmented reality is real. Without her glasses, Katherine barely leaves her flat. The glasses guide the way to her destination, show information about buildings she walks by and are connected to her computer so she won’t miss any notifications while on the road. (source: zeit.de)

Fifty years from today, life on earth has will have changed. This is a forecast of how humans could look like in 2064.

In Katherine’s ear is a small chip. With this implant she can make and receive calls; phones are not used anymore. (source: dailymail.co.uk)

Katherine’s body is used for producing energy. Through tiny sensors on her skin, her body heat is transformed into energy. The sensors produce enough energy to charge her electrical devices. (source: 3sat.de)

As a white woman, Katherine is a minority on the earth. While 100 years ago, Europeans were the majority, a century after that, only 9.7 % of the world’s population are white. Almost 29 % of the population are from Central Asia; the new majority. (source: youtube.com) Katherine is walking to her University. Transportation that is based on oil was banned years ago. Even though humans tried, they couldn’t stop the earth from running out of this fossil fuel in 2059. (source: climateprogress.org)

Bad mood. Since the earth ran out of cocoa in 2020, Katherine has never tasted chocolate. This affects humans’ moods; psychologists have proven lower levels of happiness for humans on Earth. (source: nytimes.com)

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Katherine dreams about living on Mars. For a few years it has been possible for human beings to stay there permanently. It will still take a couple of years, but soon humans will be able to grow food and produce energy there. Then the population on Mars will become totally independent from Earth. (source: science.nasa.gov)

The watch on her wrist checks Katherine’s health. It sends information about the heartbeat and blood pressure to a databank. If there are any anomalies in the data, Katherine receives a call from her doctor or an ambulance comes to her aid if there is an emergency. The GPS from her location is sent along with the health data. (source: 3sat.de)

It’s hot. The earth temperature has risen by three degrees higher in the fifty years that have passed. The Arctic has melted (in the mid 2020s it had its first ice-free month).. The temperatures in Europe are more like those previously found in North Africa or the Middle East. (source: National Geographic)

For her future business career Katherine is learning Hindi, Mandarin, Spanish and Portuguese. One now has to be fluent in those languages to be successful. (source: dailymail.co.uk)

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Text and photographs by Jorge del Rìo

Conversing with a random muslim T

his article is, in a way, two articles. On one side, it is a general idea of how Muslims see their future through the beliefs, perceptions and experiences of a typical Muslim. The other side, is the process of how this article was written. So that it may be fulfilled, the only condition that was given to me in order to publish this article: sincerity. I truly hope that they may be read as independent from one another, just as they may be inseparable.

understanding this religion, I decided to ask him if he could give me classes about it.

(The paragraphs quoted, correspond to the words of Souhaim Najah, the random Muslim I have interviewed).

Allah is the one who created you, then provided for you, then will cause you to die, and then will give you life (Quran 30:40) It is He, Who takes your souls by night (when you are asleep), and has knowledge of all that you have done by day, then He raises you up, until your life span is fulfilled, then to Him is your ultimate return. He will then inform you of everything you had done”. (Quran 6:60)

I became acquainted with Souhaim Najah a few months ago. I must say that I approached him because I knew he was a Muslim, and the very little I knew of him, intrigued me. In the back of my mind, I knew that this was the way for me to comprehend a religion, which I saw at that time, so distant. “It is important to understand what the concept of ‘future’ entails for a random Muslim, therefore one must seek to understand how a Muslim thinks. A believer sees the life of this world just as a short phase of his existence, this in contrast to a non-believer who might consider this worldly life as his entire existence”.

The first time we met, Souhaim asked me if I believed in the creator, for which I gave him a very vague response, and did not mention that I am a non-believer. Yet, as I believe we so often discuss and read about Islam without completely

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“One who is convinced of The Creator of this creation (which we are witnessing) and is determined that his own creation has a purpose, sees the returning to The Creator as the ‘greater’ future. Which brings to my mind the following verses from the Quran:

It was after a few weeks of classes when I heard that we were doing a magazine about the future. I, without a doubt, turned immediately to Souhaim in order to write this article. It was my initial idea to address the issue of IS in Iraq and Syria, yet after some discussion, we agreed that a personal opinion about the future would shed more light about how Muslims see the future, than a more impersonal understanding. “As a believer people sometimes will come to me with the question why doesn’t The Creator change our state and why does evil exist. The questioner at that moment usually doesn’t

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All pictures taken at the Al Kabir mosque in Amsterdam.

understand the concept of free will, and that our current state has to do with the choices we made in the past, partly based on the free will which has been given to us. Which also brings the following verse from the Quran to my mind: Verily, Allah will not change the (good) condition of a people as long as they do not change their state (of goodness) themselves”. (Quran 13:11)’.

I must state that the pressure of writing this article became almost unbearable for me. This is why: I didn´t want to write an article where the opinion of Souhaim would be contrasted by my own ideas about the future - which are so vague and incomprehensible - and that would divert the reader from the main purpose. I didn´t want to generalize an individual perception, but at the same time I hoped to make this one be understood; and lastly, I didn´t want to be insincere. “I would say the future is something that most people think about frequently. Whether it is concerning personal goals, or global issues one thing is for sure: nobody can predict the future with certainty, but only based on thoughts

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Allah means “The Only Deity (God) worthy of worship” in Arabic,which is considered to be The Creator. The Quran is considered as the direct revelation to the prophet Muhammad and has remained authentic and preserved from his time through memorization and scripture.

and experiences. If we were to look back in the past, the different people who have committed various actions without a doubt have affected our current condition, positive or negative. In thinking about the future we have to think about the actions which we perform at this moment, then the future is now”. I believe that there is the same amount of truth in one personal opinion than in one shared by thousands. A sole perception, just as the one shared, has the same possibility of inaugurating an interminable sequence of beliefs. That for me is the future, which infers, that when conversing with any individual, the concept of random thought does not exist. “A Muslim should of course take time to invest in his worldly life and enjoy the pleasures it has to offer, nearly the same as a non-believer does. The only difference is that a Muslim also tries to spend a certain amounts of time performing acts which lead to more self-reflection, and contemplation of creation and The Creator to whom he

shall return at the end of his life span. A Muslim who hopes to be one of those mentioned in the following verse: Indeed, those who have said, ‘Our Lord is Allah’ and then remained on a right course - the angels will descend upon them, [saying], ‘Do not fear and do not grieve but receive good tidings of Paradise, which you were promised. We were your allies in the worldly life and in the Hereafter. And you will have therein whatever your souls desire, and you will have therein whatever you request. As accommodation from a [Lord who is] Forgiving and Merciful.” (Quran 41:30-32).

fter writing this article, I must venture to say the following: I deny the existence of one single contemporaneous thought shared by everyone. It is in the disagreements and the understandings, that individuals are separated from the whole. Perhaps the future will be the endless consequences of those small voices that confess a glimpse of a more general understanding, and that strive to enrich a more tolerated posterity. That, I truly hope.

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Text Elaine Wöhlken Illustration Fredrik Moen Gabrielsen

EXPLORATION OF SPACE Space exploration has been an ongoing discovery that took its first steps in the early 20th century. Since then we have succeeded in sending humans to the moon, launching satellites to orbit the Earth and two weeks ago, for the first time, a group of astronauts landed on a comet. Lately it seems more possible that going into space will become reality for a wider public. Mars One is aiming to establish a human settlement on Mars and will have its first humans land on the planet by the year 2025. Virgin Galactic, the world’s first commercial spaceline offers a true experience of weightlessness and the best possible view on earth to their future astronauts. Although the spaceline has had a big accident one month ago, the 32-year-old Emilio Enriquez, a PHD astronomy student who is currently studying in Nijmegen, is optimistic about the future of the commercial spaceline. “The researchers are all very motivated and they will learn from these mistakes. I expect that in two to five years it will be a real possibility to go to space. The same as what happened with the regular airline will happen; first it will be very expensive, but then it will become cheaper.” In the first twenty years of exploring space, the Sovjet space program and NASA have been the main leaders in the industry. Since the last couple of decades, the European

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Union, the People’s Republic of China, Japan, Brazil and India have shown to be successful in launching their space program as well. The International Space Station (ISS), which orbits around Earth and has been permanently occupied since 2000, has been a result of years of international collaboration between sixteen countries, including the USA, Canada, Russia and The Netherlands. “It is very important that countries look beyond their nationalities and see that these kinds of projects are greater than that”, Enriquez says. “Difficult projects in the future, like settlements on Mars require collaboration between countries. Not only to share their knowledge, but also because the countries don’t have the money to do it on their own.” There is also another form of international collaboration. The Outer Space Treaty forms the basis of international space law and has been signed by 129 countries. The treaty limits the use of the moon and other celestial bodies to peaceful purposes

and prohibits the use for testing weapons. The treaty also forbids any kind of government from claiming a celestial resource such as a planet, moon or star. “Besides, claiming a star would be very unpractical because it is very far away”, Enriquez says. According to Enriquez, we can expect things to stay more or less the same for the coming ten to twenty years as it has

been for the last two decades. “We have regular commercial satellites but also scientific satellites that go onto Mars or other planets. The recent landing on a comet has been very important”, he says. “But if we look twenty to forty years in the future, things get less certain. We might see a change in the goal of governments, like a mission to Mars or exploring asteroids. Asteroids are full of metals

that are very valuable, so when we bring it closer to earth, we can mine them. Companies will be interested in that.” Enriquez thinks it is possible that we might see some moon settlements as well, but not a lot. He believes that in forty to a hundred years we might see settlements on different planets like Mars, but that depends on technological developments. “During

the Apollo missions in the 60’s and 70’s, people were very optimistic about space exploration, but sadly things didn’t go as planned. Any expert back then, would have had a very different idea about the future of space exploration than what actually has happened.”

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WHY WE DON’T FLY TO WORK Text Stefan Hagen Illustration Freepik.com

By now, we should have flying cars for everybody. At least if future predictions from before the 1950’s would have become reality. The case of the flying car is a thorn in the side of technological advancement. It is one of mankind’s bigger disappointments. Everybody wants one, so why are they not rolling off the lines like Model T Fords? Why we’re not flying around in cars, is for various reasons. Think about it: If everybody had a flying car, a lot of things have to be changed. Do people need a pilot license? Because we all know they do not come easy, and especially not cheap. Do people get tickets for speeding? Can any eighteen-year-old fly without crashing into a building? Technical possibilities Flying cars can be made. Recent examples are the AeroMobil and the PAL-V. The AeroMobil has collapsible wings and is six meters long, and quite aesthetically pleasing. It runs on petrol, and can reach up to 100 mph on the road. The PAL-V is more like a helicopter, with a collapsible tale and rotor. These are both working prototypes, but not yet as stylish as we had in mind. On the road, they look like little Cessna’s taxiing to the runway. This is because flight is currently based on aerodynamics: We need some kind of rotor or a set of wings to produce lift. These are pretty big components, and basically define the shape of the vehicle. So even with clever folding systems, carbon fiber bodies and a front end that looks like a supercar, you still notice the ruddy big pair of wings on the back. Unfortunately, changing this isn’t likely to happen anytime soon. We would need another way to produce lift, like a warp drive or something else at least as cool as that. Since this is not even close to being possible, we will have to stick with ‘Airplanes that you can drive on the road’. Apart from their looks, the flying cars of today accommodate up until two passengers and virtually no carry-on. This is because when the weight and size increases, so must the wingspan/rotor size. A flying minivan would have to be the size of a small truck. But then again, the solution might be that warp drive. If everybody could afford to buy a flying car, some radical changes to our infrastructure would have to be made. In the countryside a few changes will

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suffice, but around larger cities the infrastructure will have to be renewed all together. The idea is that you fly the car close to your destination, and then drive the last couple of meters to park in a normal parking space. This becomes a problem when you take a city like London, with close to 1.2 million inbound commuters every morning. This would mean creating an enormous amount of runways around the city, and the job of an air traffic controller would be as common as that of a civil servant. Besides, when you drive a six meters long AeroMobile, parking in central London is going to be a nightmare. Other less obvious things would have to change as well. For instance, car mechanics would have to become aircraft maintenance engineers to serve the new breed of transportation.

If we think of the future we often think everything will be possible at one point. Especially in the medical world limits are being pushed and boundaries are being moved. Most of these developments are a step forward. Think of surgery being less and less invasive or education being more and more accessible through Google Glass and Oculus Rift. The question is not what we can do, but what we should do. Is making organs out of stamcells acceptable? And if so, where do we draw the line in making animals or humans just for organ harvesting?

Rules and Regulations

Ten years ago, scientists thought it would be easy to cultivate organs in a petri dish. This turned out to be a lot harder than expected. So the search for alternative methods started. One of them is creating human organs in animal embryos. In 2010 Japanese scientists succeeded in creating a rat’s pancreas in a mouse for the first time. Those same researchers then tried to switch of the gene for the pancreas in a pig’s embryo and insert another pig’s embryo cells to try to create a new pancreas. They were successful. The next step is creating human pancreases in pigs. The problem is that it’s against the law in most countries.

Aviation rules are pretty complicated. Certificates, pre-flight checks, maintenance: it’s all regulated. Aside from getting your pilot license, taking off in a flying car is not as easy as it looks. It’s certainly not extending the wings while driving on the highway and gently pulling back on the control yoke. An officer working for the EASA (European Aviaton Safety Agency) would go into cardiac arrest after a stunt like that. Taking off would mean extensive pre-flight checks, flight logging, endless radio contact with a bloke in a control tower and of course using an actual runway. This is all a bit of a problem when it comes to the usefulness of the flying car. With the current regulations a flying car will get you to your destination in double the amount of commuting time as a normal road car.

‘There is a very thin line between giving the best possible care for a patient and being totally unethical’. Doctor Koudstaal, cardiologist at UMC and researcher of cardiac repair with stem cells in pigs explains himself: ‘Currently there is a lot of research being done to create organs out of stem cells. The problem is not that we can’t solve the waiting lists for transplants, it’s just that the law doesn’t allow us. The Dutch Embryowet from 2002 forbids us to mix human and animal cells. This way we can’t give our patients the best possible care. On the other hand, if we do allow this, where does it stop? What do we define as a human being? Is a pig with human organs an animal or not? Or do we draw a line in percentages? Is a mouse with a human ear on his back that is 50% of his body weight human?

Usefulness Right now it would be crazy of you to buy a flying car. You’d be creating a lot of problems for yourself, like getting a pilot license and a membership to an airfield near you. Assuming the nearest airfield for people in large cities is at least an hour’s drive away, you’d probably end up driving to most destinations in your flying car. But don’t despair: when the technology, regulations and infrastructure are ready for it, you can be sure mankind will rise to the occasion. We will take to the skies like a flock of startled birds. Families will fly to southern France during the holidays, and youths will be daring each other to fly under bridges. Police officers will provide the most spectacular chase footage ever recorded and motor racing will take on Star Wars-like forms. Lovely.

It’s no surprise that there is already a market for organs, but did you know this is already happening in Europe? Doctor Baas, surgeon in training at the Erasmus university of Rotterdam, once heard a story from his colleague at the nephrology department. He had a very rich patient who needed a new kidney, but he thought the waiting list was too long. So he checked out of the hospital. After a few months they met again. The guy was totally healthy. He then implied that ‘money could come in handy sometimes’.

To live or let die? Text Kirsten Plücker Illustration Matthias Eckrammer

In October 2013 the New York Post revealed that a child was being trafficked into Britain for the intention of providing organs for people desperate for transplants. So it’s not just the horror stories from Asia or Mexico of people being abducted and waking up with a big scar in their lower backs. It’s happening right here. In the Netherlands it’s forbidden to pay for organs, but on the fertility department at Amsterdam Medisch Centrum, they see it every day. Doctor Braakhekken, often sees the same man or woman coming in with their ‘best friend’ to make a donation. Whereas a week later she sees the same person with another ‘best friend’. ‘You don’t do that unless you’re getting paid’ she says. The only way to stop illegal donations is by reducing the market value. And the only way to achieve this is by legalizing mixing animal with human cells. PhD student Cathelijn Aarts is very much against mixing animal cells with human cells. With her biomedical background she doesn’t see anything good coming from this. ‘We think we know all about the human body, but we actually don’t. Every organism has his or her own Weugenic fingerprint. We don’t know what will happen if some of these fingerprints mix. Not on a small scale, such as the person receiving the organs, but also lager scale this could have consequences for whole populations or the entire human race. So that leaves us with a big dilemma; making transplants possible, or convince everybody to sign up as an organ donor and let half of the people die from implications while the other half only survives with fifty immune suppressors a day. Who would want a child to get slaughter for organs? Do we really live in a world where we let this happen? Of course, mixing cells should be done with care and boundaries must be set. But in science the only way is going forward. We’ve always done it this way, and we probably always will. It’s in our nature. And if this nature is a bit tempered with, that’s okay by me.

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REVIEW:

INTERSTELLAR

An epic journey into the vastness of space By Matthias Eckrammer Interstellar - Directed by Christopher Nolan, starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine. 169 min. A Legendary Pictures production.

In the near future, earth is facing a danger, threatening the existence of human kind. Crops are failing, food is short and the population is plagued by dust storms. Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) is a former NASA pilot and now a widowed farmer, living with his daughter Murphy, his son Tom and his father-in-law Donald. He struggles with his role as a farmer, not being able to employ his skills as a pilot and engineer but as the headmaster of his kids’ school puts it: “We didn’t run out of planes and television sets, we ran out of food.” The story kicks into gear when Cooper and Murphy discover a strange gravitational irregularity in their house, leading them to a secret NASA base. There they meet Professor Brand (Michael Caine), who tells Cooper that they have discovered a wormhole within their reach, a passage in the universe, enabling them to travel further in space than any human ever has. No one knows who put it there but it is assumed that it must be the same intelligence that sent Cooper to the NASA station.

It is soon established that he is the only pilot left to lead a mission through the wormhole, looking for potentially habitable planets for human kind, who only seems to have a couple of decades left on earth. Together with

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Brand’s daughter Amelia (Anne Hathaway) and a small crew, Cooper now goes on an uncertain mission, leaving his children behind. Director Christopher Nolan has established himself as the number one guy to go to if you are looking for smart, sometimes mind-bending, blockbuster cinema and once again he delivers on an epic scale. The images of space his team created are breathtaking, supported by the powerful score of composer Hans Zimmer. The film maker worked very closely with renowned astrophysicist Kip Thorne, leading to the scientifically most accurate depiction of wormholes, black holes and the relation between gravitation and time ever on the big screen. It is complicated material and it would require the viewer to read books to fully comprehend some story elements, but Nolan largely succeeds not to lose the attention of his audience. There are several scenes that manage to demonstrate the weird mechanics of time, particularly one where Cooper and his team go to a planet, where one hour equals seven years on earth. As they face some complications and return to their space-station later than expected, the effects are severe and give the viewer something to chew on.

The movie basically has two major themes: a great space adventure on the one hand and on the other an emotional journey of a dad having to leave his kids behind. Cooper is the central part in the story, constantly having to make decisions that take him further away from seeing his kids again, but ultimately give the human race more chance to survive. McConaughey does a great job at portraying his character, as does the entire ensemble. And ultimately, the conclusion of the film succeeds or fails with the emotional response of the viewer as the movie also has its flaws. Especially in the end, it drifts away quite a bit from its scientific base, going into areas of pure speculation. Hardcore Nolan fans, used to his twisty but logical endings, might find the conclusion of Interstellar to be a departure of his recent movies and inconsistent with the rest of the film. Interstellar runs over more than 160 minutes and has its lengths and some logic issues but ultimately, it as an epic adventure with grand ideas, Nolan has to be praised for. It is visually stunning, painfully thrilling at times and delivers on an intellectual and emotional level.

INTERSTELLAR: PROS & CONS Pros:

• Amazing visualisations of space • Compelling and thought-through story • Great performances • Powerful Score • Great Suspense as well as great emotions

Cons:

• Length (169 minutes runtime) • Ending somewhat inconsistent • Story at times confusing • Some logic issues

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Text & illustration by Matthias Eckrammer

Her (2013)

Explore relationships between human and machine as well as human and human, when a man falls in love with a newly invented artificial intelligence in the near future.

Children of Men (2006)

In 2027, humans have become infertile for inexplicable reasons when suddenly a single woman becomes pregnant and brings hope to the doomed human race.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

A true classic not only in the science fiction genre but movie history in which director Stanley Kubrick explores big themes.

District 9 (2009)

TOP 10 Future Movies This list includes ten movies you should watch to get an idea about the history and modern interpretation of Science Fiction in movies. Except one of them, they all create a somewhat realistic picture of what could happen in the future or explore and expand on today’s society’s problems. Some of them are considered classics, others might not come to mind at first when you think of movies about the future.

A small proof of disbelief

When a spaceship strands over Johannesburg, the alien visitors are from then on doomed to live a miserable life in the slums of the South African city.

Blade Runner (1982)

This is often considered to be the best Science Fiction movie of all time. In the dark, polluted Los Angeles of 2019, Harrison Ford plays a Blade Runner, hunting for artificial humans once created for space exploration but not allowed to run free on earth. The movie asks questions of how to deal with artificial intelligence and gives a grim outlook on our future.

The Matrix (1999)

A great classic where humans unknowingly live their entire lifes in a fake computer world, created by machines – the Matrix. As much as it is a big action movie, it also explores the most extreme version of what would happen if machines took over and the idea of a Messiah-like saviour.

V for Vendetta (2005)

Based on a comic book, this violent tale tells the story of an anarchist freedom fighter, famously wearing the Guy Fawkes mask, trying to bring down the fascist regime of the London of 2030.

Minority Report (2002)

In this Steven Spielberg flick, the police of the future is able to catch murderers before they commit their crime by looking into the future. Tom Cruise plays the agent who gets in serious trouble when he sees himself committing a future crime.

Back to the Future Trilogy (1985-1990)

No list about future movies can do without these fun and action packed classics from the 80s. Not very scientific, not asking big questions but nevertheless highly enjoyable.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) 46

Probably a bit of a departure from the rest of this list and by some maybe not even considered Science Fiction. It is a weird but great movie about a couple who have each other erased from their memory when things don’t work out anymore.

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Time travel will never happen, because otherwise ’future me’ would be here to prove a point now. Right now. Any second now. See? Or is it that easy? Others might say that future time travelers are conscious of their travels, and know that any minor incident could jeopardize the whole existence of the world, and therefore also the existence of the generation in which they live in. But is it really realistic that noone would make a slight mistake, or hint. Traveling in time has been done, at least on a small scale, according to professor Brian Cox. He even did go as far as telling an audience at a lecture that the answer to the question we all have thought about at some point, is ’yes’, a time machine can be built. But before you all get too excited, time traveling, according to Cox, has some restrictions. It is only possible to travel to the future [not to the past, which is possibly even more interesting], and once in the future, one can never go back. Does this sound convincing? If one can only travel to the future, and never come back, how can we know it’s for real? Back to the time traveling that has been done. To make this a bit easier to understand, I will have to quote professor Cox: “If you go fast,

your clock runs slow relative to people who are still. As you approach the speed of light, your clock runs so slow you could come back 10,000 years in the future.” Traveling to the future might then be an option for future adventurers. But what about traveling in the other direction? There are a lot of paradoxes with traveling to the past. One of the more famous paradoxes is the so called grandfather paradox. What if you travelled to the past, met your ancestor and killed him. This means that you would never have been born, and furthermore the trip you took to the past was impossible since you would never have existed in the first place. Still not convinced that time travel will never happen? Neither am I, but the odds are not in favor this time, and we might have to accept to be a part of the present at all times. But as some wise person once said, ’Time travel is possible, you just have to be patient and wait’. But if time travel appears to be possible in a near future, I will make sure to travel back and erase this small proof of disbelief. So, if you’re reading this, time travel never becomes possible. At least in my life-time. Tino Oksanen

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Amsterdam, 2064

Man-eat-dog world

Text & Photo by Hanna Meyer Thuestad

In the early 2000’s my grandmother, Johanna, was a young girl unaware of the uncivilized world she lived in. She ate meat at least five times a week, and her winter coat was padded down and embellished with fur. She was, like more than half of the world, a meat abuser and an animal slaughterer. Next to the window at St. Maria retirement home, Johanna finds herself sitting in a chair, glancing out on Mother Nature. “Times have changed”, she says. Times have changed indeed. In 2009, in the US, the average American consumed an overwhelmingly amount of meat, exactly 100 kg. There were approximately 300 fur farms all around the meat-eating country. Vegetarians would find themselves laughed at by the animal killers, and not to mention the vegans: A minor group of people forced to explain their eating habits every time. Looking back, it’s hard to believe anyone was fighting for the rights of the race unable to fight itself. “There was no such thing as a Federal Bureau of Animal Investigation, although a few political parties stood up for our beloved four-legged ones and abandoned the fur industry. Of course, these parties never really gained much support, and barely made it to the Parliament. The majority would rather see taxes go low than care about our furry friends being held hostage, drugged and killed in the most brutal way.” Not all animals were seen as useful for food or fashion. Cats and dogs, for instance, were so-called pets*. These animals were seen as more valuable than others, but were only fed after humans had their meals. “We could eat a big piece of beef for dinner, while the housecat was begging for food. We decided when to feed them and when we wanted to cuddle. The Western world also accused China of eating the animals that were meant for amusement. What a paradox, right?” Johanna says while her eyes haunt for a nod. My grandmother made some drastic changes in her life in the late 2020’s; she became a vegan and devoted a lot of time in FreeThePet where she finally became head-ofchief. “We didn’t– or rather– couldn’t understand the inhumanity we were a part of. Every restaurant served meat and the fashion industry encouraged fur. We were selfish and ignorant. We don’t expect your generation to forgive us, but fortunately most of us have learnt from our mistakes.”

*Pets: animals held hostage by their owners with the purpose of amusing and keeping their owners company.

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much more creativity to the music industry. I’m certain that within fifteen years, there will be a counterpart or competitor of Vocaloid.” “The Vocaloid concert features live played music and a hologram of the fictional characters on stage. It does give you the same feeling as a concert with real people in it; however you are well aware of the fact that the singers aren’t real. You could go to the producers instead and beg them for a signature. Sometimes you want to imagine a world where the characters were real and you could also interact with them. I’ve heard that they are experimenting with Vocaloid characters who could talk to people. Yet, we are still stuck with holographic imagines for now.”

Keeping music alive “A hologram on stage is still something new, although there have been some changes in recent years. I can recall a concert in America where suddenly a deceased rapper came back to live in the form of a hologram.

“Replacing fictional singers with real ones would ruin Vocaloid” Text & photos Tjuk Man

Imagine a concert where the band can play any music genre you want with any voice you like. By pressing start a singer pops up on stage and you can listen to all your favourite songs from past and recent singles. A program named Vocaloid makes this all possible. Ilayda Hotamis, a fifteen-year-old fan located in the small town of Maarssen in the Netherlands, predicts that this program will someday become the standard in the music industry.

“It’s hard to explain Vocaloid to people that have never heard of it before. It is music on a whole new level and you have to accept the idea that the singer is a fictional character. You could not get a signature of your favourite singer, because the person doesn’t exist. The producer does exist however so there are a few producers that I want to meet in real life and fangirl over, to be honest. Back in 2008 I was really into Manga and Japanese animations and my brother showed me pictures of Hatsune Miku. I thought she was from a movie or series and to my surprise, she was actually a rising popstar. The songs really attracted me, as I was a fan of Japanese pop music in general and the biggest joke was that I didn’t even know Hatsune Miku’s voice was actually computer made by a synthesizer until four years ago.”

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He was rapping again together with other real life rappers. The audience seemed to accept it and this gives new possibilities in my point of view. Imagine if there would be a Michael Jackson concert here in Amsterdam. It will definitely keep the music of this legendary singer alive. As for Vocaloid, songs don’t really die along with their singers, as you could always summon them up and sing it over and over again. Simply, a fictional character cannot just simply pass away.” “I also like other music groups. Vocaloid isn’t the only one in my fandom world. An Café, Gorillaz and Euro Beats are also my cup of tea. To be honest, I don’t really see a big difference between the band An Café and Vocaloid, for example. I look up to both of them and they all have a strong personality. This makes me believe that fictional characters are indeed capable of creating a band with their audience, because if you would ever replace the fictional Vocaloid singers with real people, you would definitely ruin my life.

“You could describe Vocaloid as a source for creating your own music genre with your own words to it. Therefore, it can reach many people, as the variety is almost infinite. Create a fast-pace techno beat or chose a more relaxing song that sooths your soul. Everything is possible, as long as you have people creating them. Yet, the program comes at a hefty cost. It is very hard to download the voice banks illegally and if you are willing to pay, you still need to buy the software for every voice you want to use. For example, there are various Vocaloid characters and each has their own unique voice. If you want to use two voices, you have to buy both characters.” “My favourite characters from Vocaloid are Galaco and Yuki Kaai. Galacto’s voice is absolutely lovely to hear and Yuki Kaai has a very adorable character design. She’s very cute and childish and that makes her very different from all the other Vocaloid characters. It’s very hard to talk about the charachters personality, because they do not actually have one. Fans from all over the world add those personalities to the singers. So one may view Hatsune Miku as a wild and lively teenage girl while another fan could mention her as a more touching character. It all depends on the song you like, as the same singer can be featured in different genres.”

Knowing it’s not real “If we look into the future, I’m really confident that Vocaloid will make a breakthrough in the West. The Japanese songs are fun to listen, however if you want the mainstream people to like it, you have to introduce more English songs. A character named Ruby is for example a Vocaloid with a decent English voice and I think she could win the heart of many western people. It will be no surprise if something similar to Vocaloid will be introduced here in Europe or North-America. It allows so

VOCALOID FACTS Vocaloid voices are available in Chinese, English, French, Japanese, Korean and Spanish. This year, Vocaloid celebrated its tenth anniversary. It started back in 2004 as a software program for music composers, who were desperate in search for a good singer. The software was pretty unknown until Hatsune Miku was created as a fictional character. Nyan-Cat and Loituma Girl are very known songs in the West, but almost nobody knows these are actually Vocaloid songs. Popstar Lady Gaga is a huge fan of Vocaloid singer Hatsune Miku and she was even featured in one of her concerts. The free counterpart of Vocaloid is called UTAU and has the very same concept.

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STREET TALK The average Joe’s vision for the future

Text & Photos Sasja Walstra

How much would you pay for a prolonging life pill that would let you live healthy until the age of 125? What do you think of a polyamorous world in the future? Would you like to visit the moon or another planet? Rob Klinkenberg (59), director Financial Department Miep Kras (82), Retired “I see a lot of great benefits in a prolonging life pill. I am eighty-two already and would enjoy having those extra years to spend amongst my family. If I’d win the lottery, I would spend every penny on that pill. But if every person would have access to the pill, there would be even more people on earth. We might have to go to another planet then.” “Oh well, you’ll get used to it. There are men with more than just one woman already these days. If that’s what the world would be like, then I would make good use of it.” “I’d sign up immediately if that would be possible. But I don’t think I’ll be able to experience that with my age. Unless if I would take the prolonging life pill.”

Jeroen Visser (35), Sales Manager “I would pay for it, but only if it’s accessible for my friends and family too. I’d only enjoy those extra years when accompanied by the people close to my heart. Otherwise it would be rather lonely, wouldn’t it?” “I’m not the one who’s going to judge somebody’s personal life choices. If people can justify to themselves, without harming others, that having more than one relationship is a good thing, then they should do that.” “That seems interesting to me, as long as I can come back.”

Stefan Leferink (22), Hospital Employee

Lia Bos (75), Grandmother “If your health would stay in a good condition then I’d take it for 15.000 euros.” “It wouldn’t surprise me if that’s what the future holds. It occurs more often nowadays than in my days. So it’s already starting to move in that direction.” “If I were younger I would visit the moon. But I am too old now.”

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“First you think that you would spend a lot of money for this pill, but on the other hand you wonder who will be left of your family and friends. If I would not have friends and family left, I don’t think I would take this pill. If everybody around me is taking the pill as well, I would pay 10.000.” “I don’t believe in polyamory. In a relationship there is a certain degree of jealousy. I don’t think that having more relationships works.”

“I would pay a lot for it. Millions if I had them!” “I don’t like the thought of that. I believe in monogamy.” “I would definitely like to go to Mars, you hear a lot about this planet. But I wouldn’t want to stay there for too long. I would want to go back to earth after a while. It’s better to be with both feet on the ground.”

Sarina Spencer (24), Secretary “Nothing! I don’t want to live longer. I am enjoying my life now.”

“No, I don’t feel a connection between me and the moon or another planet. The earth is beautiful enough for me. But if I know what it looks like and there is a nice climate, no war and I don’t have to travel too long, then I would consider it.”

“Sometimes it works, so why not? But for me: no, I don’t think so.” “Yes, I am curious what the moon looks like. If it looks nice, I would like to visit the moon. Like on a vacation.”

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Text & Photos Eva Coolman

“The future of fashion is like the future of anything basically.”

‘It is only a matter of time before we start printing the clothes we wear today’ 54 international

Sleeping suit and blanket suit -

South-Korean designer Masong Jung is a designer that created a piece with a dual function. He found his inspiration during his compulsory military service, where sleeping bags and –blankets are standard in a soldier’s kit. In several small steps, this classic man suit can be changed to a sleeping bag or –blanket. With his design, he does not only emphasizes the fact clothing will have several functions in the future, but he also questions the construction of it, as well as how it is shown and worn.

Solar Dress-

The young, Dutch Iris van Herpen is one of the only designers that concentrated on the use of new technology during the production process of the clothes, instead of on the influence of technology on fashion itself. In the fashion world, she is known for her experiments with new te chnology and 3D-printing. During the exhibition, she lets a 3D-printed dress grow in a bath of magnetic, black liquid. The liquid, called ferrofluid, drops from above and is attracted by the magnets hidden in the silhouette itself. According to Van Herpen, ’it is only a matter of time before we start printing the clothes we wear today.’

Pauline Van Dongen, based in The Netherlands, uses technology as a means and not as an end on itself. That is why she developed the ‘Wearable Solar’ clothing line. The dress that includes solar cells, shown in the exhibition, can charge your smartphone battery within two hours if you walk with it in the sun. The solar cells can be connected with your smartphone via a plug. She believes in the use of technology in fashion ‘to create a closer relationship between the body and its surroundings’.

Ying Gao, a designer from China, created clothing that is liable to an environmental factor as well. He is interested in ambient elements such as light, sound and air. The dresses were called Incertitudes, because they will always look different. The sensors pinned on the dresses react on the human voice and ambient sounds, by moving. The serious undertone of the designer is that the individual is always threatened by external factors in life and that clothing is there for protection.

Incertitudes -

Iris Van Herpen

that strike the most. And for the people who are less interested in fashion: the exhibition is still a recommendation for gaining knowledge about your future. Because according to Coppens, “the future of fashion is like the future of anything basically. You cannot just make fashion for the sake of fashion anymore, as well as you cannot ignore the state of the world.”

Pauline Van Dongen

Ferro Fluid Dress –

While some designers invested in the possibilities of innovative technology in fashion, others

criticized the current fashion system. A large part of the exhibition is devoted to clothes as a reaction on the social environment and the general view on the human body. How the world of fashion can answer questions around durability is another topic of the exhibition, with designs made out of toilet paper (Wang Lei, China) or fabric that pulverizes when it gets in contact with water (Helen Storey, United Kingdom). The entire exhibition is worth a visit for people who love fashion, but here is an overview of the items

Mason Jung

Along with more than 50 others designers, Belgian former designer Christine Coppens is now showing his work at the exhibition The Future of Fashion is now at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam. Renowned fashion-houses, such as the Dutch duo Vikter&Rolf, as well as young upcoming talents from all around the world, show their vision on how fashion in the future is going to look like.

‘The use of technology can create a closer relationship between the body and its surroundings’

Ying Gao

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OUR FUTURE PREDICTED BY

Astrology

When we think about astrology, a lot of different pictures come to our minds: horoscopes, tarot cards, crystal balls and – well – predictions. It’s a faraway land and sometimes we may fear it. However, there’s a science behind everything. Faye Cossar, a professional astrologer from New Zealand and founder of the Amsterdam School of Astrology, explains how her world works and also gives her take on the planet’s future. When did you become interested in astrology? Faye Cossar: “I started studying in New Zealand in the 70’s, but there wasn’t much going on so I moved to London in 1984, where I started to study at the Faculty of Astrological Studies. In 1986 I came to Holland, where I started to do professional astrology by charging charts and also by teaching astrology to beginners. A few years later, I went back to university and I did a Masters in ‘Cultural Astrology and Astronomy’ in the UK.” What’s the purpose of the Amsterdam School of Astrology? Cossar: “Our aim is to help people who have already finished their basic studies in Astrology and want to start practicing professionally. There are a lot of bigger schools that provide long courses in Holland and some of them are on a proper university level.” Is Astrology getting to be more perceived as a science? Cossar: “No not really. Science is changing a lot, which can make Astrology more acceptable to some scientists and it is also coming back to universities. It still isn’t a real science, but a part of Anthropology or Social Sciences.” Is that a result of the mixed ideas people have about Astrology? Cossar: “Yes, most people do not understand what we do; they think astrology is what they read in the newspapers. Before the 1700’s, astrology was a part of everything. After the industrial revolution it didn’t fit in anymore. Since then, most scientists won’t go near astrology, whereas all the big scientists before them did. Astrology looks at the meaning of the symbols of the planets and how they can be related to what is happening on earth, so it can be useful to a lot of things.”

How does Astrology actually work? Cossar: “With things like your date, time and place of birth, astrologers draw charts, which are pictures of where the planets were when you were born and then we interpret that. Naturally, all the planets will move after you’re born. So basically astrologers examine specific moments and every moment has a sort of unique quality. You can draw a chart of anything, because it only represents a moment in time. So it could be a start of a company, the birth of a cat, the start of a country and so on.” How can the lines and signs from the chart tell you something about the future? Cossar: “The chart from the day and time you were born cannot be changed. So when things change you can say something about the future. There are patterns that repeat themselves and come back on your horoscope. But everything is a prediction; we may say ‘someone is coming in July’ even though we can’t know that for a fact. Of course, as an astrologer, you can look at any moment in the future. But who knows what is going to happen? Some astrologers would disagree with me, but I don’t think you can make concrete predictions; I could advise you to do something, but you don’t have to do it. It is still your choice and you do have a free will.” Could you do a small prediction of the world’s future? Cossar: “Right now Uranus and Pluto are aligned in the form of a square, at 90º from each other. Uranus, the one that rules rebelliousness and breakthroughs, is currently in Aeries. And Pluto, the one that wants to hang on to power, is in Capricorn. This is unusual because they have moved from each other seven times since instead of the normal three to five times. So we are in the middle of two ‘gods’ that are arguing with each other. We could relate this with the world. Pluto being the old power: Tunisia years ago, China for Hong Kong, Russia for Ukraine, etc. And Uranus is the movement that demands a change. That fight will only settle down in 2015. But I can’t say what is going to happen because people have choices to make now. Even though it’s not looking good at the moment, things may change if we make conscious decisions regarding people in power.” Faye Cossar is a professional astrologer Text Gabriela Oliveira

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Future forecast: Rocket-shoes & Poop-electricity? 58 international

Robin 11 years: “In the left building on the bottom there is a room saying warm and cold. This is the weather of the future. Underneath are people and they can call if they want warm or cold weather.“

Lieke 10 years Kerani 10 years

Sam 10 years: “In the future the poop will be collected and used for electricity.“

In a few years, cars will fly and people will use rocket shoes to move from one place to another. True story? Yes, accoring to these young talents who drew a picture on how they imagine the future. Luna 10 years

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