It’s my birthday. Let me show you the future.

– It makes me sad that celebrating birthdays became something to be ashamed of. Happy birthday, Maty. I’m glad we’re keeping the tradition, and even today we’re having our guys’ night.

– Except we’re on opposite sides of the planet.

– But this Metaport feels more real than reality. I put on the glasses and here we are, walking in the Botanical Garden. The same place where I pushed your stroller 20 years ago.

– So today it won’t be without sentiment?

– Come on. Twenty years is twenty years. Can you imagine what video calls looked like when you were born?

– Unfortunately, yes. Tiny faces next to each other on a flat screen.

– At least I could see what you were really wearing and your facial expressions. Now you’re probably in boxers, Soma under your tongue, and I see nothing but a virtual fit of your avatar.

– But it looks more real than those videos ever did.

– True. HorizonX pushed reality to a whole new level. Anyway, should we metaport ourselves somewhere else?

– Since we’re doing our annual history flashback, I’d love to see that HoMA exhibition.

– I’m in. But it always scares me how old I am when I see that MoMA is now HoMA. History of Mature Art...

– For someone who launched one of the first BlockArt projects and collected prehistoric NFTs, you should have seen it coming.

– I knew digital art was the future. I just didn’t expect physical art to lose its meaning and value this fast. I still believe my paintings in the basement will be relevant again one day.

– Dad, admit it. You’re a little weird.

– I’m weird? And you’ve been in a relationship for two years with a girl you’ve never met outside of the virtual reality?

– You’re probably the last person on Earth who still calls it “virtual reality.” This is reality. And why should I fly across half the world, take a flybus and hold hands? When I know we would end up metaport­ing ourselves into HorizonX anyway?

– In my days, I would cook a romantic dinner…

– Cook?

– Yes, cook. I didn’t have a HumanoID to do it for me. Then I’d take the car and…

– I still don’t believe you actually piloted cars yourselves. Weren’t you terrified?

– We called it driving. And we were more scared of cars driving themselves.

– Insane.

– I’d drive for hours. And every car around me was driven by a person too.

– I would’ve shit my pants.

– You actually did. In diapers.

– I’m just glad science solved the disgusting habit of going to the bathroom. By the way, is it true people used to have other people manually checking their HealthIndex?

– Yes. Doctors. We didn’t have UltraChips constantly monitoring us. You had to go to a check-up. Usually only when something was already wrong.

– You must have lived in constant fear, right?

– Well, people actually feared the chips more than the doctors.

– I still remember when you told me, as a kid, what the future would look like. And so much of it came true. How could you possibly know?

– It’s simple. Even right now, someone is working on things we’ll all be using in 5 to 10 years. The form might change, but development takes time. That’s what happened with metaverse, with self-driving cars, with space trips, with HumanoIDs. You just have to pay attention to what the smartest people are building. Add a little imagination. Throw away your fears and prejudices. And you’ll see the future clearly.

– The real question is… do you always want to?

I wrote this essay in 2021 and it was published in a book of essays.

Today, I’m turning 40.

And I felt like metaport­ing it to you.

Have a great day,

Tino