Eden’s « ordinary » life in 2050

Récit imaginé par Souheila El-abassi, Tania Kapur, Alicia Ostertag et Janelle Pitteloud dans le cadre des ateliers futurs proches de décembre 2021 en partenariat avec la HES du Valais – Filière tourisme



Thème de l’atelier:  Et si nous imaginions le tourisme de montagne en Valais en 2050 ?  


Retour d’expérience sur les ateliers ayant créé ce recit: https://futursproches.com/le-tourisme-de-montagne-en-2050-retour-dexperience/


Saturday night, 24th of f September 2050.

It is a quiet evening for Eden who is spending time with his friends drinking beers through the VR world. They find themselves in a flying bar that is called « Root Beer Float ». As the night goes on, Eden saw a female human-looking robot and suddenly has a flashback. He has the desire to shahre his incongruous experience and begins his story:

« You will never imagine what happened to me last week! I was in service at the paramedic station and was spending time practicing while waiting until duty calls. Oh, I forgot to mention but this place has a huge training area which consists of a big space that has a machine that pushes the air above. It allows us, paramedics, to get better at flying and to exercise until we are confident enough to use the jetpacks in real life. It is about putting in practice what we have learned in theory since it represents simulations of rescue situations. There is always room for improvements and that is why we always train before an emergency in order to warm up and to avoid accidents. It is crucial for us that the tourists feel safe and can go hiking without worrying about potential incidents and injuries.

Suddenly, when I least expected it, the alarm went off. This is the moment I prefer, because I always feel thrills and adrenaline as if I was going down a rollercoaster. I am sure you all know what I am talking about. I quickly prepared, took my equipment from the wall and looked at the screens to get the information I needed. At that moment, I realized that the injured person was a female and that she was alone in this critical situation. Weirdly, in the information that I was given, it did not mention her age. That poor woman was hit by an avalanche of rocks. It sadly reminded me of the death of my parents who died when I was only ten in an avalanche of snow. Although I felt a bit triggered and disoriented, I quickly came back to my senses. Without hesitating, I rushed into the right tube that led me directly to the indicated area and got ejected into the sky. On my way to go help this woman, I noticed that the weather drastically changed and that a big storm started to appear. It started with the sky changing colors, becoming dark grey and it was quickly followed by a deafening thunderstorm as well as extreme lightning. Even if we are prepared for these types of situations because of climate change, it is always complicated to handle them. My vision was unclear as I couldn’t even see the back of my hand. I also got tree branches in my face and that is when I knew I could not continue flying. For these reasons, I had to go back down on the ground and simply ran a few times as the weather was getting out of hand and it became deadly dangerous.

After some misadventures, I finally arrived at the area that was affected by the rockfall. I had a difficult time finding thelady. Thanks to my integrated map, I could see through my VR glasses and locate the person that was injured. I quickly flew towards her and started to dig through the rocks. Suddenly, I heard a faint signal which indicated me that I was at the right place and that I had to dig deeper. After a few seconds, I perceived the top of her body and that is when I realized that she was not human. I was facing a robot, a beautiful robot!

To make sure she was conscious, I tried communicating with her. I asked her if she knew her name and she responded with the most soothing voice I have ever heard…Eve. She had this beautiful flawless skin that looked like porcelain and dark deep eyes in which I instantly lost myself. I could not explain it to you but something enlightening happened at that moment. She was asking for help as the rocks caused the electronic system of her lower body to stop functioning. I used the first aid kit, put her on a stretcher and attached her to my jetpack. We then flew back to the nearest maintenance facility for a robot controller to repair the damages. I stayed with her until she was 100% optimal to function again. Knowing that she was all well, I allowed myself asking more about the cause of the accident. She told me that she was working as a hiking guide in the mountains and at the time, she was with a group of ten Australian tourists that came as they were interested in last chance tourism. They wanted to explore one last time the beauty of the mountains. They had succeeded at the Swisstainablecourse that is required by the Swiss government to be able to enter the Swiss territory. She explained to me that she was at the edge of the mountain, showing to the tourists the hologram of how the mountain once used to be covered with the snow. In the blink of an eye, the mountain started shaking and rumbling and caused gigantic rocks to fall on Eve. Fortunately, the Australian tourists and all the other travelers that were on the mountain hadenough time to hide into the safe spaces that are created with unbreakable glass material for people to be safe and see what is happening outside the bunker. That is why, they did not get affected by the avalanche. Thankfully, the tourists quickly contacted our station to get help.

I spent hours getting to know her and that is when I understood I had found my better half. I know what you may be thinking but yes, me the person that is afraid of commitment, fell in love with a robot! Isn’t that incredible? »

His friends are shocked as no one expected Eden to fall in love, let alone with a robot. Each of them got lost in their thoughts, thinking about what they would have done and what would their reactions would have been if they turned out to be in the same situation as Eden. Even if they would never admit it, they are all a bit jealous of Eden’s exciting encounter.

After their boys night out, Eden turns off his VR glasses, sits on his couch while reminiscing the warm memories he shared with Eve. He looks down on his watch and sees that he is running late for his date with a woman named Clara with whom he matched earlier in the day on Tinder ! He quickly took his jacket and stepped out of his place to get in his flying car.

Don’t forget that Eden is single and ready to mingle 😉