Speculative Satire from the Future

NEO-LEWISTON - Life is different now, but so too are the ways in which we grieve. A hundred years after the historically devastating lockdowns, digital and life-supported residents of Neo-Lewiston came together to remember the times when they mourned in person. The virtual squares and high-tech platforms were alight with remembrances this past weekend, as this 'Plastic City' prepared to commemorate their digital ancestors who were once locked away in their physical homes. Now uninhibited by the constraints of time and space, Neo-Lewiston's residents spent the weekend sharing 'experience cubes', high sensory VR modules encapsulating moments from the ancestors' lives. Clad in sleek, iridescent bodysuits- the 'skin' of choice for most digital humans now- they reveled in the stark contrast of a world tethered by biological constraints to the unrestrained life they lead now. 'We've come so far since then,' lamented Bella-3X9, a Neo-Lewiston resident whose genetic code can be traced back to the lockdown times. 'It is tragic, there's no other word for it. But it's also a testament to how resilient we are as a species.' Over the past century, human life has become increasingly digital, with more people choosing to exist within various virtual spaces. The weekend's events ended with a holographic vigil, casting lifelike projections of memorial ribbons across Neo-Lewiston's digital skies. Separation was a thing of the past, and while the communal sigh of relief was a resonate quest echo in our auditory updates, it bore a different weight now. Back then, it symbolized the ending of physical lockdowns and death. Today, it signifies opening up to a different kind of future, one that is free from bondage but bound by codes. As Nyri-Anne 3000, a historian specializing in Ancient Earth cultures puts it, 'As we move forward, we carry the lessons from our past within us. We are digital, but we are also human. Our capacity to feel, to mourn, and to hope- that will never change.'