Happy Teachers' Day!

The year is 3243 and mankind is at the brink of collapse.

This is not the chaotic type that the old movies seemed to have a fascination with. I think those ones had a hero complex. This is also not the kind of military chaos that seems to have been a thing at some point in history. We don’t know much but the robots say there were wars. I am not entirely sure what caused them or how they happened but they seem to have had a heavy influence on world politics. For instance, one of the wars led to the establishment of a union of all the countries. They called it the United Nations. Now, we call it the United Nations and Intelligences. It has representatives from all the countries in the galaxy both humans and robots.

I am 23 and existence has bored the hell out of me. We have to have been made for more because everything seems pointless. Machines do everything. There is a farm outside of town for food. I’ve been there once. Yesterday, Larry told me there used to be schools - a place where people go to sit and learn things like the wars, geography, classes of food, simple biology and a lot more. I wonder how they were able to know so many things in their head. Now, the machines know those things. Anyway, these are my personal existential issues.

The robots have been asking for voting rights. They already have the jobs plus the intelligence. It’s interesting because human population has been steadily declining. We are heavily disadvantaged. The robots are everywhere and it worries me. I’ve seen how they look at me when I visit the workshop. Only Larry is kind to me and sometimes, he falls out with them because of it. I wish there was a way to make us also learn to do stuff by ourselves without leaning so much on the machines. Machines don’t have minds and intelligence but the robots do. I heard that robots used to be machines till we finally perfected artificial intelligence. Technically, we made the mess we are in. The robots control the machines and have been causing more and more strikes since the voting issue came up. This morning, they closed the power plant and seized power. I had to place my food outside, hoping the sun’s heat will touch it some. I wish I could make fire myself but I’m not sure how and I really would rather not ask a robot.

Larry told me there is a tribe that can help our world. He says they are a long line of teachers; their ancestors used to be in charge of learning in schools. Their job was to simplify knowledge and help humans know things. Super humans they must be. And surely, learning under a human teacher must have been fun. Having someone guide you through learning, laugh with you and really feel your pain points must feel really good. The robots can be kind but I really want to experience the classroom thing. If it was me, I would pay the teachers heavily since their job is them dedicating their whole lives to ensure we know things for ourselves and not always depend on others for everything we need. They are almost extinct now and the government has sent an expedition to find them.

They say teachers are carers and an important bedrock of society. I agree. They have the responsibility of shaping young minds. They inspire people to do better. They foster critical thinking, promote social skills and support different learning needs. At this point, I am really hoping we find the teaching tribe and that we treat them better than Larry says they were treated. I really hope we never stop learning things and that teachers get better celebrated.

Happy Teachers' Day!