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Don’t teach me how to spell “banana”, but “future”

I recently went to a well-known supermarket chain to but a certain fruit. Since that was the only thing I bought, I decided not to go to the human cashier (there was a long line) and I went to the automatic payment station. I put the fruit on the scale to weight it and, at that very moment, I was interrupted by a store employee.

With no previous interaction, the man (white, old) told me he could help me to spell “banana”. I thought it was a joke and I laughed. I thought the conversation was over, but then he told me again that if I couldn’t spell “banana” he will do it for me.

I wanted to ask him if he was planning to write “banana” in English or in Spanish and if he knew if “banana” had an “h” somewhere in the word. I didn’t ask anything, of course. I asked him (in English), What’s seems to be the problem? Is there any problem with me?

As soon as he heard me speaking English, this employee of a well-known supermarket chain did something unexpected: he ran away from me as fast as he could. He went behind a counter and stayed there.

I was upset with the incident, but not just because somebody who is unaware of reality assumes that if a person doesn’t look like him the other person is illiterate and he “must help” the other person. Unfortunately, many people live according to their prejudices (we, of course, do the same thing.)

As somebody once cleverly said, we don’t see things as they are, but as we are.

I was upset about the incident because a certain level of existential urgency. While some people treat us as illiterate, uneducated persons, the world is moving in a different direction where the knowledge the “learned” people assume to have will not be enough for them to enter the new future.

I say that based on the many reports published just a few days ago during and after the C2 Forum in Montreal, where the main topics were Artificial Intelligence and blockchain. Basically, experts from all over the world said that very soon industries and organizations will be radically transformed.

In fact, during the forum experts presented examples of Artificial Intelligence helping humanitarian and charitable projects, as well as initiatives of global change. In addition, now we have a new technology, bioprinters, able to print human organs.

Also, MIT developed a new material that can be program to assemble itself (think about metal turning into a car by itself.) In 2020, Artificial Intelligence will dominate all aspects of worldwide economy and finances, with unknown consequences for humans. And all that change is speeding up.

As experts said during the forum in Montreal, the future is a present reality.

I know how to spell “banana”. But, sir, do you know how to spell “future”? (By the way, it is spell “powerful innovation for global transformation”.) Can we spell “future” together?

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