In a plausible future…
Something unexpected happens
When Aurora received an email, she was so absorbed in watching a show that she didn’t even notice the notification.
Later on, she checked and read the email, which said she had won a prize:
“Another scam,” she thought. “Don’t these people ever get tired?”
The prize was a trip.
Out of habit, she double-checked the email details to make sure it was a scam. She checked the sender’s address and the recipient’s address, but they both seemed fine. The body of the message also seemed free of any layout or text errors.
“Wait, that can’t be right…” she said, startling herself. She remembered she had automatically entered a sweepstakes when she made a purchase at the supermarket.
She felt her stomach tighten and was flooded by an extreme happiness she was trying to keep under control.
"This can’t be," she went on while searching her email inbox for the sweepstakes' details the supermarket had sent. She didn’t want to get her hopes up.
She looked for it, but could hardly select the email because she was trembling.
"Finally," she sighed when she found it.
She opened it and reviewed the list of prizes.
There it was, the trip. It could be true. A chill ran through her body.
Just in case, she called the contact number listed in the supermarket’s email.
They confirmed it.
And they gave her all the prize details. The more they told her, the more amazed she was.
“I can’t believe it,” she said aloud as she hung up. “Yesss, hahaha,” she laughed, jumping in excitement.
It was the best gift she’d received in her 17 years of life.
She ran to tell her parents, who were in the living room.
“I just won a 10-day trip to Underwater Beach Resort with all expenses paid!”
“We can all go,” she continued, “it’s for six people, which means Grandma and Grandpa can come, too!”
But then something even less expected happened…
The Rejection
“Sweetheart, that’s the resort that’s underwater, right?” asked her father, Marco.
“Yes, that’s the one!”
“I’m not sure it’s safe to go there…” Marco went on.
“Underwater?” said her mother, Celia. “Absolutely not! Marco, it was on some show and they said it was dangerous! If something happens, we could drown!”
“But everything’s paid for! The trip, the stay at a five-star hotel, the meals, and they even give us tickets for some activities!”
“I said no. You’re not taking me there, Celia declared.”
It hit Aurora hard, and she felt like crying. She left the living room feeling worse than before she read the email notification.
Aurora had two choices: one she really didn’t like, and the other she loved, but she had no idea how to make it happen.
“A problem is always equal to an opportunity,” she recalled.
So she decided she had to end up…
Changing the Future
In her room, she opened her coaching app. She had three days to respond to the sweepstakes email, stating whether she would accept the prize or not.
She had three days to change her parents’ minds.
She told her virtual coach, Roger, what had happened and what she wanted to achieve.
Roger told her she needed to start negotiating as soon as possible, because she only had three days. She needed to get her parents to decide on their own that going on the trip was the best option.
“Here’s what you need to do,” Roger continued. “First, understand the objections your parents have about the trip. Then we’ll research them together to figure out how to overcome them.”
Aurora talked to her dad to figure out what issues they had with the trip. The main one was safety; they also didn’t know anything about the resort, it was in a foreign country, and depending on the travel dates, they might not be able to miss work.
“I’ve got their objections now, Roger,” Aurora said.
“Great, do you think we can handle them if we look into it?” he replied.
“Yes.”
“Now call your brother Mario and your grandparents and give them the news,” Roger said.
“Uh, shouldn’t I focus on the objections first?” Aurora continued.
“Yes, after that. But right now, what helps you the most is having the majority on your side. There’s this thing called the conformity bias you can use. In fact, you’re trying to harness the effect of the majority, because it seems your mom has her mind set on not going and needs to change her opinion.”
“Tell me more about that,” Aurora requested.
Roger gave her all the details, and she understood how to use it to her advantage.
She called her brother and her grandparents, and they were all very happy to hear the news.
She spent the rest of the afternoon looking for brochures, videos, and information about the resort. The next day, she left the brochures in the kitchen for her parents to see during breakfast. In the afternoon, they watched two hours of videos about how safe the resort was and what it was like to go there. Little by little, they got used to the idea of what it was.
By the second day, Marco and Celia were already weighing the risks with updated information. If they were going to leave their son and Celia’s parents without such a trip, it had to be for a very good reason.
On the third day, everyone got together at Marco’s request:
“Your mother and I have decided that we’re going to take the trip to Underwater Beach Resort,” he said with a smile.
“Great!” exclaimed the others, eager to plan the details.
Aurora flashed a smile because she knew it was going to be…
An Incredible Experience
After they flew there, they went straight from the airport to the resort in a self-driving vehicle big enough for all six of them. It was really comfortable to travel that way, with no other passengers and no waiting around.
They arrived at the tunnel leading into the resort on the coast and went downhill. When the vehicle emerged from the tunnel, they all stared in awe.
“It looks like another planet,” Grandpa blurted out.
“Wow! This is really impressive!” Marco said.
“Thump thump, thump thump,” Aurora’s heart was pounding.
They reached the square at the hotel entrance and, upon getting out, everyone looked up, where a transparent dome let them see the ocean right above their heads. Sunlight filtered through the water before softly illuminating the entire resort.
No one could say a word.
After checking into the hotel, they headed up to their rooms, which were amazing. Aside from the special windows, they looked like normal but luxurious hotel rooms. Of course, it was a five-star place, and they weren’t used to that.
The safety briefing began an hour after they arrived.
“In case of emergency, you’ll hear the general alarm, which sounds like this. The emergency lights will also turn on,” the instructor continued.
“All buildings are watertight and will automatically seal if water is detected. Head into the buildings as soon as you hear the alarm or notice something’s wrong. The highest floors in each building are the safest, so go upstairs.”
“If the emergency catches you far from a building, head to an evacuation point. They’re marked with this orange icon. If you’re already underwater, the rescue robots will bring you to the nearest non-flooded airlock.”
It seemed they had everything covered and automated.
Every day they spent there, they did something new, and each person liked something different:
Her grandparents loved the hotel, the food, the shows, and being able to stroll under the huge dome watching the sea and the fish from below.
Aurora’s parents were amazed by the entire experience and how happy everyone was. Every now and then, Celia would get a thought that it was dangerous, but she preferred not to dwell on the fact that they were underwater and that the place could potentially flood.
Although the grandparents didn’t want to take a ride in the recreational mini-submarine, Mario went nuts for that outing to see the seabed and the resort from the outside. The beach was located in the shallower, sunlit area along with the main walkway under the dome. The buildings, however, were in the deeper section and were much taller.
The underwater beach, that was Aurora’s most memorable part of that vacation. It felt so strange to lie on sand beneath the ocean and swim in saltwater while the sea was above her. At the same time, it was super relaxing, so much so that years later she would go back. She’d end up wanting to create those kinds of environments and sensations in her future work.
By the time they had to load into the vehicle to head back to the airport, they all felt that usual end-of-vacation sadness, wanting to stay longer.
Knowing it was all over, Aurora asked her mom:
“So, what do you think, Mom? Was it worth coming in the end?”
“What a silly question. Of course it was. Your father and I knew it would be worth it.”
“Sure, sure,” Aurora said to herself.
“Wait till I tell people at work, they have to come here,” Mom concluded.
The Background
Underwater Beach is an underwater vacation resort. It’s a massive construction with several hotels, restaurants, beaches, pools, and other leisure areas. It’s completely submerged, though in some places only a few meters underwater, and it’s the first of its kind.
The bottom of the ocean is Earth’s most unexplored place, and sooner or later it’s going to be explored and exploited. Right now, we do know a fair bit about some coasts because we can explore them by scuba diving. For the ocean floor that’s at great depth, there are ongoing exploration missions using special deep-sea vehicles.
In the future, there will be temporary structures set up at very great depths for exploration.
However, for leisure activities, the underwater coast will be the first place to build. And it makes sense: it’s easier, cheaper, and safer at shallower depths.
One big advantage of this first resort is that it’s novel, plus sunlight can still reach it, and it has a predictable temperature or “climate.” Because it’s predictable, hotels and restaurants can stay busy all year and it does not depend on cold, heat, or rain.
In our story, Aurora wins a trip, but her family doesn’t want to go because all they know about the resort comes from the news. They think it’s new, the media coverage focuses on the negative and so does the public opinion.
This is a phenomenon that happens whenever something new appears and scares us.
For example, everybody understands today that air travel is safe. That doesn’t rule out accidents, which happen occasionally, but even so, flying is now considered safe. But when the first passenger planes appeared, what did people think? What image did they have of flying?
We went from fear to success.
Just look at a few eras:
With the Wright brothers: People thought it was a miracle. Heavy things couldn’t possibly fly. It was an experiment.
In both world wars: People saw aviation as something for and about war, because that’s what it was used for.
Later on came the pioneers: They showed certain trips were possible.
And then modern airplanes arrived: At first it was a luxury, and eventually it came to be seen as safe.
So it wasn’t until long after the first airplanes appeared that people’s views on flying changed into what they are today.
Which is normal. Because we neither had nor have wings like birds.
And it’ll be normal. Because we don’t have gills like fish.
The same thing will happen with underwater structures.
And it’ll go from fear to success.
So, what about you. Will you book a stay at Underwater Beach?
Hope you have a great week.
Great future!