6 . A baby born today will be thirty-something in 2050.If all goes well, that baby will still be around in 2100, and might even be an active citizen of the 22ⁿᵈ century. What should we teach that baby to help them survive and flourish in the world of 2050 and beyond? What kind of skills will they need in order to get a job, understand what is happening around them, and navigate their tough life?

At present, too many schools across the world focus on providing pupils with a set of predetermined skills, such as writing computer code in C++ and conversing in Chinese. Yet since we have no idea how the world and the job market will look in 2050, we don’t really know what particular skills people will need. We might invest a lot of effort in teaching kids how to write in C++ or to speak Chinese, only to discover sooner or later that AI will have been able to code software far better than humans, and that a new translation app will have enabled you to conduct a conversation in almost flawless Mandarin, Cantonese or Hakka, even though you only know how to say ni hao.

So what should we be teaching? Many experts argue that schools should downplay technical skills and emphasize general-purpose life skills: the ability to deal with change, to learn new things, and to preserve your mental balance in unfamiliar situations. In order to keep up with the world of 2050, you will above all need to reinvent yourself again and again.

To succeed in such a demanding task, you will need to work very hard on getting to know your operating system better-to know what you are and what you want from life. This is, of course, the oldest advice in the book: know thyself. This advice was never more urgent than in the mid-21^st century, because unlike in the days of Laozi or Socrates, now you have serious competition. Coca-Cola, Amazon and Facebook are all racing to hack you.

Right now, the algorithms are watching where you go, what you buy, and who you meet. Soon they will monitor all your steps, breaths and heartbeats. They are relying on big data and machine learning to get to know you better and better. And once these algorithms know you better than you know yourself, they could control and manipulate you. In the end, authority will shift to them.

Of course, you might be perfectly happy giving up all authority to the algorithms and trusting them to make decisions for you and for the rest of the world. If, however, you want to maintain some control over your personal existence and over the future of life in general, you have to run faster than the algorithms. To run fast, don’t take much luggage with you. Leave all your illusions behind. They are very heavy.

Life in the Future

My life in 2054

10 . Morning tea is a family tradition. It is nothing less than an art form, with the ______ laid down by my late grandmother. Her ______ had been formed during her childhood years ______ in the border state of Punjab, the land of five rivers, the bread basket of India. After her marriage, she eventually ______ to Mumbai, located on the western coast of the country. She lived here for nearly 70 years, bringing with her the ______ of home.

Each morning started with a cup of tea boiled in a kettle. Her favorite was a(n) ______ of fine black Assam loose leaf tea, to which a small amount of CTC tea was ______ for color and flavor. This mix would be ______ without a little crushed cardamom(小豆蔻).

Accompanying the tea was milk, ______ to boil. Both were served in stainless steel pots in quilted(有夹层的)covers, keeping them ______. The final touch was her cup, prewashed in boiling water, so she could ______ a steaming cup of tea.

Adding a spoonful of ______ sugar and a spot of milk to the beverage, she would drink it with her biscuits. Occasionally it would be sweet grape biscuits dipped in the tea, but with age, she ______ moved on to digestive biscuits packed with fiber. Depending on the ______, her tea would be ______. On hot days, she would drink iced tea, and on cool windy days, she’d mix up the spices.