Time: July 19th, 2023 11:00 pm Greenwich Mean Time

Location: Geneva, Switzerland

Topic: The Origins of Covid-19

Keynote Speaker: Doctor Margaret Shah

“It seems that the virus was successfully contained in 2022 when no new cases have emerged for over eight months across the world. One may think that the endgame for the virus is around the corner. But my research results show otherwise.”

Doctor Shah paused a bit and surveyed the brightly-lit conference room. There, directly in front of her, seated eleven of the world’s most prestigious epidemiologists. They looked at her intensely with furrowed brows while their brains were probably spinning three times faster than average, conjuring facts and figures and spinning up brilliant ideas.

Vaguely, Dr. Shah thought that this must be the look that they give to their various test subjects under the microscope every day. “Ironically, my importance of existence in this room is the same as microorganisms zillions of times smaller.” Her mind chuckled at this absurd comparison.

One of the scientists, Dr. Freeman, looked up with a slightly questioning look during the pause. Dr. Shah blinked once and quickly continued with her report.

“It is in the nature of the virus to keep replicating and upgrading itself. The vanquishing of the coronavirus a year ago remains a mystery even to us. However, seasonal flu across the world has increased in frequency and fatality rate. There is confirmed evidence that the recent ‘Spring Flu’ virus in Boston, Massachusetts resembles the structure of the last Covid-19 variant.

“It can be confirmed that coronavirus has not been defeated, or destroyed by Man. It is still at large, consistently changing and developing. In fact, we are facing a new phase of triumphing over the evil.”

“It is a phase where the virus would come back more vicious than ever and we could no longer try to contain the virus or try to minimize its damage. At that time, we would have no choice but to deal with the ultimate origins of the virus. The conflict between the damage caused by human development and environmental protection.”

“Temperature, air purity level, water pollution and the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere contribute to the rate of transmission of the virus and its fatality. External environment is likely to alter the sequence of the tRNA strands coding for transmission and fatality for the virus. For example, at an environment of higher temperature, the internal structure of the SARS-COV-2 virus is reconstructed, causing a change in its key characteristics. The close correlation among these factors has shown that human intervention in various natural aspects, such as clearing forests for farming and the emission of toxic gases into the atmosphere have greatly disrupted the natural order of environmental functions.”

“This also serves as a warning that although it seems that the wide-range of vaccination have successfully contained the spread of the virus, the complex environmental factors may as well be using this time to mode the virus into a more unpredictable and deadly threat.”

“In order to prevent this from happening, we need to make changes. Carbon-neutrality should be our top priority because carbon dioxide contributes greatly to global warming and in turn may lead to transformation of the virus. To ensure our safety, policies should be renovated to better ensure the protection of the environment instead of merely focusing on economic development. For, if not, the next wave of the pandemic may just be too much for us to handle.”

Dr. Shah pressed the small controller in her hand and the projector came alive with three-dimensional images and data. The structure of the virus and its variants, the geographical and social conditions of its originated area, and in the middle, a single bolded sentence in red appeared.

“COVID-19 IS THE REVENGE OF THE ENVIRONMENT ON MANKIND”

-2-

Time: March 5th, 2043 7:00 am Greenwich Mean Time

Location: Softcrystal Plastic Manufacturing Company

Topic: Ways to boost production rate

Keynote Speaker: Mr. Edward Davis

Mr. Davis walked into the conference room with his usual strutting strides. All his twelve high officials were seated uniformly along the two sides of the oblong table, waiting for him to utter the profound wisdom of business and economy.

“Well then, I see that we are all here. Well, at least physically.”

He looked around the room and saw his sales manager suppressing a small yawn.

“Hey, there. Mr. Goulding, rise and shine!” Mr. Davis called out cheerfully, maintaining his role as an easy-going boss.

“I hope that you guys are ready for a good day of work. The reason why I called for a meeting at such an early time is that I have noticed a continuous dropping in our production rate for the past three months, an average of 0.9% actually.”

Mr. Davis cleared his throat and took on a more serious tone.

“The reason for this, as I have concluded through my own observation, is that our employees lack the quality of boldness. I want to remind all of you that THERE.IS.NO.LIMIT.TO.PRODUCTION. I want to see a clear, detailed plan of monthly goals rather than the highest limit in your production plans. I want to see workers, with passion, working full speed to produce the largest amount and the best quality. I want to see black smoke rising out of the chimneys and you know why?”

He leaned forward for the dramatic effect.

“Because it smells like fresh printed dollars.”

The employers clapped.

“Money is truly everything, sir, especially in this fast-developing era. The economy is booming like mad, sir!” Mr. Goulding, the sales manager, chirped in.

“Excellent way to put it, Goulding! Every company is working at full speed now because time is precious. I still remember the world pandemic in the 2020s. Such a difficult time it was. My father had a very hard time keeping things running. He used to manufacture cars you know. And the entire business was down in the gutters as people refrained from going out due to the fear of being infected. But now, no diseases, no world crisis, no restraining policies. Everyone, every industry, every company is trying to generate profit!”

Mr. Davis emphasized the word “profit”. Being a businessman for most of his life, he knew perfectly well that his employers are not loyal to him, or his company. They, like everyone else on the planet, are loyal to the fresh, crispy green dollar notes that hold the promises of immense pleasure and utmost joy that one could ever imagine even in their wildest dreams.

He was about to go on when a sharp “ehm-hem” interrupted him. Mr. Davis frowned for he had a feeling that he was not going to like what followed the fake cough. The interruption came from his newly hired Head of Corporate Image Management, Ms. Garrison.

“Yes, Ms. Garrison. Do you have anything to share?” Mr. Davis hid his displeasure and asked politely.

“It is today’s headlines, sir” Ms. Garrison said, “Dr. Shah, a world-renown epidemiologist and environmentalist, has criticized our company for the damage we have inflicted upon the environment due to our mass production scheme.”

“Very well then. Another hypocrite! Another saint!” Mr. Davis threw up his hands. “I shudder to think what the economy would be if people like her are in charge. That aged brain of Margaret Shah’s would not have a single notion concerning the growth of economy. Does she care about the supply and demand chain? Does she care about rising stock markets? Does she care about anything other than her own beliefs? No!”

“I say, we make an apology and promise to make changes. But to hell with the environment, we are not going to change a single thing. And why is that? Because the economy needs recovering! People needs to buy products and do away with their money! And our job…” He wiggled his chubby forefinger around the room, “…your job is to make sure that we grasp this excellent opportunity and become freaking rich!”

“Yes, sir!” The employees chanted in unison.

-3-

Time: August 9th 2052 1:00 am Greenwich Mean Time

Location: a tiny basement

Topic: About food division for individual consumption

Keynote Speaker: Thomas Smith

15-year-old Thomas Smith tossed and turned in his bed for most of the night.

He wanted to sleep. But hunger has made everything in his dreams become food-related. To Thomas, it was just plain depressing to feast on chicken and ham in dreams and woke up to practically nothing to eat except for dried mangrove pieces.

Beside him, curling under a mess of greying bedsheets, was little Jimmy. He was barely three years old and had already spent one-third of his entire life in starvation. Thomas heard him whining in his sleep and he knew that his brother was feeling the exact same thing, the burning, gnawing sensation of hunger.

Thomas quietly slithered out of the room and made his way through the dingy hallway to the room where the light was still on. His parents nearly always stay up late to make foam-based boxes for the food delivery industry.

“Um, Pa, Ma, I have to say something to you guys,” he took a deep breath and started.

“For the past year I have watched you guys work so hard to support me and Jimmy. And… and I used to think that this would just be a phase, you know. That it would be over in a couple of months, like flu. But it is not, and none of us can see an end to this Covid-52 pandemic.”

“I can’t stand staying in this tiny space and doing nothing all day. The feeling is suffocating. It is like…like waiting for doomsday. I hate going to bed with an empty stomach every night. I hate listening to Jimmy’s whining in bed. I hate feeling that I’m useless.”

“So please, let me go out and try to find a job. I could be a cleaner in hospitals of some sorts or…or a delivery man! I could also help to bring food on the table. Just please let me do something.”

“If finding jobs are that easy, there won’t be so many people dying from starvation.” his mother began, not looking up from her handiwork.

His dad stared at him with tired eyes. “Thomas, didn’t you watch the mandatory announcement today? Dr. Shah said that the fatality rate of Covid-52 has already reached 90% and variants are still appearing all over the place. We just cannot afford to have you exposed to that environment.”

Thomas’s stomach gave a loud grumble.

“Maybe, maybe we can consider it after some time, when the worst is over,” his dad said, detecting Thomas’s depressing mood, “Dr. Shah and her team are already close to developing the vaccine. But before that, just think of staying at home as paying tribute to Dr. Shah. She is over 80 years old and she is still working on the frontline to save us. You wouldn’t want her efforts to be wasted, would you?”

Thomas shook his head. He knew the story of the legendry Doctor Shah, how she never gave up when no one believed her theory on the connection between environmental protection and coronavirus. She is the hero of the era, and a hero to Thomas.

Thomas would never want to disappoint Dr. Shah. 

Thomas fell asleep with an empty stomach, dreading tomorrow.