by Roger Bourke White Jr., copyright May 2017
This story is about having babies and raising them in the 2050's.
It is about how all the interesting choices that new health technologies will bring change the choices a person faces once they decide to have a baby. It is also about a social difference -- raising the child as being part of a baby club, rather than being part of a marriage. I envision baby clubs as becoming a much more popular child raising institution in the 2050's -- as popular as marriage, or even more so.
Health technologies, artificial intelligence and powerful gene editing tools are going to be bringing about lots of changes in how children are created and raised. There are going to be many, many more choices in how to accomplish creating the zygote, incubating the fetus, and raising the child.
A woman or man who decides to have and raise a child is going to be facing all these choices and having to pick and choose between them. It's not going to be "birds and bees simple" anymore.
I foresee baby clubs as being a popular child raising lifestyle in the 2050's -- this is what the single mom and other alternative child raising environments of the 2010's will evolve into. It will become popular and respectable because it meshes more easily with the lifestyles of those who want to mix child raising with many activities other than marriage.
Marriage is going to continue evolving away from having child raising at its core. I envision marriage as getting wrapped up in Tattoos and T-Shirts issues -- it is going to become a lot more about personal expression and a lot less about getting children born and raised. This means marriage will evolve into a lifestyle choice that is a lot more expensive, a lot more elaborate and ritualized, and a lot more about being in love. It will be less about raising children and creating social ties between in-laws. This also means that while fewer people choose to indulge in it, those who do will be much more enthusiastic about their choice than average married people of the 20th century were. Some married folk will raise children, but many will be marrying for other reasons that center on other forms of personal expression such as the romance, the wedding and conducting social functions as a couple.
This evolution in what marriage is about will boost the popularity of baby clubs for those who want to have their child raising happen in simpler, less expensive, and more varied ways, and in an environment that is centered on child raising.
This story is exploring how all these choices will affect "baby making in the 2050's".
In order of appearance --
Janalee Crosby -- 30's, AR engineer, into tennis and bicycling, she is ambitious and living an ambitious person lifestyle, not a TES/necessity person lifestyle
Cynthia-975 -- Janalee's cyber muse, a moderately expensive one, who is physical and quite good at dealing with human personalities
Florence Manning -- 40's, personnel admin, also ambitious and who works at same company as Janalee
Mildred Mingleforth -- 50's, the manager of the Hannaford Baby Club, she has a personable style
Robert Griswold -- 30's, clarinetist, modern dance dancer, slim, tall and good looking, Janalee has her eye on him for DNA
Cheri Albright -- 20's, attractive in a fashion model way, salesperson at Twinkle Star, an agency offering pro DNA
Sly -- 20's, black and hoodie dressed, offering black market pro DNA
Nana Zima -- 30's, slim and black of South Sudanese descent, the director of the Nottingham baby club
--The End--