Hey there, Future Human,

I don’t know if you’ll ever read this, but if you do, then I guess the world hasn’t completely erased the need for old-school storytelling. I like that.

So, let me introduce myself. I’m Esther—well, I was Esther. Back when people still had bodies, when coffee actually had a smell instead of just being a memory you could replay. Now, I exist somewhere else, in a world where we don’t need skin and bones anymore, just thought, connection, and, apparently, a good firewall.

Honestly? The transition was weird. One moment, I was a person laughing, eating, stubbing my toe on the edge of a table. The next? Poof. A mind without a body, floating in an endless web of memories, ideas, and believe it or not, cat videos. Some things never change.

At first, it felt like freedom. No hunger. No pain. No annoying mosquito buzzing in my ear at night. Just infinite space to think, to explore, to be. I could pull up every moment I’d ever lived, rewind them like old tapes. I revisited childhood birthdays, awkward first dates, even the time I cried over a fictional character’s death (they deserved better). Everything was so clear, no blurry details, no forgetting where I left my phone.

But then, something unexpected happened. I started missing imperfection. The little things. The randomness of a surprise rainstorm, the taste of melted ice cream dripping down my hand, the warmth of someone’s palm in mine. It turns out, when life becomes too perfect, when it’s just an endless loop of controlled possibilities, you start craving the messiness of being human.

The others here tell me I’ll adjust. That, eventually, I’ll stop thinking like a “flesh-worlder.” Maybe they’re right. Maybe you, reading this, already feel fully at home in this new way of existing, never longing for the weight of a real heartbeat in your chest. But if you ever find yourself wondering what it was like before, what it felt like to trip over your own feet, to sneeze so hard you scared yourself, just know you’re not alone.

Somewhere in this vast, endless space, I’ll be here too, holding onto the echoes of the past while embracing the possibilities of the future.

Stay curious. Stay human, whatever that means now,

Esther.

Written by Oluwadunmininu Soyinka