Hanna talks to the creators of an AI project called Future You. She also has a conversation with a future version of herself. But the person she meets is not who she expected. Share understanding this holiday season. For less than $2 a week, give a year-long Atlantic subscription to someone special. They’ll get unlimited access to Atlantic journalism, including magazine issues, narrated articles, puzzles, and more. Give today at TheAtlantic.com/podgift. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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I'm Karla Lally Music, cookbook author and snack enthusiast. Do you have a sweet tooth? Tune in to Sweets Unwrapped, a new podcast from Ferrero and Atlantic Rethink, the Atlantic's creative marketing studio, where I dive into the stories behind America's favorite treats. Hello.
This is future Hannah. Oh, boy. My name is pronounced Hannah. Hannah. You should know that, of all people. This is Radio Atlantic. I'm Hannah Rosen. Um, who are you? Hey there, I'm Hannah Rosen, an 80 year old journalist from the future. I'm here to have a conversation with you about our career and life experiences and offer some insights and advice based on my own journey.
Just a heads up though, since we are from different timelines, things may be slightly different for me than they will be for you. But regardless of what lies ahead, I am excited to chat with you and share my thoughts. Oh boy. What if you had the chance to meet your future self? In make-believe, meaning movies, people get to meet their future selves a lot.
Usually it's coming around to teach them something. Like, a kid is desperate to be older. I wish I were big. only to learn that being an adult is kind of terrible. Or it's the holidays, when everyone's supposed to be smiling and drinking eggnog, but instead they're frantically reevaluating all their life choices. Am I in the presence of the ghost of Christmas yet to come?
Or you're a teenager doing stupid teenager things, when the future you all of a sudden pops up.
Dude, I'm you. Well, I'm I'm 39-year-old you. What? Left boob. One cup smaller than the right. And no, it never catches up to the right, but honestly, you get used to it and it's okay. Guys can't really tell.
There's always this hunger to talk to our future selves, to know how things end up. A desire to change something today that will have an effect on tomorrow. But life isn't a movie, and I'm not an actress. So instead, I signed up for this program from MIT called Future You.
It's a web-based platform that lets you have a conversation with an older version of yourself, which in my case was 80-year-old Tana. First, I answered a questionnaire about my life, my family, my career. I sent in a photo, which gets aged up a few decades to create a sort of avatar Hannah. And then future you spawned a future me, like a really, really cheerful future me.
Do you have any advice for me now? My advice for you is to always stay true to yourself and your values. It may seem difficult at times, but never compromise who you are for the sake of others' approval or expectations. Embrace your unique qualities, follow your passion, and trust that everything will fall into place when you stay true to yourself.
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