A glimpse into the year 2050, from Minnesota fiction writers

NINA MOINI: 25 years ago, we weren't just starting a new year, we were entering a new millennium. And that came with some concerns about a glitch in computer software that could have triggered problems for banks, the electrical grid, and so on. Experts spent years preparing and, by the end of December 1999, were urging people in Minnesota and elsewhere not to panic. MPR News reporter Mark Zdechlik reported at that time, most people were listening to that advice.

MARK ZDECHLIK: SuperValu, which supplies hundreds of grocery stores around the state, says business is brisk everywhere. But spokeswoman Rita Simmer says shoppers are not emptying store shelves in a panic.

RITA SIMMER: So far, we've seen no problems with the supply of product getting to the stores or consumers demanding more than we have. Probably the most popular item, of course, is bottled water. No one wants to be out of water. So we are seeing brisk sales of water and batteries and some canned goods.

NINA MOINI: Still, it was uncertain what exactly would unfold over the next few hours, let alone the next 25 years. So as part of our New Year's coverage as we begin 2025, we're going to spend a few minutes imagining Minnesota 25 years from now. To do this, we're stepping out of the news and turning to people who spend a lot of time imagining and creating other worlds. Here's what three Minnesota fiction writers had to say about the year 2050.

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BENJAMIN PERCY: I'm Benjamin Percy. And I'm a writer based out of Northfield, Minnesota. The year is 2050. And the United States has closed itself off-- no more trade, no more travel, no more communication. They believed their isolation would protect them from a world in dangerous decline, disease, poverty, climate disaster, geopolitical chaos. An impenetrable wall was erected over land and sea, cutting through the Great Lakes, with a turbine system that allowed for currents to flow and generate electricity. In the winter, ice crashed against the wall like a cold thunder. Scramblers prevented any satellite or drone surveillance.

No one has heard from anyone inside the country for more than a decade until now. A radio transmission has been detected by the Canadian Armed Forces coming out of Grand Marais. Amidst the staticky pops and hisses, there comes a garbled babbling and then, faintly, a voice. (WHISPERING) Help, it says. More static follows, along with some hooting and snarling and whispering. And then, out of a sudden hush, comes a clearly articulated (WHISPERING) "Help us."

MUBANGA KALIMAMUKWENTO: My name is Mubanga Kalimamukwento. I live in Mounds View, Minnesota. Since I became a writer, I write about social problems that I have either experienced personally or observed. And sometimes, I don't have the immediate answer to how those problems can be resolved. That's more often than not, actually.

So my writing is a place to explore alternative ways of navigating some of those problems. And I hope that in 25 years, those problems will have evolved in a way that I don't need to write about them, that the world would be in a much better place, that my creative curiosities will lean towards the joyful and not the pessimistic aspects of our society.

BRYAN THAO WORRA: Hello. I'm Bryan Thao Worra, a Lao-Minnesotan poet living in Minneapolis. 25 years from now, I look forward to our community celebrating the first 75 years of Southeast Asian Minnesotans in the United States from the Lao, Hmong, Cambodian, and Vietnamese communities, and so many others. And also, America will be getting ready to celebrate its 275th anniversary.

And as we approach those momentous milestones for our communities, I hope that we will have learned to take the time to appreciate everything in our shared journey and to marvel at the many different possible ways of being that we have discovered together, one that embraces the joys and the challenges of living in a democracy and figuring out how to create a space that includes everyone and that has a way of treasuring our histories and our imagination, our memories and our dreams.

And in this time, I have no doubt that we will find a way to find a blend between technology and tradition, between so many different ideas that ultimately lead to the great idea of souls talking to souls, of people reaching out to one another to form community. It's a humble idea. But I have no doubt that in the next 25 years, we will find a way, as Minnesotans, to achieve something pretty close to that. And I look forward to that journey with all of you.

NINA MOINI: That was Bryan Thao Worra, Mubanga Kalimamukwento, and Ben Percy, three Minnesota fiction writers imagining the state 25 years from now.