A century from now, human life could be struggling with extinction after fully exhausting earth’s resources and neglecting its cry for help. The planet could simply not support life anymore. With this, humans will be left with only one solution: to evacuate and begin anew in another existing planet. The journey in finding a habitable home will be challenging but humans start to form a new appreciation for everything that exists beyond the earth’s atmosphere—and this time, mankind will vow to protect its new home.

In the future humans learn that in order to evolve in a positive way they’ve to study a lot (even more) about the relationship between nature + technology as one to create a powerful impact on our planet. Thanks to this immense wisdom new generations are able to find sustainable-innovative solutions to coexist in this world as well as new scientific breakthroughs that will change the way we see, perceive and design our universe.

The future will be tough if we keep treating the planet as we are, pollution will be an even bigger issue for us and a breeze of fresh air will be a luxury from the past. We tend to imagine the future in outer space but I think we will stuck here on Planet Earth wearing spacesuits for protection from air polluted, although with a touch of sophistication as I tried to illustrate here.

Historically, the seven of diamonds is a neutral card and associated with negotiation. When thinking about the future, my mind went straight to our relationship with the digital and how I fear we will eventually have to make a deal with ourselves, to stop the digital from taking over. Times like the ones we are currently living through show us the incredible power of technology, but with the rise of voice activation and self serving tech, we are at risk of being seduced and losing the human touch.

'Please don't forget to recharge your mask and update your heart before you leave your underground shelter'. The topic of the new deck is the future. I decided to make a romantic illustration showing preparations before going to a date.

People living in the rhythm of a progressive 21st century often remember events of the past, where everything seemed to be simple and clear. While creating this illustration, I was inspired by the ideas of retrofuturism. I'm sure that in the future there will be muscle cars, rock-and-roll and minutes for fun too. I would like to see the future with optimism.

In 2120 the face of humanity has changed. The overgrowing human population with an overconsumption based mindset has been the main catalyst for speeding up the sixth mass extinction, therefore darker consequences started to picture a grim future for the entire human species. The massive loss of wildlife and the high volume of deforestation of the Earth’s rainforests has brought unimaginable destruction transforming almost 40% of Earth's surface into a completely uninhabitable environment. A series of deadly viruses and epidemics, chained earthquakes and heavy tectonic plate movements followed by the great Krakatoa volcanic eruption in 2062, decimated the Earth’s population, putting the entire human civilization on the brink of extinction. The United Earth Consortium’s contingency plan to revitalize and maintain the life on Earth is deemed as a complete failure, being unable to provide sustainable and practical application of Lem’s theorem. At the same time, relocating on Mars was no longer a viable option due to the negative effects on the human body brought by prolonged exposure to solar radiation traveling through the Enselm Corridor, as it seems there is literally no escape. The entire fate of humanity lies now in the hands of a small group of rebel scientists that have managed to alter the genetic information of a carefully selected group of subjects, only four in the entire world. Rising from all the bad humanity has caused thus far, these individuals will be genetically modified in order to be able to access a higher level of intelligence, unimaginable by any standards up to this point. Each of the four individuals (Clubs, Spades, Heart, and Diamonds) has unique and specific abilities that allow them to find viable solutions to restore nature and wildlife and to elevate the entire civilization to new unimaginable heights in technology. The tradeoff for this superpower is that their lifespan was dramatically reduced by 12 years, making them known as the group of Sacrificial Twelve. With these abilities, the plans, the ideas, and the pure knowledge that resulted were astonishing, elevating the entire civilization to new unimaginable heights in technology. As a result, all efforts were redirected into the conservation and preservation of the little that was still left. With the help of super-evolved science and technology, robotic insects, and lab-made miniature creatures, the year 2120 became a solid target of reversing the negative effects. Meat consumption has been legally banned throughout the entire remaining population and conserving Earth’s resources became the new paradigm of human civilization. Planet Earth is reborn, humanity has a permanent shift into mentality focusing on conservation and respecting Earth's resources and the sixth mass extinction is successfully reversed.

My queen of Diamonds illustration reflects the future hundred years from now as I imagine it would be. People will discover new technologies, develop new devices and interfaces. This will all ultimately lead to changes in our own physiology. I imagine we would achieve a sort of human and machine blending. And while it will give as more advanced capabilities, it surely will affect our perception of life. My main concern is if we will still possess our current level of humanity. Or if the ongoing race for physical improvement will take away a part of our inner world and everything that makes us human. I guess time will tell.