Shaping our Bodies

Society's self-image literally fluctuates over time- from celebrating a portly disposition as a sign of good health and wealth, to heralding fat as an sign of slothfulness and lack of willpower.

The Center for Disease Control, in a recent study, found about 10% of all children and a third of all adults are overweight. But if overweight was an aesthetic judgment, rather than a indicator of good health, how might the future turn out? Perhaps like the "Two Fat Ladies" cooking show? Or the wonderful FATSO? site

While using a web search engine to locate the CDC study above, the keyword "obesity" not only triggered a few thousand matches, but also told the banner engine to display an advertisement in the food category- specifically hawking "300 delicious desert recipes". Artificial intelligence still has a way to go....

Here is the Original Version submitted to WIRED:

The Shape Of Things To Come

Ever notice how movies about the future, from the classic silent film "Metropolis" to the most recent SciFi noir, have one theme in common? They inevitably star hard bodies clothed in identical spandex leotards - "Jack LaLane Meets Outerspace". But this prediction is only half correct.

If one eternal truth unites all prosperous societies, it is a headlong rush towards ever expanding waistlines. Statistically speaking, we're getting fatter; our children are getting fatter; and society after society emerging from poverty soon discovers they're getting much too big for their britches. In the future, when improved drugs and food technologies sever the last connection between lifestyle and lifespan, overweight will be as healthy as thin. The trend is clear- hard bodies are out, and fat is in.

Identical clothing will also be in, bucking a long predicted trend towards designing and manufacturing products for a market of "one". We all claim to worship individuality, but the need to belong to the tribe is even stronger. Only the fringe of society embraces true individuality- even Dennis Rodman might have trouble wearing gold lame on the court. So instead of a billion different clothing styles, this year everyone wears Nautica in the rain, GenXers wear goatees on their chins, and the finest German-engineered Mercedes looks embarrassingly like a Toyota. To an alien's eye, we must appear as identical as sheep.

So here is our collective future -- enormous mounds of flesh covered by acres of clinging spandex. Not a pretty picture, but diet, as they say, is destiny.

And now the version that appeared in WIRED 5.10 ( October 1997), edited to fit their space and style requirements:

Increasing Returns

By Greg Blonder

If one eternal truth unites all prosperous civilizations, it is the rapid expansion of waistlines. Statistically speaking, we're getting fatter; our children are getting fatter still. Indeed, society after society emerging from lean times soon finds itself too big for its britches. In the future, when engineered drugs and food technology sever the last connection between lifestyle and life span, portly will be as healthy as thin.

Identical clothing will also be in. Despite the increasing trend towards one-to-one marketing, the need to belong to the tribe is even stronger. So instead of several billion clothing styles, our collective destiny reveals indistinguishable hordes of enormous mounds of flesh covered by acres of clinging spandex. Not a pretty picture, but diet, as they say, is destiny.

Greg Blonder watches his diet as VP of customer expectations research at AT&T Labs.