This TED Talk features writer and futurist Bina Venkatraman, recorded live at TED 2019.

So in the winter of 2012, I went to visit my grandmother's house in South India,

a place, by the way, where the mosquitoes have a special taste for the blood of the American born.

No joke.

When I was there, I got an unexpected gift.

It was this antique instrument made more than a century ago,

hand carved from a rare wood,

inlaid with pearls and with dozens of metal strings.

It's a family heirloom, a link between my past, the country where my parents were born,

and the future. The unknown places I'll take it.

I didn't actually realize it at the time I got it, but it would later become a powerful metaphor for my work. We all know the saying, there's no time like the present. But nowadays,

it can feel like there's no time but the present. What's immediate and ephemeral seems to dominate our lives,

our economy, and our politics.

You know, it's so easy to get caught up in the number of steps we took today

or the latest tweet from a high-profile figure.

It's easy for businesses to get caught up in making immediate profits

and neglect what's good for future invention.

And it's far too easy for governments to stand by

while fisheries and farmland are depleted

instead of conserved to feed future generations.

I have a feeling that at this rate, it's going to be hard for our generation to be remembered as good

ancestors. If you think about it, our species evolved to think ahead,

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