Examining visions of futures that have now come to past.
There’s something magical about traveling to the future by way of a novel, video game, or movie. Imagining ourselves in the midst of a sophisticated city buzzing with flying cars or maybe surrounded by nothing but overgrown vegetation following the collapse of society. It goes without saying that our visions for the future are heavily influenced by our present-day contexts. Things like our cultural upbringing, our socioeconomic standing, and our social networks all play important roles in shaping our view of the future. Add to this our understanding of current technological and social developments and we’ve got all the required ingredients to create a future vision.
Here at Avenear we find it particularly interesting to take a look at examples of future visions that have now come to pass. Stories set in what was at the time a distant future.
By looking at what past societies thought might be possible in the future, it brings to light the difficulty of imagining futures that shed our current visions of technology, economy, society, and other pertinent issues of our times. A future imagined in the 1800s will invariably carry the social issues into its projections. Similarly, the way in which we’re thinking of a future 100 years out from today will likely be just as misaligned as their visioning exercises. It’s easy to imagine a future society reading, watching, or playing our visions of the future and thinking them quaint and humorous.
With this in mind, we’ve compiled a list of some of the more notable examples of works written about a future that has now come to pass. In compiling this list, we’ve discovered two things:
The line is easily blurred between fantastical future visions and plausible future visions.
For example, there are many movies and novels that use wild card scenarios to describe a future where a zombie apocalypse or an alien invasion has occurred, where intergalactic space travel is occurring, or where complete nuclear annihilation has radically changed the world. Although possible (ok, maybe not the zombies), we’ve considered these types of stories to be more in the realm of science fiction and fantasy than the more traditional foresight-based productions aimed at looking at the potential evolution of society.
Very near-term future visioning exercises (1–5 years out) were omitted as they typically did not present a significant alternative vision of the future.
There are many examples of novels, movies, plays and other media that present futures now past. If you’re interested in researching more of them, we encourage you to take a look at the crowdsourced list on Wikipedia. It’s a good starting point for a continuously updated list of “stories set in a future now past.”
As always, let us know in the comments if you believe we’ve omitted a significant work in our curated list.
100+ Years Out
En l’an 2000.
A series of 87 postcards by Jean-Marc Côté depicting speculative scenes of the year 2000, roughly 100 years from their present. The full collection was published by Isaac Asimov in 1986 in a book entitled Futuredays: A Nineteenth Century Vision of the Year 2000. These postcards have been making the rounds of the internet and you’ve most likely seen one or two of them before.
Looking Backwards.
A novel by Edward Bellamy written in 1888 and taking a look at the United States of 2000. The novel took a 112 year view of the future. It apparently forecasted the use of cards for payments (debit or credit) and shopping malls. We can’t vouch for it as we didn’t read it.
Golf in the Year 2000.
This is a novel written in 1892 by J. McCullough. Its protagonist, an avid golfer, wakes up in the year 2000 to find many technological advances. One of the most significant shifts has occurred in the role of women in society. In 2000, masculinized women hold positions of power and do the work while the men golf.
A Journey in Other Worlds: A Romance of the Future.
A novel published in 1894 about the year 2000 (106 years in their future). The book describes a world where space travel to other planets has become possible, with terraforming projects underway, solar power, and telephone networks implemented.
75+ Years Out
Paris in the Twentieth Century.
Novel by Jules Vernes from 1863 depicting Paris in 1960 (97 years in the future). It was only published in 1994, 131 years after its creation. The book described significant details of the 1960s such as the use of gas-powered vehicles, electric streetlights, skyscrapers, wind power, … even computers and the internet (described as networked electrically powered mechanical calculators).
In 1999.
A 1912 play by William C. deMille. It takes a look at a future 87 years out where gender roles have been reversed. Women go to work and hang out at clubs while the men stay at home to perform domestic duties.
R.U.R. ( Rossumovi Univerzální Roboti / Rossum’s Universal Robots).
Another play, this time by Karel Čapek. It was written in 1920 and features a future society with artificial people called roboti (robots). This is the first time the word robot is ever used.
50+ Years Out
News From Nowhere.
Written in 1890 by artist and designer William Morris. In this utopian vision of socialism, the protagonist wakes up from having visited a future (1952, 62 years in the future) where there was no private property, no authority, no monetary system, and no class system.
Just imagine.
A 1930 film that takes a look at the world of 1980. The characters have alphanumerical names like MT-3 and RT-42 and live in 250-story buildings connected by suspension bridges and elevated roadways.
Dimension X.
A radio program produced by the NBC that ran from 1950 to 1951. It was composed of 50 episodes that took a look at science fiction stories narrated in future tense set between the years of 1962 and 2007.
25+ Years Out
1984.
A novel published in 1949 about the year 1984. Written by George Orwell, it is a classic of science fiction. It highlights the detrimental effects of a totalitarian regime and of mass surveillance.
Your Safety First.
A short film (cartoon) made in 1956 and set on October 5, 2000. It carries a special focus on the future of automobiles as it was produced by the Automobile Manufacturers of America. It apparently served as inspiration for the development of The Jetsons series.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Ok, this one is only set 24 years in the future, but we’ve included it in this category anyways. It’s a 1968 novel by Philip K. Dick set in 1992 (changed to 2021 in later editions). The Blade Runner world of androids, bounty hunters, virtual reality, and post-apocalyptic cities.
10+ Years Out
Westworld.
Everyone’s favourite killer cyborg filled theme-park originally released in 1973 and set in 1983. Perhaps more of a sci-fi than a “realistic” look at a future world state.
Play for Tomorrow.
A television series produced by the BBC in 1982 that took a look at life at the turn of the 21st century.
Originally published at https://www.avenear.com on December 21, 2020.
