A History of the Future

How have people imagined the future over the last two centuries—and what do those visions reveal about their own times? Join us for a fascinating journey through 200 years of speculative fiction, from the industrial age to the digital era. In this live stream, we'll explore how writers, artists, filmmakers, and thinkers have imagined future societies, revolutionary technologies, distant worlds, utopias, dystopias, and humanity's destiny. Rather than asking whether these predictions came true, we'll examine what they tell us about the hopes, fears, values, and anxieties of the cultures that produced them. Why did nineteenth-century authors dream of mechanical wonders? How did the world wars reshape visions of the future? What do Cold War space adventures, cyberpunk megacities, and contemporary climate fiction reveal about changing ideas of progress, power, and survival? Together, we'll trace the evolution of speculative fiction across the past 200 years and uncover how imagined futures serve as historical documents in their own right—reflecting the societies that created them as much as the worlds they depict. Whether you're a fan of science fiction, alternate history, fantasy, literature, film, or cultural history, this discussion will offer a fresh perspective on the relationship between imagination and the historical moment.