History of the Future

Catalog description

This class examines how writers and filmmakers have envisioned the future. Through scientific projections, fiction, movies, and television shows, some visionaries have portrayed a bleak future marred by conflict and societal collapse. Others have depicted a more egalitarian world in which we all have what we need to thrive. This class will survey the history of those who tried to predict the future, focusing mainly on writings and cultural productions from the nineteenth century to the present. Our goal is two-fold: to understand what it was that people saw in their lifetimes that motivated them to offer a prediction; and to determine whether these futuristic fantasies have anything to teach us about our own world.