How did people in the past view the future?

[Katherine]

I came up with a question I think it would be fascinating to research and I wanted to get some general ideas/opinions on it.

In the 50s-60s, people had a vision of the future that stemmed from the new technologies available - It was all time travel, flying cars etc. (so we had the Jetsons for example)

So, say in the 18-19th century, people couldn't have had this vision because they'd never have known the technology that created it. So what was their vision of the future - it must have stemmed from and included technologies of the time, i.e. the steam train etc.

Obviously this applies to basically all historical periods. What visions of the future came out of the situations of the past? How did the things we find terrible now, like slavery, fit in to a idyllic view of the future?

I'd love to know. Any ideas?

[Pedro]

Well there was the 19th century writer Jules Vern. He had quite a techno vision of the future.

[Nick]

The modern steampunk films are very close to what the Victorians believed the future would be like: Airships, steam-powered aircraft and spacecraft that were shot into space with gigantic cannons.

[Voskhod]

Here's a really good website for this sort of thing: http://www.paleofuture.com/

There's a lot of nice gems there. Here for instances is a collection of postcards from c.1900 showing what people back then think the year 2000 would look like.

House moving by train:



"Television"



Roofed Cities:



X-Ray machines:

[Katherine]

Thanks everyone!
Voskhod, these postcards are fantastic aren't they - I love the Combined Ship and Railway Locomotive! lol What a great idea!

[Lucius]

Voskhod,

Thanks for that first one especially. It really got me thinking. There are living quarters rolling down the road that almost equal in square feet to a small apartment. Then there are plenty of rolling diners. And some library systems operate bookmobiles. And there are mobile health clinics. What else?

And what else might we see in the future? Ambulance chasers?

[Edgewaters]

Originally Posted by Katherine

Obviously this applies to basically all historical periods. What visions of the future came out of the situations of the past? How did the things we find terrible now, like slavery, fit in to a idyllic view of the future?

Keep in mind that the awareness of technological progress is relatively recent, and even after that, the notion that it is the chief agent of social change or human progress has never been universal. Most notions about idyllic futures - both modern and ancient - have not been technologically inspired. For instance, Christianity and Marxism both feature a vision of a future utopia but neither is realized through technological advancement.

[Pedro]

Voskhod: great postcards. I live to see images like that.

Katherine: You asked a great question. I have been turning in over in my mind ever since you asked it. I think the answer is too large and demands a book. Maybe one of our Historum buddies will write it for us.
I do have two short, albeit inadequate, observations.
I once owned a book published in 1900 with a title something like, The Wonderful Century. It was a recap of the wonders that the 19th century had wrought. (Sam Morse, remember " What hath God wrought?) In praising the past the author made a few predictions, as I remember nothing very daring, but one phrase he used stuck in my mind. “Electricity is the soul of modern industry.” Could we of today say, “Bio-chemistry is the soul of modern industry.” or perhaps there is a better noun to insert, go ahead pick one… “………is the soul of modern industry. Just a thought to play with. (I’d be interested to know what is wroughten in Denmark.)

My other observation about how people thought of the future concerns my perception of the computer in the ‘pre-home computer age’. I’m talking about the 50s and 60s when TV dramas cast the computer as the villain that took over control of man and mankind. Some may remember and others may have seen reruns of ‘Twilight Zone’ or ‘Outer Limits’; two of many shows that repeated the age old theme of man vs. machine. I bought into that technophobia, but only a little. When I purchased a Timex Sinclair for 99 $ in 1980 my attitude flipped and flopped. I found I was the one in control. Totally. What a revelation. Once again the Luddites got it backward.
By the way, the Timex had only two K of memory. Memory is probably the wrong word. It had 2 K of something, but for memory it was necessary to plug in a cassette tape recorder to save and store a program that had been carefully typed in. Very awkward. About that time the Commodore 64 came on the market and that changed the world for everyone. Except for the hackers of course. But they aren’t of this world anyway…are they?

Oh yeah…one more thing:
I forget the title but (I think 1906?) Alfred Russell Wallace (yup, Darwin’s buddy) wrote a popular and readable book about science. He made a few off hand predictions that make reading it a joy. (If someone can get me the title I will be beholden) One prediction was about the future of bicycles. Perhaps one day they could be powered by electricity or compressed air he said. See YouTube for some experiments with compressed air bicycles. It’s one of those things that make you want to go out to the garage and start tinkering.
See one here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzNiU9rSWAU

One more thing. A view from about 700 years ago from Francis Bacon who not only explained the precession of the equinoxes with its consequent necessity of reforming the calendar, re-invented gunpowder, measured the length of the year and as if looking into our century said, “…machines can be constructed to drive ships more rapidly than a whole galley of rowers could do; nor would they need anything but a pilot to steer them. Carriages also might be constructed to move with an incredible speed, without the aid of any animal. Finally. It would not be impossible to make machines which, by means of a suit of wings, should fly in the air in the manner birds.”

See the reality at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dST-a...eature=related

[Bucephalus]

This is an interesting thread -and there have been several good posts already. As we know, there have been a few visionaries before the technological age who were able to imagine some fraction of the possible fruits of technological invention, perhaps most notably Leonardo da Vinci, some of whose inventive visions predated their technological realities by many centuries:

The helicopter and other forms of powered flight:

The armored battle tank:

The "horseless carriage" (in this case, a vehicle powered by springs):

[laura]

Pedro - good post.

Bucephalus - would you believe that i was looking those exact same pictures only yesterday? being a total bimbo sometimes, i never connected them with this thread! good post.