Buzz
The concept of the future is constantly shifting. From the bold space exploration fantasies of the 1960s to the dark, tech-driven dystopias of the 1980s, examining how past generations envisioned tomorrow reveals much about their cultural mindset. This trend extends to early science fiction of the 18th and 19th centuries, where authors infused their stories with contemporary anxieties, aspirations, and biases, offering us a fascinating lens to reflect on their era with modern insight.
10. Memoirs Of The Twentieth Century
Among the earliest English works to explore the future was Memoirs of the Twentieth Century, penned by Irish Anglican clergyman Samuel Madden and released in 1733. Madden declared he had the “honour and misfortune” to “venture into the shadowy depths of Futurity with the aid of an infallible Guide, uncovering the Secrets of Ages yet to come.”
The book was described by its subtitle as “Original Letters of State, Under George the Sixth, Concerning the Most Significant Events in Great Britain and Europe . . . from the Mid-18th Century to the Close of the 20th Century. Received and Revealed in 1728; and now published . . . in Six Volumes.” The mention of five imaginary sequels was a clever satire aimed at the verbose memoirs popular during that era.
The narrative was structured as a collection of letters to the British king from envoys in various global capitals during 1997 and 1998. Madden’s vision lacked significant technological advancements but depicted dramatic political shifts: the Ottoman Empire was overthrown by a Tatar dynasty, and the papacy held dominion over vast territories in Africa, China, and Paraguay. The book also included peculiar details like an everlasting Mexican cheese, surviving indigenous nations in North America, a messianic uprising in Persia, and a Central African Jewish army advancing toward Egypt. However, much of the content served as a critique of 18th-century political and religious issues rather than genuine futuristic speculation.
Memoirs of the Twentieth Century was released anonymously in 1733 but quickly suppressed by both the author and British Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole. This suppression may have been due to the book’s thinly veiled satire of Walpole’s administration or because Madden, fearing damage to his reputation, sought to distance himself from the work after his identity was revealed. Of the 1,000 printed copies, approximately 900 were returned to Madden, who proceeded to destroy them.
9. The Reign Of George VI: 1900 To 1925
In 1763, another book centered on futurism was released in the UK. Though often mistaken for Samuel Madden’s work, it was an entirely separate anonymous publication. The Reign of George VI: 1900 to 1925 presented a British utopian fantasy, depicting the reign of a courageous and sagacious monarch in the early 20th century.
The narrative depicts Britain facing threats from Russia, ruled by Czar Peter IV, who commands a vast northern empire encompassing Scandinavia and wields a formidable navy. The czar allies with France, though France plays a subordinate role in their joint ambition to dominate Europe. George IV successfully thwarts a Franco-Russian invasion of England in 1900 and secures peace by 1902 after launching a counter-invasion of France, while Turkish forces assault Russia from the south.
The following 15 years bring peace and prosperity to triumphant England, with George IV channeling significant resources into the arts and sciences. He establishes a new capital in Stanley, Rutland, encircled by artificial mountains and adorned with neoclassical architecture and meticulously planned streets. The city features a grand palace housing an extensive collection of artworks from across Europe and Asia.
A second major conflict with the Franco-Russian alliance erupts between 1917 and 1920. England secures victories across Europe, bolstered by support from allied German and Italian states, despite Spain siding with the enemy. The war concludes with Britain conquering France, Mexico, and the Philippines.
The years following the war witness the creation of an extensive canal network and a surge in manufacturing across the British Isles and the American colonies (which, notably, never sought independence). The narrative concludes in 1925, heralding a prosperous golden age. One of the most implausible aspects is the depiction of the French populace thriving under the benevolent governance of an English king.
Some observers have noted that, despite the text's overtly pro-British bias, it contains intriguing parallels to actual historical events—such as 20th-century Russian dominance, the industrial growth in North America, and the resilience of a British monarch named George VI during a global conflict.
8. L’An 2440
Louis-Sebastien Mercier’s novel L’An 2440 begins with an 18th-century Frenchman engaging in a heated debate with an Englishman before falling asleep and waking up in the year 2440. (The English version, Memoirs of the Year Two Thousand Five Hundred, adjusted the year to 2500 “for the sake of a round number.”) After some initial confusion, where future residents mistake his attire for a philosophical statement, he embarks on a journey through this distant future.
Mercier, a staunch advocate of Enlightenment ideals, envisioned a future Paris that excelled in social organization rather than technological advancements. Fashion in the 25th century is more relaxed and practical compared to the 18th century. The streets are orderly, with carriages reserved for the elderly and morally upright individuals, rather than the aristocracy (who consequently enjoy “more wealth and fewer ailments”).
In this future society, rationality governs both governance and daily life, resulting in global peace. The protagonist encounters a statue honoring a black man with the inscription: “To the avenger of the New World.” Mercier’s vision includes the eventual defeat of European colonial powers by enslaved people and indigenous populations, leading to the abandonment of colonialism. However, he also assumed that Enlightenment values would dominate globally, with the Chinese adopting the French language and abandoning their script, and the Turks embracing wine and performances of Voltaire’s Mahomet.
The story concludes with a visit to the ruins of Versailles, described as “nothing but crumbling walls and broken statues, with partially destroyed porticos hinting at its former grandeur.” There, the Frenchman encounters Louis XIV, seemingly cursed to linger eternally amidst the remnants of his empire’s past glory. Just as he prepares to question the monarch, the narrator is bitten by a snake and abruptly awakens in the 18th century, bringing the tale to a sudden end.
7. The Mummy!: A Tale Of The Twenty-Second Century
Jane Webb was just a teenager when her mother passed away, and her father’s financial ruin left her impoverished by the age of 17 after his death. To support herself, she turned to writing poetry and prose, and in 1827, she anonymously published a science fiction novel. This work, The Mummy!: A Tale of the Twenty-Second Century, included innovative gardening machines that caught the eye of botanist John Loudon, who met and married her shortly after. Jane Loudon continued her writing career but shifted focus from speculative fiction to horticultural guides.
The Mummy! is a pioneering feminist novel centered on the resurrection of an ancient Egyptian mummy in the year 2126, a concept likely influenced by Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign. The story portrays a future England that has endured political and social turmoil, including a prolonged period of chaotic anarchy, before finding stability under the rule of female monarchs and a diminished Catholic state religion.
While some view the novel as a precursor to feminist literature, others contend that it reflects traditional Georgian-era notions of femininity. Some analyses suggest it serves as a conservative response to the atheistic and materialistic themes in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. On a positive note, women in this future are generally well-educated, and their fashion is notably intriguing:
The women wore loose trousers adorned with elegantly draped fabric, while many adorned their heads with streams of ignited gas, channeled through capillary tubes into shapes like plumes or fleurs-de-lis, creating a dazzling and sophisticated effect.
The narrative also delves into fascinating technological advancements, interspersed with the chaos caused by a mummy revived using a galvanic battery, who promptly commandeers a hot air balloon. Mail is delivered via steam-powered cannons, with towns capturing letters in wire nets. Additionally, steam technology drives movable bridges, robotic surgeons and valets, milking machines, lawnmowers, and other luxuries of 22nd-century England.
6. The Year 4338
In 1828, Russian composer and writer Vladimir Fedorovich Odoevsky penned the story Dva dni zizni zemnago sara (Two Days in the Life of the Terrestrial Globe), which depicted a social event in 4338 interrupted by the approach of Biela’s Comet, believed by astronomers of the time to be on a collision course with Earth. The comet eventually disintegrated later in the 19th century.
Between 1837 and 1839, Odoevsky developed a longer, though incomplete, narrative expanding on this concept titled 4338 i god (The Year 4338), which remained unpublished until 1926. Initially planned as part of a trilogy spanning the eras of Peter the Great, Odoevsky’s present, and the distant future, the project was never finished. Odoevsky’s work faded into obscurity for nearly a century before being rediscovered and reevaluated.
4338 presents itself as a collection of letters from Chinese student Hippolytus Tsungiev, who is visiting Russia in the early 44th century and corresponding with a friend in Peking. These letters were supposedly reproduced in the 19th century through Mesmeric experiments. The future is dominated by Russian scientific and technological advancements, with China gradually modernizing. Meanwhile, much of Western civilization has faded into obscurity, though American tourists still seem to exist.
The narrative describes various futuristic technologies, including a magnetic telegraph communication system, galvanic-powered flying machines operated by professors, recreational use of chemical elements, climate control, and military missions to the Moon. St. Petersburg has grown so vast that it includes Moscow within its suburbs, while financially struggling England sells portions of the British Isles to Russia.
On the other hand, many historical records have been lost due to the deterioration of paper. Horses have been bred down to the size of dogs and are now kept as pets, with some dismissing tales of horse riders as mere allegory. Those who believe humans once rode horses argue they were gradually replaced by flying machines after the birth of Christ. References to steam locomotives are thought to have been reserved for legendary heroes of a forgotten era, and scholars debate the true identity of the long-lost Germans.
5. Three Hundred Years Hence
Mary Griffith, arguably New Jersey’s first science fiction writer, released her work Three Hundred Years Hence anonymously in 1836. It was part of a collection titled Camperdown; or, News from our Neighborhood. This piece is considered the first utopian narrative penned by an American woman. Edgar Allen Poe praised it, and The New York Mirror remarked: “Women will enjoy it immensely, as the author consistently champions the rights and dignity of her gender—while men will find valuable insights within its pages.”
Three Hundred Years Hence follows Edgar Hastings, a Philadelphia resident in 1835. While preparing to board a steamship, he falls asleep in a farmhouse, which is unexpectedly buried under snow. The steamship explodes, leading his family to presume his death. He remains frozen for three centuries until his descendants unearth him in 2135 while constructing a road through a hill.
Hastings is amazed by the transformations: While few structures from his era survive, significant technological and societal advancements have been made, which his descendants attribute to the education of underprivileged women. Traditional horse and steam transport have been replaced by an enigmatic self-propelling mechanism that can be stopped with a simple crank. The liberation of women eradicated many past evils, such as wars, trade monopolies, capital punishment, tobacco use, and even foot-binding in China. However, copyright is now inheritable, and drunkenness is met with forced labor, head-shaving, and immediate divorce.
The slavery issue appears to have been resolved through government land sales to compensate slaveholders and fund the relocation of most African-Americans to Liberia and other African regions. Described as “a solution satisfactory to all,” the newly established African nations are portrayed as thriving, Christian, and peaceful. Yet, when questioned about Native Americans, one of Hastings’ descendants somberly declines to elaborate, offering only a foreboding poem:
The Indians have departed—gone is their hunting ground, And the twanging of their bow-string is a forgotten sound. Where dwelleth yesterday—and where is echo’s cell? Where hath the rainbow vanished—there doth the Indian dwell!
4. The Diothas
In 1883, John Macnie released The Diothas; or, A Far Look Forward under the pseudonym “Ismar Thiusen,” who also serves as the story’s protagonist. Thiusen, a man from the 19th century, is transported to the distant future through a mesmeric experiment. He arrives in the 96th century, finding himself in a bustling port city with advanced technology and unfamiliar architecture, built on the ruins of what was once New York. Macnie’s narrative explores an idealized future, though it stems from more conservative ideals compared to other utopian works of the time.
Macnie’s envisioned society is classless yet neither communistic nor democratic. Property rights are upheld, and due to extensive automation, people work only three to four hours daily. However, idleness is considered both a vice and a crime. The future boasts remarkable technological advancements, such as ualin, a glass-like material with the strength and flexibility of metal. Every household is equipped with personal phonographs and stenographs, and electric vehicles travel on paved roads at speeds of up to 32 kilometers per hour (20 mph).
Notably, the text appears to foresee a traffic innovation: “You see the white line running along the center of the road. The rule requires drivers to keep the line on their left unless overtaking another vehicle, in which case they may cross the line if the path is clear.”
Thiusen meets and falls for a woman named Reva Diotha, who he discovers is a distant descendant of his 19th-century love, Edith. The story alternates between a sentimental romance and Thiusen’s awe at the advanced, orderly society. The tale concludes tragically when Thiusen accidentally causes the death of his fiancée after a mishap while piloting a high-speed boat, though they manage to marry just before a fatal plunge over a waterfall.
3. L’anno 3000
In 1897, Italian physician and anthropologist Paolo Mantegazza authored L’anno 3000, later translated into English as The Year 3000: A Dream. The narrative follows Paolo and Maria, a young couple journeying from Rome to Andropolis, the capital of the United Planetary States situated in the Himalayas, to secure a marriage license and approval to “bring new life into the world.”
Mantegazza’s work stands out for its surprisingly accurate foresight into future technologies, such as CAT scans, air travel, credit cards, prefabricated housing, synthetic food and medications, and artificial intelligence. Theaters are depicted as panopticons, and the concept of 4-D multisensory cinema is hinted at through a device called the aesthesiometer, integrated into theater seats to deliver varying levels of visual, auditory, and olfactory stimulation.
The future history depicted includes devastating wars and the unification of Europe, foreshadowing the World Wars and the eventual creation of the European Union. In this distant era, humanity speaks a universal language and is governed by a single, streamlined administration free of bureaucracy. People enjoy extended lifespans, balanced work hours, universal voting rights, and the freedom to divorce. Mental illness has been nearly eliminated, and crime rates have plummeted to such low levels that the judicial system and police forces have been dissolved.
A particularly striking scene involves the couple visiting a natural history museum, where they encounter an exhibit on “potential life forms,” showcasing speculative extraterrestrial beings. Paolo’s critique seems to anticipate later debates in science fiction about the anthropomorphism of alien life:
Oh, my dear Maria, how absurd these celestial beings appear, how bizarre, and above all, how implausible! [ . . . ] We are limited to imagining only human-like forms, much like the ancient mythmakers who could only envision their gods in human likeness. These creators of superhuman beings were unable to transcend the boundaries of human and animal forms.
2. Golf In The Year 2000
Penned in 1892 by Scottish writer J. McCullough under the pseudonym “J.A.C.K.,” Golf in the Year 2000, or, What We Are Coming To follows Alexander J. Gibson, who falls into a deep sleep and awakens over a century later in the year 2000. Fortunately, he wakes in his own home, where a startled servant explains his situation and assists him in shaving his overgrown beard.
Although McCullough didn’t appear to treat his book with great seriousness, he made several notable predictions: The year 2000 boasts colored photographs, a form of television where theater performances are broadcast via mirrors, and high-speed electric trains known as tubular railways, which even facilitate three-hour transatlantic journeys.
Much of the story centers around golf, with futuristic advancements enhancing the game. Automated caddies carry clubs, golfing jackets equipped with sensors shout “Fore!” during swings, and clubs themselves track scores. McCullough also foresaw the rise of televised sports, though achieved through mirrors and typically viewed in theaters.
The year 2000 is depicted as surprisingly progressive, albeit in an unconventional way. Women are treated as equals to men, with clothing so similar that distinguishing between genders on the street is challenging. Most professions, including lawyers, ministers, doctors, and politicians, are dominated by women, as are all clerical roles. However, this equality comes with a twist, as one character remarks: “All we men have to do is play golf, while the women handle all the work.”
The world has become more peaceful due to the invention of a gas that, when detonated, renders everyone within a 16-kilometer (10-mile) radius unconscious for two days. This technology made traditional warfare impractical, prompting leaders in the year 2000 to settle international disputes through a more refined method—golf tournaments.
1. Anno Domini 2000
In 1889, former New Zealand prime minister Sir Julius Vogel authored what is widely regarded as the nation’s first science fiction novel—Anno Domini 2000; or, Woman’s Destiny. Written four years before women gained voting rights in New Zealand, Vogel envisioned a future a century ahead, where a thriving British Empire is led predominantly by women.
In Vogel’s vision of the 20th century, it is widely accepted that while men possess greater physical strength, women excel in intellectual prowess, leading to their dominance in most governmental roles. Following a near-collapse of the British colonial system due to the Irish issue, pressure from the Dominions transforms the British Empire into a federated structure, with the monarch reigning as emperor over Britain, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, Egypt, Belgium, and other territories.
Travel is revolutionized by aluminum air-cruisers powered by rotating fans, while communication becomes instantaneous through the “noiseless telegraph.” Hydroelectric power, industrialization, and a robust social welfare system eradicate poverty, with life simplified by “ingenious devices designed to enhance efficiency and reduce labor.” New Zealand emerges as a global leader in industry, fishing, tourism, horticulture, winemaking, and Antarctic exploration.
Vogel’s narrative centers on former Imperial Prime Minister Hilda Fitzherbert, who is abducted by a rogue Australian republican intent on winning her affection. His efforts fail, and Fitzherbert instead falls for the emperor, complicating a planned marriage alliance with the daughter of the U.S. president. This leads to an Anglo-American war, which concludes favorably with the U.S. defeat and the annexation of New York and several other states into the Dominion of Canada.
Notably, when the book was reissued in 2000, New Zealand women held key positions, including prime minister, opposition leader, attorney-general, chief justice, governor-general designate, and CEO of the nation’s largest company. Today, New Zealand authors of science fiction, fantasy, and horror vie for the Sir Julius Vogel Award, honoring his pioneering contributions to speculative fiction.
