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Introduction

Why write a history of the 21st century?

There are still 18 years until the end of the century, and it may seem foolhardy for a mere human to attempt to analyse the data at our disposal.  After all, we're awash with information from every corner of the world, covering every second of the century. A thousand detailed histories of individuals and systems can be generated at the snap of a finger. And yet I believe that our century, as it draws to a close, demands not that we look at just the big picture but at the small details, on the scale at which human lives are lived. This has been an extraordinary epoch in the story of humanity.

Every century is extraordinary, of course. Some may be the bloodiest or the darkest; others encompass momentous social revolutions, or scientific advances, or religious and philosophical movements. The 21st century is different: it represents the first time in our history that we have truly had to question what it means to be human. It is the stories of our collective humanity that I hope to tell through the hundred objects in this book.

I tell the story of how we became more connected than ever before, with objects like Babel, Silent Messaging, the Nautilus-3, and the Brain Bubble — and how we became fragmented, both physically and culturally, with the Fourth Great Awakening, and the Biomes.

With the Braid Collective, the Loop, the Steward Medal, and the Rechartered Cities, we made tremendous steps forward on our long pursuit of greater equality and enlightenment — but the Locked Simulation Interrogations, the Sudan-Shanghai Letter, the Collingwood Meteor, and the Downvoted all showed how easy it was for us to lapse back into horror and atrocity.

We automated our economy with the UCS Deliverbots, the Mimic Scripts, the Negotiation Agents, and the Old Drones, destroying the entire notion of work and employment in the process; and we transformed our politics with Jorge Alvarez’s Presidential Campaign, and the Constitutional Blueprints.

Not satisfied with the trifling benefits of Smart Drugs and Glyphish, we transformed ourselves even further and faster; the Amplified Teams, Miriam Xu’s Lace, the Javelin, and the Posthumans demonstrate how homo sapiens became something very different — and not always in the way we intended.

With our new-found abilities, we left our mark in streets and buildings and oceans and mountains, all over Earth and on the Moon, on Mars, on a thousand asteroids, all over the system, and even further beyond. We did what humans do: we transformed the world. And in what will surely be our most memorable feat, we created new forms of life.

Not all of the hundred objects are physical. Some stories were best captured through the software and data that began to govern our lives, or through memories and impressions. Where appropriate, I have collected and transcribed those objects for this book.

The future remains as murky as it ever has. Yet we can be certain of one thing: the next century will not be ours. It will belong to our creations, and only if they understand our achievements and our tragedies in this most swift of centuries can we hope that they will improve the next.

This book is not the history of the 21st century; it is only a history, and a hundred objects can only tell a fraction of our stories. Some we can be proud of; others we might prefer to forget. My goal is that this book will give our successors some useful knowledge, some insights, at least some amusement.

Perhaps, I hope, even some guidance.

— London, 2082

About A History of the Future

"...Adrian Hon conjures a detailed and arresting vision of a late 21st century world where technology has helped us advance so far it's hard to say what it means any more to be human." - Start the Week, BBC Radio 4

"Although he exhibits plenty of skepticism, Hon is optimistic at heart. His imagined future is one of technological innovation and social betterment. With so much speculative fiction predicting doom and gloom over the next century, it’s refreshing to see such hopefulness. This is the Jetsons’ future, one that’s bright and beautiful and very, very shiny." - Overlooked Books of 2013, Grantland

What are the 100 objects that future historians will pick to define our 21st century? A javelin thrown by an 'enhanced' Paralympian, far further than any normal human? Virtual reality interrogation equipment used by police forces? The world's most expensive glass of water, mined from the moons of Mars? Or desire modification drugs that fuel a brand new religion?

A History of the Future in 100 Objects describes a hundred slices of the future of everything, spanning politics, technology, art, religion, and entertainment. Some of the objects are described by future historians; others through found materials, short stories, or dialogues. All come from a very real future.

Imagine the Future

If you were transported to 2063, you'd see such incredible objects and technology and cultural changes that you could scarcely imagine today — and you'd also see so much that would be familiar to you, from the clothes people wear to the stories they tell each other.

But that's not what happens in real life. Instead, we experience the passage of time second by second, and the shock of the new quickly fades into familiarity and indifference. It's only by taking a snapshot in time and comparing it with the past that we can see quite how the world changes.

That's what this book does: it takes a hundred snapshots across a century, each one examining a single object from a single time in detail. Who made it, where it came from, what it means, and how it transforms the world.

These are stories of a possible future, stories of life and death and love and war and science and faith and exploration and despair and hope. It's about what it means to be human in a century where humanity has never mattered more. And, like all science fiction, it's about the hopes and fears we have today.

About the Author

Adrian Hon is CEO at Six to Start, an award-winning games company responsible for the co-creation of "Zombies, Run!", a running game and audio adventure used by over 600,000 people worldwide. Adrian was previously a neuroscientist at the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford, Director of Play at Mind Candy where he was lead designer of Perplex City (an international alternate reality game treasure hunt), and technology writer for The Telegraph.

He's had work displayed at MOMA and the Design Museum; conducted research in a Mars simulation in the Utah desert; worked with Disney Imagineering, Death Cab for Cutie, the British Museum, the BBC, and The Economist; and spoken at the TED conference in Monterey, California.

Follow Adrian on Twitter at @adrianhon and visit his website at http://mssv.net. For press and media enquiries, please email adrian.hon@gmail.com.

Acknowledgements

When we think of the future, we are really thinking about our past and present. It’s therefore fitting that A History of the Future in 100 Objects was prompted by the excellent work of the British Museum and the BBC on A History of the World in 100 Objects. There are few explorations of history that surpass it in imagination and vividness, and as soon as I finished listening to the hundredth episode, I immediately began thinking of what the next hundred objects might be.

More broadly, I owe a debt of gratitude to the writers who have inspired me; Vernor Vinge, Iain Banks, Neal Stephenson, Kim Stanley Robinson, Lewis Hyde, Ted Chiang, George Orwell, Stanislaw Lem, and many more. Without their stories and ideas, the future would be a darker place.

Thanks to my editors, Richard Dennis and Andrea Phillips. Thanks to George Thomas for website design.

Thanks to my family, especially to my parents, Metis and Bernard Hon, and my partner, Margaret Maitland, for their support and encouragement.

Thanks to everyone at Six to Start for their help. And thanks to my friends, Naomi Alderman, Andrea Phillips, and Alexandre Mathy, for their advice and humour.

Kickstarter Backers

A History of the Future in 100 Objects was originally announced in February 2011 as part of a Kickstarter crowdfunding project. As I was keen to experiment with self-publishing, my goal was to raise a small amount of money to help with production costs. Back then, crowdfunding was relatively unknown and seemed a much riskier proposition than it is today. Accordingly, I am indebted to the backers of this book, who include:

Alby, Alex Moseley, Allen Hunter, Andre, Andrea Phillips, Andres Varela, Andrew Bretscher, Ben Joossen, Bernard Hon, Brent, Brian Enigma, Brtsergio, Candy and Bubble, Chris Coldewey, Chris Spurgeon, Christopher Moisan, Dale Campo, Dale Marcus, Dan Calladine, Daniel Rivera, Danny Rosenbaum, Daryl, Dave Lawrence, David Fono, David McAndrew, David Smith, David Tyndall, David Varela, Derek Dukes, Doug, Drew Stephenson, Duncan Wilson, Eduard Richter, Erika Dicker, Frances, Francois Jordaan, Frank Chimero, Frankie Roberto, Gabe Smedresman, Gary Greco, Gene Becker, Gord Harris, Grant Wythoff, Gretchen Wright, Guy Dickinson, Helen Michaud, Iskander Smit, J. J., James Campbell, James La Force, Jeremy Quinn, John Maitland, John Robinson, Jonathan Packer, Justin Pickard, Kars Alfrink, Kate Raynes-Goldie, Katy Beale, Kim Pallister, KurtL, Lalith Vipulananthan, Laura Hall, Lavonardo, Leigh Caldwell, Lscjw1, Margaret Maitland, Matt, Matt Haughey, Max Gadney, Metis Hon, Michael Bhaskar, Michael Costigan, Michelle Senderhauf, Miriam, Naomi Alderman, Nathan Bradley, Nick Richards, Nickycast, Patrick Kelley, Paul Sturrock, Pedro Rosario Silva, Phil Goodlad, Philip Trippenbach, Richard Cotton, Riff Conner, Rob Bevan, Robin Sloan, Sally Jacobs, Sean Bamforth, Seb Chan, Shaun, Shelley, Stephane Adamiak, Stephen Fulljames, Steve Graham, Steve Portigal, Stuart Candy, Susan Chun, Susan Schiffler, Timoni, Tom Bridge, Tom Clancy, Vaughn Potter, Wendy Schultz, zzkt

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