The Future was Cooler in the Past
A review on “History of the Future, Prophets of Progress from H. G. Wells to Isaac Asimov” by Peter J. Bowler
Review by Dominic Brennan
Published on 1st September, 2020
Understanding a period’s zeitgeist, or ‘having one’s finger on the pulse’ of a period, is a difficult task by any stretch of the imagination. Mapping across decades of rapid scientific advancements, societal hopes and fears, and political agenda, Bowler achieves this task. In painting a collage of the future as it was in the early-mid 20th century—more accurately: as it was predicted in the minds of the sci-fi authors of the time—the author captures the spirit of the West in its view of the ever-nearing future and all that it could bring.
This book defines itself at its beginning: it is not a book reviewing the predictive powers of authors by comparing their works to what we know today, instead, Bowler delves in to why these thoughts were formed in the first place. What breakthroughs had been made in recent years to churn the imagination? What advancements lay on the horizon to incite these—quite literal—moon-shot ideas? To what extent were the scientific advancements and the sci-fi writings coupled, surely the former influenced the latter, but to what degree (if at all) did the latter influence the former? Across 200 pages, Bowler attempts to solve these questions shared between the most intriguing challenges of the time. Chapters of “How We’ll Live,” “Taking to the Air,” “War,” and “Energy and Environment,” illustrate the myriad areas in which authors hoped (or feared) for a future influenced by the rapid progress made in the first half of the 20th century; by researching how these very public-facing figures envisioned their future, Bowler allows us deeper insights in to the impetus behind scientific and societal change.
Of especial interest to us is “Energy and Environment.” The inchoate nuclear power industry was born from scientific intrigue and the pursuit of the advancement of humanity, yet even in these foundling years a Pyrrhonic scepticism was forming not least from a fearful press, but notably from esteemed figures such as Rutherford which promulgated in works by Haldane and Calder, to name a couple highlighted in this book. Challenging these ideas were works in popular scientific publishing of the time, a natural to-and-fro inevitably coming to rest (of a relative form) upon the introduction of Calder Hall. External to this, suggestions of nuclear-powered cars, planes, trains, and all manor of energy-dependent functions were investigated not only in the labs but also upon the writing desks.
A world of opportunity and untapped potential, romanticised by the authors of the time in the minds of future policymakers, engineers, physicists, voters. Bowler’s book is a must-read for anyone interested in challenging the stale misconceptions of the historical view of technology.