How the Year 2440 was Imagined in 1771
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Published 2024-04-11
Mercier imagines a world transformed by philosophy and reason, with an agrarian society that has invented hologram-like technology. The video delves into Mercier's depictions of the future city of Paris, advancements in science and culture, changes in religion and education, and his ideas for an ideal government led by an egalitarian philosopher-king. Now centuries old, this work offers a fascinating glimpse into one of the earliest portrayals of the future in fiction.
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All Comments (21)
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It's actually impossible to think how the world will be different 1000 years from now. As 1000 years ago we would never even be able to think of such a concept as a phone or laptop.
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I love the fact that not having a sword when walking down the streets of paris was considered highly futuristic back then.
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So basically this guy goes centuries into the future, and his favorite part was sitting in front of the TV. love it
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"Monarchs contributing to science rather than land conquered" no wonder this book was banned
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Can’t wait to see people in 2440 react to this the same way we reacted in 2015 to Back to the Future II
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It sounds more like the writer is trying to write about how he thinks society should function rather than actual predictions about the future. I get the feeling the author wants to write about the ideal society so that people can dream about living in such a utopia so that these people would want to make changes towards enacting this ideal society.
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I've never considered a future without the industrial revolution, it's so cool to imagine a distant future like 2440 being so old fashion
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That is one hell of a nap
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This man had really peculiar viewpoint: the american and african colonies were abolished and the slaves freed themselves while colonizers begged for forgiveness. However, people in China were made to learn latin alphabet, Poles were thanking Tsar Katherine for 'taking care of Polish chaos' and Scotts and Irishmen were eager to be stripped out of their national identity.
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Love how every depiction of the future just says more about the time it was predicted than anything. It's usually always "like our time, except now flying cars".
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This is some wacky french isekai
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As a Pennsylvanian, the idea that we are the only colony that survived is so funny to me. Not sure a lot of us would want to survive if coffee was banned though!
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Sorry bro I cannot come today, I got sent to the Hell again for developing a warlike disposition.
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The most unbelievable part of this story was the entire British Isles uniting together as Great Britain.
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I could easily see how this "utopia" could be twisted into the most depressing dystopia ever imagined... geez what a great concept for a novel.
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I love how these old-timey 'utopian' societies all rely entirely on everyone suddenly and unanimously agreeing with the author on everything and acting entirely selflessly all the time.
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It's wild to me that even in this vision of an enlightened progressive future where a prosperous reborn Aztec empire rules North America and a black Spartacus has brought justice and peace for the descendants of slaves in the new world, the Irish and Polish are still considered incapable of governing themselves lol colonial era European prejudices are truly fascinating
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This isn't a utopia. This is a dystopia under a thin veneer of utopia. This actually feels like the 'utopian' upper city in Demolition Man. People are brainwashed into a cult of pacificism and timidness with no freedom of thought. The most obvious cracks in the veneer, for instance, when it is stated that princes who inherently disagree, are punished by experiencing war for there entire lives. That is a worse punishment that being in prison. This society took down the bastille (that actually did take down crimimals) for being unethical but harshly punishes any thought that is out of line.
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This (the book) despite being very clearly intended to be read as an utopia of sorts, and thus being presented with very positive lens, has the feeling of having something very fundamentally wrong underneath the appearances. Although admittedly that is probably a result of how naively it presents the ideas.
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The book burning and author censorship via mandatory shame masks was so dark so suddenly 💀
