How the Year 2440 was Imagined in 1771

In 1771, French author Louis-Sébastien Mercier published the novel "The Year 2440: A Dream If Ever There Was One" Written from the perspective of an 18th century man who falls asleep and wakes up in Paris nearly 700 years later, the book is a fascinating example of utopian retro-futurism.
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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[@TheDNAlucky]

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.

[@pinchevulpes]

Holtzman effect

[@wowcplayer3]

To think? Or to be right?

[@Peaches.Gonsalez]

We need energy and food. Sun offers lots of energy, most of it we don't even use.

[@TomSistermans]

1000 years in the future is easy to predict: Richard Nixon will be president

[@cheyennealvis8284]

Maybe not. But at least we know what the 41st millennium will be like.

[@rolletroll2338]

I love the fact that not having a sword when walking down the streets of paris was considered highly futuristic back then.

[@francisdec1615]

You could buy firearms without a license in France and many other European countries like Sweden and Germany until about shortly after WWI and there were no restrictions on carrying, so yes, not carrying a weapon seemed a bit strange to most people in 1771.

[@rushyscoper1651]

it still is in UK xd

[@Sandmouse6942]

@@mikejones7593 Good point. But I feel like we're at a loss for not carrying blades normally anymore. If we are worried about untrustworthy people carrying weapons, that's even more reason for normal people to. I guess that applies to guns but blades deserve their place

[@mushroomsrcool1449]

@@Sandmouse6942 If everyone has weapons, some may be more eager to use them than others. It's best we didn't empower ourselves with tools for murder. A fight in fists is easily preventable. A fight with weapons? That's something you can't interfere with without risking your own life in.

[@RashFever26]

Now knives are making a widespread comeback in European cities because immigrant gangs carry blades and lots of people also carry them for protection...

[@TurtleMan2023]

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

[@joshmnky]

It's far enough out for a collapse and reformation. He might not be as off-the-mark as we think, lol.

[@Valentin-oc5nh]

@@joshmnkytrue omg! i hope so

[@maxbielawski6745]

It’s crazy to think this could’ve happened. Human progress really wasn’t inevitable

[@icy9308]

​@@Valentin-oc5nh u hope women are nothing more than companions for men

[@samdasamoza]

@@Valentin-oc5nh you hope for a global societal collapse within the next 300 years?

[@ED-yy4te]

"Monarchs contributing to science rather than land conquered" no wonder this book was banned

[@RogerTheil]

Much of modern science was developed by Monarchical funding. MANY monarchs loved the sciences and were eager to fund their further development. But yes, this opinion that governments should be more interested in the development of arts and sciences than wars and power was popular then as it is now.

[@The1976spirit]

Remember Eisenhower and the International Geopphysical Year 1957.

[@StarSprangledBanner]

​@@RogerTheilno

[@breadbugking]

​@@StarSprangledBannerRogerThiel is right here. Most scientists didn't just have money, they worked for nobles or other rich people who could afford them, and would be their patrons.

[@PowerMadLabRat]

@@StarSprangledBanner An argument from ignorance

[@michaelh4227]

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".

[@KCJbomberFTW]

I love that the architect of paris was so inspired by this book he did what the book wanted 100 years later building giant avenues

[@GoddessofWisdom]

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!

[@pierren___]

Where did he said that ?

[@RyRy2057]

@@pierren___ i was skipping through the video and at number 8 it says that about Pennsylvania soon after

[@pierren___]

@@RyRy2057 number 8 ?

[@RyRy2057]

@@pierren___ oh yeah sorry like, when you hit 8 on the keyboard it skips to 80% through the video

[@pierren___]

@@RyRy2057 oh yeah i found around 32:00

[@debrickashaw9387]

That is one hell of a nap

[@stewiebalew6446]

Reminds me of Ray Wiley Hubbard's Conversation with the devil 😂

[@dannydetonator]

He might have taken some.. ahem, dream enchancers like ayhuasca or something before bedtime

[@orionbarnes1733]

my man SNOOZED

[@Jakob.Hamburg]

@@dannydetonator The more DMT we release while dreaming, the more intense, realistic and visionary the dreams become. External DMT like from the usage of Ayahuasca forces it, but such dreams can also come incidental without psychoactive drugs. Also related: Archetypal dreams.

[@BlackSupraC2]

@@Jakob.Hamburg just one hour ago I finished rewatching Inception and wonder if there are actual drugs/ sedatives out there that can enhance lucid dreaming...then I see this comment.

[@noatreiman]

So basically this guy goes centuries into the future, and his favorite part was sitting in front of the TV. love it

[@juliansanchezharris5773]

😂😂

[@johnpooky84]

This is the best comment.

[@lordkayx]

I know your being funny, but I liked his sincere hope that once the brutality, cruelty, and despair of war could be recorded through audio and video and witnessed firsthand it would either be enough to deter a person or at least know that they're a psychopath.

[@sforza209]

Sounds like idiocracy.

[@UdumbaraMusic]

@@sforza209 Sounds like what we're all doing right now.

[@czerwoneokladki]

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.

[@Don-ep4mx]

Well, the oppression olympics were somewhat different back then...

[@laurenceneabeven-computerscien]

He had the best viewpoint

[@colbyboucher6391]

Well, the idea was that freedom only extened to a point that education was supposed to correct. Everyone in his society would think the "correct" way... but. there's a big difference between "wrongheadedness" and the absurd suffering of slavery. He wasn't _that_ heartless.

[@epicsmashman6806]

with respect to the chinese using the latin alphabet, I feel as if he was saying they willfully adapted the use of the latin alphabet because it was "better", no force involved. Just the authors personal view that everyone in the world would of course eventually use the latin alphabet.

[@Vapor817]

to be fair chinese people today use english letters for pinyin in everyday life, it's much faster than having to write out characters

[@EmilyTienne]

Our ideas of a distant future conjure up visions of massive technological change, whereas this 1771 author’s ideas of the distant future center around societal perfection.

[@brianschmidt9919]

its ironic too that in order to acheive this eden like society where each person is oriented to the good of all requires a level of unity and compliance that could only be acheived by the complete suppression of all other ideas and a mechanism of state that system of either rewards those those who comply and punishes those who wont until they do and therefore by necessity it would have to be incredibly tyrannical and oppressive.

[@EmilyTienne]

@@brianschmidt9919 I have to agree with your statement. This is pure socialism and suppression. The biblical heaven could be something like this, and I’m not interested.

[@M.Alfonso]

It's interesting that we are so technology-leaning on how we imagine the future today. I love the idea of imagining distant future on a moral aspect

[@EmilyTienne]

@@M.Alfonso Agreed. We, as a whole, have come to tie human worth to the acquisition of substance (money, property, things).

[@Balajohn_]

​@@EmilyTienne well it is our thing after all. Humanity has the ability to manipulate and craft the world to her image like no other animal (that we know of) does.

[@sb12083]

Sorry bro I cannot come today, I got sent to the Hell again for developing a warlike disposition.

[@DerHammerSpricht]

"Under peaceful conditions, the warlike individual sets upon himself!" ~Friedrich Nietzsche

[@Arvak777]

Bros like, evil people just play COD as punishment.

[@nitsu2947]

I hear this part and suddenly goes "oh, you mean All quiet on the Western Front ?"

[@InquisitorBoomBoom]

What's weird you can search it in KZbin and some people call it relaxing

[@leogazebo5290]

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.

[@lucieeatssnekkers2756]

I agree, the bookburning was what made it click for me that it was a fascist hell.

[@auangauthentication958]

Mao also burned countless books , is he a Fascist?

[@zwarga100]

@@auangauthentication958 yes

[@huwjonesification]

It reminds me of the whole whole thing and self censorship that’s going on now

[@Kay-kg6ny]

​@mechupaunhuevon7662you're right about the formal definition of the term they happened to use, but I think the broader point they were trying to get at about it actually being a dark and oppressive society still stands

[@stewiebalew6446]

This is the best recommendation the KZbin algorithm has ever sent me. I usually find this quality of stuff by looking for a topic and searching until i find something good. This was my first recommendation today.

[@FishyAltFishy]

This is some wacky french isekai

[@samten6080]

This is literally a isekai!

[@AmazingRebel23]

what is that

[@kadenreed8603]

@@AmazingRebel23A quick search says it’s Japanese fantasy about a person transported to another world

[@GaddafisPlug]

nahh broo just made a world full of chill folks

[@MollyHJohns]

OP, you are right on lol. There is some AU vibe right here too. Isekai = "Sekai" means World, "I" means another/different. Pronounced roughly as Ee-se-kye. A genre where the MC (or others) for some reason dies and their soul and a new body/identity got to live a second life in another world, or got bodily transmigrated while still alive to another world; either by the mistakes or whims of a highest being(s) that controls the world(s), sudden random dimensional glitches/cracks/wormhole, or by forced summoning by the other world's local beings/people with the absolute intent of using the MC/characters as their otherworldly human tools (war, saviour, soulmate, whatever else).

[@christyioran2969]

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

[@Mrpersonman0]

I'm not sure an empire of any kind ruling north america would be progress but sure.

[@brianschmidt9919]

speak for yourself, you've been brainwashed to believe that - this platform is complict in it as is its parent company google and many others as well - dont buy into the lie that says white means weak. i know who i am and no amount of indoctrination could change the faith i have in in my abilities or my peoples. all i have to do is remember the incredible number of advancements and accomplishments that help make our world a better safer healthier more enjoyable place to live and know that they exist because we dreamt of them built them spoke them sung them wrote them wrought them and did them. im incredibly proud and feel fortunate to be part of a such a great strong and capable people and its from them that i rightly source my strength and confidence and so should you

[@arlynnecumberbatch1056]

@@Mrpersonman0 i mean is colonialism progression?

[@colbyboucher6391]

​@@Mrpersonman0Well, this dude was wishing for an empire in Europe, too. It was certainly his idea of of progress.

[@MarteenHobbu]

​​@@arlynnecumberbatch1056 by definition, yes.

[@LiveFreeOrDie2A]

The Tower of Babel book burning and the mask of shame re-educators part was terrifying

[@wyatttyson7737]

Its like an 18th century Brave New World with a heaping dose of 1984.

[@kevinscales]

@@wyatttyson7737 Except the person writing it thought it was a good idea.

[@fusion9619]

Leftists do love their book burnings

[@user-wi9hv2pb2q]

Anytime someone wants to criticize the founders of the USA, consider the concepts here: the attempt at democracy, freedom of speech, egalitarianism, and how horrific some of this author's fantasies are in proposed practice.

[@Thed538dhsk]

​@@user-wi9hv2pb2qand slavery

[@Kay-kg6ny]

The book burning and author censorship via mandatory shame masks was so dark so suddenly 💀

[@mitchellcouchman1444]

The part its portrayed as a good thing too is interesting, idk if that's the influence of how its presented here or how its presented in the book tho

[@jennysquibb7440]

Poor Sappho was wronged!

[@supermoneyball420]

@@mitchellcouchman1444Yoooo does anybody else think this guy a shameful fool 😹🫵 I think we all know what time it is fr 👺🫳

[@sagitarriulus9773]

Right and the writer doesn’t seem to acknowledge how fucked that is lol. When George Orwell wrote about the memory hole he made it sound like the end of the world when something would be thrown down it.

[@jennysquibb7440]

@@sagitarriulus9773 one person’s utopia is often another person’s dystopia.

[@IbrahimAli-sc8ud]

When 1914 began everyone "Thought" the future was so bright, the sky was the limit. Then June 28th happened. You cannot predict history

[@NurseAmamiya]

Tbh, it's actually kinda funny, in a twisted way, given how people love to predict the uncertain future, just to feel as though they'll end up being right by then, and all of a sudden, they get "psych!" by fate itself.

[@ordinaryrat]

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.

[@ordinaryrat]

20:06 Holy shit this is wild. There is no way this guy was trying to make a utopia here.

[@sluggastar2]

The book burning part definitely gives it away

[@rushyscoper1651]

one need to think of the context in which its exist, the author already living in dystopia.

[@ΕρνέστοςΣμίθ]

And of course book-burnings of anything seen as useless, shaming those who think differently and dare to write about it. Sound much like the two political parties of the US and their allies worldwide.

[@nitishkumarjurel241]

By your logic then, every society is dystopian as every society has taboos violating which will lead to ostracization and other punishments.

[@e.m.b.5090]

"Theology? Yeah, we use that as a memetic warfare agent"

[@SodaQuasar]

Shows how limited our imaginations are compared to the grand scale of universe and time

[@AmericanMephistopheles]

One of the best history channels on KZbin, no contest.

[@mynym4543]

I sense an opportunity for a book where Mercier finds himself in Paris of the 2020s after his ‘death’ and compares it to his own image of the future to be written…

[@theicepickthatkilledtrotsk658]

The real retro-futurism. haha

[@EkoFranko]

necro-futurism

[@a.r.c.001]

Classical futurism

[@mathieuleader8601]

the glass harmonica sounds so haunting.

[@arcadiaberger9204]

Needs a revival. It's called an "armonica", BTW.

[@AdrianBoyko]

How kind of everyone to have carried on with life around him without disturbing him, for the hundreds of years that he slept.

[@dontcomply3976]

Just like Fry, Buck Rogers an Not Sure

[@jmjedi923]

Its interesting that all the buildings have rooftop gardens, a popular future city idea nowadays is rooftop lawns

[@micahistory]

Very interesting, you can definitely tell that he is imagining a world in which the ideals of the Enlightenment are true but as is inevitably the case, it was impossible for him to predict social and especially technological advances in the future

[@mitchellcouchman1444]

What he could not favom is that man is not inherently good. There's clear precursors to progressivism in this text. A lack of understanding of what drove history to progress to where it was at that time. Obviously far easier to see in hindsight.

[@micahistory]

@@mitchellcouchman1444 yes

[@pierren___]

He predicted electricity and internet.

[@pierren___]

He litterally did and thats why he wrote this book. 🤦‍♂️

[@names_are_useless]

​@@mitchellcouchman1444 "Thou who are to bring felicity upon the earth! thou, alas! that I have only in a dream beheld..." It's moreso utopian fiction than speculative, what the writer dreams France will look like in the future.

[@afjer]

Mixture of Utopian and Dystopian ideas wrapped in a retro-futuristic package.

[@sample455]

stop defining, just experience it

[@GearZNet]

@@sample455 Stop resisting citizen! Just like... let it happen bro ;)

[@cultmecca]

I like how even an 18th century man recognized that synthesizers were cool

[@stegotyranno4206]

One of my favorite Future speculations ever heard, havent finished yet, but enjoying it so much. My favorite part so far is how everyone is still religious, even more so, but a more rational, benevolent type. It is far more interesting than the 20th century staple of "everyone is atheist"

[@lempereurcremeux3493]

tl;dr - this is just the 18th century equivalent of "everyone is atheist" It makes more sense when you consider that deism (what you're describing) was the equivalent of today's atheism back then and occupied the same niche - an edgy antiestablishment belief adopted by bourgeois people who wanted to express their discontent with the stuffiness and formalism of state religion. The core motivation of deism is stripping religion of frivolous and irrational aspects, and making everything simple and unadorned; its attacks on the church establishment were nothing that low-church Protestants hadn't said about Catholics a century earlier and weren't still saying in the 18th century. Over the course of the 18th and 19th centuries, deism won out almost everywhere, and now found itself attacked by a newer, younger version of itself which fulfilled that same role in society: atheism.

[@stegotyranno4206]

@lempereurcremeux3493 i guess that is true though. but if i memory serves, his ideas of neo-deism still contain culture and traditions, unlike most other forms of deism and atheism, which is why I find it interesting.

[@user-wi9hv2pb2q]

In this fantasy everyone is agnostic, as are the majority of Americans now. I seldom see atheism in science fiction, usually religion isn't mentioned or the characters remain bizarrely and improbably religious, such as star trek.

[@stegotyranno4206]

@user-wi9hv2pb2q wait, theres religion in star trek? im not familar with the show. But what i mean is yes, religion is usuallh ignored. Star Wars, Man After Man, All tomorrows, i cannot think of religion being detailed there, other than a vague, destructive dogma. But I am not too familar with these either ao i could be wrong

[@tripledair]

That's about 420 years from now. Pretty sure it's 100% accurate.

[@thefunksbeats]

After the nukes go off a few hundred years pass and people forget about the modern times and the industrial revolution 😅...😢 🍻

[@Samouraii]

Crazy how he predicted radio and tv

[@DerHammerSpricht]

Crazy how long ago people were predicting AI/robots.

[@victorpedrosoceolin3919]

@@DerHammerSpricht where, please?

[@colbyboucher6391]

Yeah, there's some real sci-fi right there. They basically understood what vision and hearing were, so he could imagine a world where they're manipulated, even without industry to help it along.

[@DerHammerSpricht]

@@victorpedrosoceolin3919 1927, Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS was the first mainstream movie to use AI as a theme. But there were discussions of the idea of an "automaton" and how to build one, going back to the time of Socrates.

[@victorpedrosoceolin3919]

@@DerHammerSpricht well, metropolis was not that long ago, i can totaly see that And the greeks had some forms of automations if i remember, but putting people to do that was cheaper so they never really went on with it I am gonna search the automaton thing, it sounds curious

[@douglasphillips5870]

Ever notice how often utopia is based on everyone agreeing with the utopian? The first casualty of utopia is free thought

[@vaxrvaxr]

Well said.

[@PeterSchmuttermaier]

So do you mean that free thought is the enemy of collective happiness?

[@vaxrvaxr]

@@PeterSchmuttermaier We don't know enough about collective happiness to engineer it. Attempts at doing so at the cost of free thought are guaranteed to end in collective misery.

[@colbyboucher6391]

​@@PeterSchmuttermaierI mean, in an absolute sense, it's certainly the enemy of agreement and therefore contentment, which is the best anyone can hope for. Problem is forcing people to conform doesn't eliminate free thought, and actually makes their discontent greater.

[@NoCluYT]

A truly free society is a dangerous society. A truly safe society is a controlling society. There's no way of winning

[@MrMonkeybat]

Five centuries earlier Roger Bacon did predict self propelled vehicles and flying machines. Interesting that this Mercier did predict some kind of video display and sound playback kept separately. Or course fossil fuels are finite so by 2440 a lot of products of the industrial age may have been and gone.

[@lkrnpk]

Guy travels to 2024 "I see you have orderly traffic, everyone drives on the right. I bet you do not have a nobleman with 6 horse carriage racing recklessly through the city and plowing through people'' A red Ferrari flies into the view, takes out the light pole and crashes into some people. Guy ''Never mind...''

[@hashkangaroo]

"Unfortunately, I see you still haven't burned all the books yet."

[@Reallyidktbh]

Guy: "This thing can display a moving painting that gives any information? Alright, let's see what's happening to the world." The TV then started broadcasting about Russians bombing Ukraine and threatening the West with nuclear bombs, the US ruled by a senile old man and spends a lot on military stuff, China ruled by communists and more authoritarian than any absolutist kingdoms, brutal cartels fighting in Brazil, then another pride parade event just started in Paris. Guy: "Oh lord, the future is ruled by jesters..."

[@Reallyidktbh]

Guy: "This thing can display a moving painting that gives any information? Alright, let's see what's happening to the world." The TV then started broadcasting about Russians bombing Ukraine and threatening the West with nuclear bombs, the US ruled by a very old man and spends a lot on military stuff, China ruled by communists and more authoritarian than any absolutist kingdoms, brutal cartels fighting in Brazil, then another pride parade event just started in Paris. Guy: "Oh lord, the future is ruled by jesters..."

[@leahcim38]

You meant Mustang 😂😊

[@micahistory]

Once again, every video on this channel just inspires me to create a more beautiful and pleasant world, thank you so very much king

[@chrisd6287]

The bit about attacking an enemy with religion/theology was pretty great.

[@arcadiaberger9204]

Or as we call it today, attacking them with propaganda.

[@comradecockatoo3558]

Spore moment.

[@ben-san6055]

Most outlandish part of this future is “no one it above the law” and “2% tax or less with a woolen regularly donating extra to the state”. What a world that would be

[@dontcomply3976]

People can pay voluntary taxes now. I am pretty sure no-one ever has.

[@alexs7670]

It's kind of remarkable that this guy was so cheesed at coaches he writes a/u fanfiction where they just ban coaches and luxury in general. "Wouldn't the world be nice if I just banned everything I don't like?"

[@jeansantana565]

Your channel is one of the best of YT, I'm recent follower and I can't express how good this is man. Continue like this, please. Everything is perfect.

[@KBM345]

I would love to see what people 400 years from now will think of our Sci-fi and just how outlandish it was, I can imagine a lot of ridicule around how Star Trek portrays the 2300s - 2400s despite how good it would be.

[@PRH123]

They may have no way to watch it, if they are living by making stone and wood tools.

[@xjohnny1000]

I find predictions are getting better the more time passes. Many star trek technologies have already been invented, like video calling, ipads, and laser weapons. Teleportation is a thing (for single atoms so far), and warp drives are now a mathematical reality.

[@ldubt4494]

While the Details probably wont be correct, space travel will 100% be a core part of civilization by then.

[@arcadiaberger9204]

@@PRH123 Not a chance. Even if our current infrastructure-dependent civilization breaks down, too much is still known. People will still be able to read books, melt scrap metal and glass, draw wire, &c. We will be able to rebuild civilization from almost any imaginable collapse.

[@PRH123]

@@arcadiaberger9204 think about it, in the 2nd half of the 19th century, long after the industrial revolution had already started, natural resources in many places were laying on the Earth's surface where they could easily obtained, for example the pure copper in northern Michigan, petroleum in Pennsylvania, coal seams near the surface, etc. Those easily accessible resources are gone, most significantly hydrocarbon energy sources that drove the industrial revolution. Those resources are now being sourced from deep under the ocean, or boiled out of oil sands. When humanity is knocked back to the wood and stone age, they won't be able to repeat those steps and easily access those resources again. Not to mention also that the knowledge of how such things are done is in the heads of a very tiny group of people, and each of them is an expert in their narrow field, none is a master of all of them. If those people are knocked off in the descent back to the wood age, the rest of us who can't hardly put together Ikea furniture are not going to be able :)

[@Game_Hero]

Very unique and creative vision of the future, charming by its intellectualism, respect for the common human, pastoralism and overall simplicity, even if I'm not a fan of how it glamourizes book burning (almost like he had a dent against non-philosophical litterature, especially romance, so much it's funny, "No fun allowed") or the condescendant view of the author on Scotland and Ireland for daring to exist as their own thing. I find it however deeply interesting in how ahead of the curve in mainstream opinion it was on realizing the cruelty of empires and enslaving people and how it treats with respect and sameness human beings of different parts of the world and their cultures (outside Scotland and Ireland), very rare in the 18th century.

[@l4zrh4wk]

Here here

[@Shvetsario]

@@l4zrh4wk Hee hee

[@pierren___]

Some things are really useless... some books are really useless

[@Game_Hero]

@@pierren___ so what? Still not a reason to burn them.

[@pierren___]

@@Game_Hero it actually is lmao. Back in the days you had to save paper

[@TheMikeyP_]

I’m sitting here thinking “dude no one is gonna believe you could make something that could mimic voices and sounds” in that day and age. Then I remember its 2024 and I’m watching this on my phone while I eat an uncrustable

[@Baathist_Brawler_1565]

Futurists in the 1700s: "In the future we will be a society of peaceful philosophers" Futurists in the 2000s: "In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war"

[@strogonoffcore]

the two world wars, especially the second, gave quite a scar to mankind

[@Darkside-tr3sx]

I fear to imagine how the world will be 50 years from now. I don’t even want to think of 2400.

[@petrus9067]

Basically that meme of "he doesn't know" (person of 1770) vs "he knows" (modern person) And same, but i guess really humanity lives in cycles, good time, crisis, bad times and repeats. I wonder if the cycle could ever stop. At least every new good times becomes better than the last in most senses

[@elia9188]

Funny how in this type of utopian decriptions (modern and, evidently, older too) the solution to religious intollerance it's always something on the line of "all the people are (more or less explicity) forced to belive the same, simple, things and dissuaded/prohibited to diverge from that". Where it's supposed to be the enlighted tollerance and liberty in that?!

[@enriquesanchez2001]

Just one person's view.

[@DinoCism]

"There are no atheists, *everyone* is religious... but they're all somehow super chill about it."

[@enriquesanchez2001]

@@DinoCism And so it goes... in that man's mind.

[@elia9188]

​@@DinoCism it's a full on contraddiction. Everyones is religious, but any actual discussion about it is frowned upon and nothing can go beyond simple governament approved beliefs. It looks more the dream of a particulary authoritarian medieval pope that an actual humanist utopia.

[@elia9188]

​@@enriquesanchez2001probably that's what happened, but isn't it a little iphocrytal? "Once my beliefs will be the dominant ones there will be true peace and tolerance". Thats legit how terrorist groups justify they're violence.

[@JoshuaGold1]

We are closer to the writing of the book than the date it speaks of. That's insane to think about!

[@myrakrusemark6873]

I love when the classical music in the background of KZbin documentaries give me flashbacks of waiting on hold to talk to my doctor about my rash.

[@alpharius7712]

I love your video/editing style, its really peaceful and intriguing to watch

[@PrinceLied]

Man, the illustrations are beautiful.

[@YAH2121]

The most interesting part is trying to picture a "futuristic" society that never experienced the industrial revolution. A future, yet religious and agrarian society that is still friendly to monarchy over republicanism.

[@rochesterjohnny7555]

this was the most interesting thing I've seen in awhile, very well made

[@Metamerist625]

That was absolutely amazing, very interesting indeed. Thanks for uploading this!

[@jontalbot1]

Visions of the future alway tell you more about the time they were envisioned in than the future

[@TheDutchMitchell]

i was exited until I heard the "recreational math" part

[@crimmy838]

Factorio gamers seething

[@DerHammerSpricht]

Bro predicted Sudoku!

[@crakhaed]

​@@DerHammerSpricht I can't believe you've said this 😂

[@DerHammerSpricht]

@@crakhaed Why?

[@crakhaed]

@@DerHammerSpricht it's a meme reference to that old video of the British dude letting out a huge vape cloud and his friend destroying it 😂 I'd just never thought of sudoku that way and I thought it'd be funny lol

[@Pssybart]

The part in which they would lock somebody up in a room with war sounds, that sounds a lot like the therapy from A Clockwork Orange.

[@ashmas900]

Beautiful art collection. Thank you for your hard work! ❤

[@faxmett855]

this is so well produced, its beautiful, soothing to watch:)

[@redbeard3946]

Using forbidden religious texts instead of conventional weaponry? The author was definitely onto something there. The pen is far mightier than the sword in this day and age.

[@gabrielaubry1334]

This is what we call "memetic warfare".

[@UltrafalconVX7]

The first 2 minutes: Cool, basically a retro utopia. 10 minutes in: They have TV. rest of the video: What the Fuck?

[@invisi-bullexploration2374]

"Who's that bald guy?" "That's Jean Luc. He runs a vineyard outside of town. He's kinda... Weird..."

[@oskyys6853]

Man predicted cancellation

[@hashkangaroo]

And endorsed it as an essential part of the new utopia.

[@oskyys6853]

@@hashkangaroo lunacy

[@hashkangaroo]

@@oskyys6853 20:10

[@peppermintgal4302]

Did you never hear of what they did to Socrates? People have been "cancelling" eachother since we split off from the chimpanzee.

[@oskyys6853]

@@peppermintgal4302 world never changed

[@ムネン]

I really appreciate the effort and length of the video

[@fawkewe]

It’s interesting how he got some things at-least partially right. For starters, Slavery Did end, although not in the violent way he predicted. He predicted China and Japan opening their borders, although China is still fairly isolated as of 2024. He predicted the end of Serfdom in Russia, although incredibly early. He predicted the fall of the Ottoman Empire, which was impressive because its decline wouldn’t start for a few decades. He predicted a United Italy, which was impressive because it wasn’t considered until after the Napoleonic War. But most interestingly, he somehow predicted the rise of Atheism. That would’ve been nigh undoable back then, yet he did it.

[@AlexBaldwinFTW]

This is truly fascinating, and a wonderful video, thank you.

[@blanchjoe1481]

Dear KAT, Thank you for this well presented piece, it is easy to understand why you chose it. I agree with other posters that the obvious basis for this work was to act as a Socioeconomic commentary on the writers own time. However it must be remember that "Futurism" as a concept did not even exist, nor was "Technology" a living part of that writers daily life. When Mercier published this work the late 1700's the primary form of information storage was The Book, and to understand ALL human knowledge, one man could read all the written material in those books, making a pile about as high as a man. In my life time alone I have seen the emergence of twelve ( 12) invented information storage systems ( and I am sure I am leaving some out that I have forgotten ), as result it has become necessary to create artificial memory-machines just to manage the explosive growth of information and knowledge, and this growth rate continues exponentially. Much like reading a prediction of what the creation of heavier than air machine flight would mean in 100 years per Scientific American circa 1890, there is the incredible failure see the development of thermonuclear destruction, or to understand functioning machines beyond the farthest reaches of their known space. The implication is that even our own "Futurism" of 100 years from today is woefully meager. However the interesting point, is that the futurism of the 1700's and the futurism of 2000's is in the differences of focus. Mercier was interested in exposing how advanced human culture and politics had become, where as ours is always based upon a "technological changes". Perhaps this difference is because ( unforeseen by Mercier ) we experienced the world shaking failures of created "Utopias" in the intervening years, and the terrible price created as a result. We have found out what Mercier did not know, that the enlightenment as he understood it, was not a panacea, and could even create greater horrors then was possible for him to ever imagine in his most unguarded nightmares.

[@mitchellcouchman1444]

I must say I disagree with your comment about the next 100 years, most is the 1960-1980s radically over estimated technology in the vast Majority of areas, the only really exception is computers but even in those spaces there is the prediction we would have true AI (not what we have today)

[@BenjaminCherkassky]

What a coincidence! Today, I did a study of this book in my philosophy class, having never heard of it before

[@paulohagan3309]

In university? Or are you in a country where they teach philosophy in high school?

[@benjsmithproductions]

So weird to think that for most of human history, innovation and technology moved at a sluggish pace if at all in a liftetime. The average person to exist on planet earth lived an almost identical life to his grandfather or his grandchildren. So making guesses or predictions of the future outside of mathematics or land discovery, wasn't much of a thing.

[@lukehauser1182]

I bet Mercier dreamed of having his own youtube documentary!

[@mysteriousstranger9496]

A list of the artworks in the description would have been great too.

[@guaposneeze]

I do love the idea of a world where princes are shown a war movie, and if they like it they are just locked in the theater so only people who find war abhorrent are ever allowed in power. But also he's imagining that in a world where the King only has ceremonial power, so I'm not sure it actually solves anything. Dunno how that slipped past his editor. I guess a wizard did it.

[@silverhawkscape2677]

In the end. It doesnt matter if the King doesnt want War when the one in power like Parliament can actually declare it.

[@pierren___]

Its called enlightened despotism, or "philosopher-King"

[@petrus9067]

​@@silverhawkscape2677make the parliament watch the movie then

[@HorsesArePeople2]

If only they knew how doomed Paris was....

[@dontcomply3976]

He predicted the George Floyd statue, LOL

[@1aikane]

If earth survives, I hope there is a world without war, poverty, hunger and corruption

[@Gm-ce5kg]

earth cant die

[@germanyballwork5301]

There is always going to be a new Alexander, war is inevitable. Pray your nation ans her leaders are ready for it.

[@peppermintgal4302]

​@@germanyballwork5301 War isn't caused by Alexanders, but by material incentives for nations to militarize. Even an anarchist society will readily go to war. Otherwise, I largely agree, I don't see an end to the warlike nature of humanity anytime soon.

[@petrus9067]

​@peppermintgal4302 maybe not soon but it will happen at some point. Humanity isn't more warlike in nature than it is cooperate, loving and peaceful. The vast majority of people abhor war, it only exists because of elites interests (aka like the 1%)

[@theaverageportugues4200]

Bro we need a bioshock game in this setting

[@mushroomsteve]

A world where coffee is banned does not sound utopian at all lol!

[@Lingist081]

Not very different than how a lot of countries are today that ban most drugs

[@yslchristian]

it’s called utah

[@mushroomsteve]

@@Lingist081 Which creates all kinds of problems in its own right.

[@mushroomsteve]

@@yslchristian They drink that Mormon tea (read: ephedra) instead!

[@Game_Hero]

@@Lingist081 imagine comparing cocaine and coffee

[@UltrafalconVX7]

"None of the meats has any seasoning besides salt"

[@toby1439]

How people in 2012 imagined 2025: Black Ops 2

[@victorrand8811]

Sounds more like a dystopia to me

[@MM-zg4wu]

So sad that even in year 1700 people dream about only few hours of work, but now in XXI century of computers we still don't have it😢

[@justsomejerseydevilwithint4606]

I particularly enjoy the prospect of The Hell Room. That's something we should Actually Implement.

[@HimMrM]

It’s crazy he couldn’t imagine a future without a ruling class like princes and kings

[@michaelpring6145]

i suppose thats due to it being the only system anyone had known up until that point. it makes you wonder what societal system we'll have in the far future and if they will making a comment similar to our current democratic system.

[@silverhawkscape2677]

Imagine a Future System without a Democracy. ​@@michaelpring6145

[@Saoirse-dm7ut]

Well today ppl can't imagine a world without capitalism or liberalism, Mark Fisher spoke about this

[@JiantJames]

@@michaelpring6145 the netherlands was a republic and there were large republican societies in france at the time. he was just a middle class utopian who belived the ruling class could abolish itself via its own will

[@pierren___]

​@@michaelpring6145 it was illegal. Plus he clearly talks about Cromwell positively and admits monarchies were the main promoters of education in his era.

[@thebookwormhotel5336]

i think the comments should understand this is one guys beliefs and ideas for the future he was alive hundreds of years ago so many of his ideas are now outdated but they are interesting all the same

[@silverhawkscape2677]

The word Utopia is tainted for me because Nowadays people are being sold on Utopias and told that if these people werent standing in our way than The Utopia that is just over the Hills will be hours. As such. They use Utopia as the Justification of all the Horrible things they will do because in their mind we stand in the way and so it is justified for us to be removed. So many atrocities done for the sake of Utopia that I simply now hate the word.

[@Valentin-oc5nh]

is it? isn’t it often that the utopian is deemed unattainable by these people and therefore their actions are necessary to conserve the status quo

[@silverhawkscape2677]

@@Valentin-oc5nh Conserve what? Utopia is the perfect lie to justify mass Atrocities. Because if X is removed than our Utopia will start to exist.

[@Corium1]

This is such a strange thing. it's very utilitarian and authoritarian. but also has liberal ideas for the time like basic health care, public policy, and decent work. I think it's call for art to be censored based on a populist idea is backwards as all hell. Even with works I disagree with, I wouldn't want destroyed. It's sad to think so much past knowledge is destroyed. It's a reactionary response to the nobility of France's obsession with works of art and philosophy. Plus, what a sad world without coffee. But I still appreciate what is here. And I think there is something to be gained from this now

[@adrianschroeder2798]

I mean no disrespect but maybe you should get a better mic or tweak your mic settings. You have a great narration voice but the quality of audio makes it sound a little garbled at times. I checked my end and other channels and websites sounded fine but if it is on my end then obviously disregard this comment. Regardless it's a great video as usual!

[@dankenstein9462]

If r/antiwork wrote a novel, this would be it, lol

[@SirSayakaMikiThe3rd]

I never really though about future predictions made before the industrial revolution, but it makes sense that their predictive capacity was so limited. When we look at the predictions from 100 years ago, they may have been off in many ways, but they were at least in the same ballpark.

[@noahkidd3359]

What a superb documentary!

[@Kekktye]

I still think we should make "the hell room" to send leaders into

[@98Zai]

12:06 They invented black metal and used it as a tool to stop war!!!

[@mattskustomkreations]

I think this would make for a fascinating miniseries. Perhaps a twist would be a modern-day person is transported to this author’s future world.

[@avus-kw2f213]

No too much miniseries just make a movie

[@abradolflincler5482]

12:03 The Ludovico Technique in 18th century utopian fiction lol

[@BenjaminDeutsch-xd1yh]

This is a refreshing and absolutely lovely film, which we are so glad ☺️ that you made. The artistic selections chosen are exquisite and our life is better for having seen them. thank you.

[@BrandonWilliams-q2t]

This is honestly the best view on religion and belief I've ever heard 🎉😮

[@ethanpf449]

Really good video I always learn new stuff on this channel

[@gmac8586]

The gardens on the roofs is not so far fetched. If we end up with global warming, this urban greening can be a wonderful way to keep buildings cool. I can see this happening.

[@noesantana_com]

Incredibly beautiful story, thanks for taking the time to bring this to today's reality. Truly a breath of fresh air.

[@jfangm]

Sounds dystopic and terrifying to me.

[@enriquesanchez2001]

@@jfangm The future and the unknown always are.

[@pierren___]

​@@jfangm whats dystopic here ?

[@jfangm]

@@enriquesanchez2001 No, they are not.

[@jfangm]

@pierren___ For one thing, there is no independent thought or freedom of speech. If you say something unpopular, you are imprisoned indefinitely. For another, they literally burn any work society considers offensive or useless, which are entirely subjective. How is that NOT dystopic?

[@enriquesanchez2001]

THIS is absolutely FASCINATING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ♥♥♥♥ Why haven't we heard of this before?

[@jackaldhaheri5912]

Those wondering about the symphony playing in the back it’(Camille saint saëns aquarium)