How the Year 2440 was Imagined in 1771

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2 ай бұрын

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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Пікірлер: 1 600

@rolletroll2338 Ай бұрын

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

@francisdec1615 26 күн бұрын

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 18 күн бұрын

it still is in UK xd

@Sandmouse6942 8 күн бұрын

@@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 7 күн бұрын

@@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.

@TheDNAlucky 2 ай бұрын

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 2 ай бұрын

Holtzman effect

@wowcplayer3 2 ай бұрын

To think? Or to be right?

@Peaches.Gonsalez 2 ай бұрын

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

@TomSistermans 2 ай бұрын

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

@cheyennealvis8284 2 ай бұрын

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

@noatreiman Ай бұрын

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

@juliansanchezharris5773 Ай бұрын

😂😂

@johnpooky84 Ай бұрын

This is the best comment.

@lordkayx Ай бұрын

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 Ай бұрын

Sounds like idiocracy.

@UdumbaraMusic Ай бұрын

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

@ED-yy4te Ай бұрын

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

@RogerTheil Ай бұрын

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 25 күн бұрын

Remember Eisenhower and the International Geopphysical Year 1957.

@StarSprangledBanner 19 күн бұрын

@@RogerTheilno

@breadbugking 18 күн бұрын

@@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 13 күн бұрын

@@StarSprangledBanner An argument from ignorance

@andyw2132 2 ай бұрын

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.

@98Zai 2 ай бұрын

Yeah, absolutely. It's like sci-fi, sowing ideas in people's heads sometimes bear fruit.

@Game_Hero 2 ай бұрын

That was the trend back in the enlightenement era

@skyworm8006 2 ай бұрын

Everything he says is a specific criticism of his society and what he personal thinks everyone should do. Even down to being annoyed about women talking too much about topics he thinks are beyond them. Or it's common political opinions and well-established medieval Christian morals like relating to the poor to say humble. Overall, it's insanity. What actually happens when you lend an ear to the self-styled Enlightened is incompetent authoritarianism and a level of control and intolerance previously impossible. These people's infinite arrogance would go on to produce mass suffering carelessly created by the state, with braindead thinkers like this at the helm, previously unheard of since such all-powerful states did not previously exist. Such as Communism and Nazi Germany. Surface-level sentimental thinkers who want power to impose their fanciful political projects will always end badly, since their only concern is their sentiment and rapid 'progress' by wiping slates clean, purely aesthetic self-satisfaction, not whether or not it actually works or is done carefully to avoid total catastrophe. That's every modern dictator. These people are legitimately mentally ill, or otherwise just cynical and power hungry, and we still have their acolytes, equally mentally ill, running around making life worse for everyone to feed their ego.

@arthurbriand2175 2 ай бұрын

Just like Thomas More when he wrote about the island of Utopia or Roddenberry in Star Trek. It's a fairly common theme in optimistic speculative fiction.

@kingsandthings 2 ай бұрын

In the book’s dedication Mercier implies that this is his dream, his best case scenario for the future, while the more likely outcome is described in practically apocalyptic terms: “August and venerable year! Thou who art to bring felicity upon the earth! Thou, alas, that I have only in a dream beheld, when thou shalt rise from out the bosom of eternity, thy sun shall enlighten them who will tread upon my ashes, and upon those of thirty generations, successively cut off, and plunged in the profound abyss of death … But what do I say? Delivered from the illusions of a pleasing dream, I fear, alas! I fear, that thy sun is more like to cast a gloomy light on a formless mass of ashes, and of ruins.” As aspects of his dream actually started coming true however, he claimed his novel as prophetic (drawing much derision from contemporaries). At the start of the 1798 edition of the book he writes: “Without forcing the meaning, and in a clear and precise manner, I unequivocally brought to light a prediction which encompassed all possible changes, from the destruction of parliaments, the nobility and the clergy, to the adoption of the round hat. Never, I dare say, was a prediction closer to the event, and at the same time more detailed about the astonishing series of all the particular metamorphoses. I am therefore the true prophet of the revolution, and I say it without pride; providence arranges for each author in this base world a good fortune and why attribute to writers who were vague or earlier (referring to Rousseau and Voltaire) what belonged openly and so recently to me.”

@ChristianJiang Ай бұрын

Can’t wait to see people in 2440 react to this the same way we reacted in 2015 to Back to the Future II

@Ad-zk8nz Ай бұрын

In our next reincarnations hihi...

@TiberiusX Ай бұрын

Plot twist it all comes true!

@DerHammerSpricht Ай бұрын

@@RockBrentwood Sounds like some vaguely Confucian fear-mongering.

@BigBrotherMateyka Ай бұрын

> implying there are people in 2440

@vulpo Ай бұрын

I'm afraid you'll have to wait.

@TurtleMan2023 Ай бұрын

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 Ай бұрын

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

@Valentin-oc5nh Ай бұрын

@@joshmnkytrue omg! i hope so

@maxbielawski6745 Ай бұрын

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

@icy9308 Ай бұрын

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

@samdasamoza Ай бұрын

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

@debrickashaw9387 2 ай бұрын

That is one hell of a nap

@stewiebalew6446 Ай бұрын

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

@dannydetonator Ай бұрын

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

@orionbarnes1733 Ай бұрын

my man SNOOZED

@Jakob.Hamburg Ай бұрын

@@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 Ай бұрын

@@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.

@czerwoneokladki Ай бұрын

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 Ай бұрын

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

@laurenceneabeven-computerscien Ай бұрын

He had the best viewpoint

@colbyboucher6391 Ай бұрын

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 Ай бұрын

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 Ай бұрын

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

@michaelh4227 Ай бұрын

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 7 күн бұрын

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

@FishyAltFishy Ай бұрын

This is some wacky french isekai

@samtendo6080 Ай бұрын

This is literally a isekai!

@AmazingRebel23 25 күн бұрын

what is that

@kadenreed8603 25 күн бұрын

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

@GaddafisPlug 25 күн бұрын

nahh broo just made a world full of chill folks

@MollyHJohns 21 күн бұрын

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).

@GoddessofWisdom Ай бұрын

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___ Ай бұрын

Where did he said that ?

@RyRy2057 Ай бұрын

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

@pierren___ Ай бұрын

@@RyRy2057 number 8 ?

@RyRy2057 Ай бұрын

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

@pierren___ Ай бұрын

@@RyRy2057 oh yeah i found around 32:00

@sb12083 Ай бұрын

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

@DerHammerSpricht Ай бұрын

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

@Arvak777 Ай бұрын

Bros like, evil people just play COD as punishment.

@nitsu2947 Ай бұрын

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

@vitmartobby5644 18 күн бұрын

@@Arvak777my thoughts exactly lol, he described a war movie, which is one of the best genres out there.

@InquisitorBoomBoom 6 күн бұрын

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

@names_are_useless Ай бұрын

The most unbelievable part of this story was the entire British Isles uniting together as Great Britain.

@margitwes6495 Ай бұрын

Yup! The English will never live down what they did to Ireland/Scotland, not in hundred generations

@pierren___ Ай бұрын

The uk does. Its one island

@gdplayer19 Ай бұрын

@@pierren___ But they are only in a sort of mini-union, aren't they? They're still seperate countries.

@Helperbot-2000 Ай бұрын

@@pierren___ go on over to scotland and call em english, hahahahha

@pierren___ Ай бұрын

@@Helperbot-2000 no matter how far they twist it, they are

@leogazebo5290 2 ай бұрын

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 2 ай бұрын

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

@auangauthentication958 2 ай бұрын

Mao also burned countless books , is he a Fascist?

@zwarga100 2 ай бұрын

@@auangauthentication958 yes

@huwjonesification 2 ай бұрын

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

@Kay-kg6ny 2 ай бұрын

@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

@simtexa Ай бұрын

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.

@levii4146 26 күн бұрын

True, it's almost as if everyone acted selflessly no one would even need to be selfish. These authors may be idealistic but at least they're capable of being optimistic enough to see the good in humanity

@theblingcycle 25 күн бұрын

@@levii4146 its almost as if such an idea goes against human nature and not just the "bad" parts, and necessitates cruel and total control over people's lives and the most pervasive propaganda you can imagine

@ryuunosuk3 24 күн бұрын

@@theblingcycle these autors where gnostics, they believe in this obscure religion that dictates that a "gnosis" (knowledge) can elevate the soul and "unlock" your potential, essentially making you a god. It's the same seed that drives communism, that being: every human is a good person, but capitalism perverse their good nature, in a post-capitalist society everyone will have unlocked their godhood by the means of revolution (the gnosis of commies). They don't accept the idea of the original sin, that we are imperfect by nature, to them Satan was the good guy all along and he wanted to help humanity by giving the Apple to the humans (we have Apple now and they are overpriced products, Satan didn't know shit about technology).

@evar8071 23 күн бұрын

in my humble opinion, i dont think humans will ever be capable of entire selflessness. although we have big developed brains we are still animals at the end of the day, we fight and squabble and we always have

@dogestranding5047 23 күн бұрын

Utopia literally means “no place.”

@christyioran2969 Ай бұрын

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 Ай бұрын

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

@brianschmidt9919 Ай бұрын

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 Ай бұрын

@@Mrpersonman0 i mean is colonialism progression?

@colbyboucher6391 Ай бұрын

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

@MarteenHobbu 26 күн бұрын

@@arlynnecumberbatch1056 by definition, yes.

@ordinaryrat Ай бұрын

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 Ай бұрын

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

@sluggastar2 25 күн бұрын

The book burning part definitely gives it away

@rushyscoper1651 18 күн бұрын

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

@darknesdkzr000 Ай бұрын

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.

@UltrafalconVX7 20 күн бұрын

No, it really is messed up because this society requires most of humanity to get rid of personal desires and come together unanimously under a strict set of ideologies.

@LiveFreeOrDie2A Ай бұрын

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

@wyatttyson7737 27 күн бұрын

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

@kevinscales 16 күн бұрын

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

@fusion9619 14 күн бұрын

Leftists do love their book burnings

@user-wi9hv2pb2q 12 күн бұрын

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.

@TheDCbiz 10 күн бұрын

@@user-wi9hv2pb2qand slavery

@Kay-kg6ny 2 ай бұрын

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

@mitchellcouchman1444 Ай бұрын

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 Ай бұрын

Poor Sappho was wronged!

@mazzyfart420 Ай бұрын

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

@sagitarriulus9773 Ай бұрын

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 Ай бұрын

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

@SodaQuasar Ай бұрын

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

@stewiebalew6446 Ай бұрын

This is the best recommendation the KZfaq 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.

@e.m.b.5090 Ай бұрын

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

@EmilyTienne Ай бұрын

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 Ай бұрын

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 Ай бұрын

@@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 Ай бұрын

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 Ай бұрын

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

@Balajohn_ 27 күн бұрын

@@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.

@theicepickthatkilledtrotsk658 2 ай бұрын

The real retro-futurism. haha

@EkoFranko 2 ай бұрын

necro-futurism

@a.r.c.001 Ай бұрын

Classical futurism

@Dreadkid08 Ай бұрын

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

@TheBoomhauer619 Ай бұрын

This would be a dope setting for an open world video game

@jmjedi923 Ай бұрын

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

@Auglet 2 ай бұрын

THE 2 MONTH UPLOAD SCHEDULE IS REAAAALLLL

@kingsandthings 2 ай бұрын

I actually thought I'd be able to get this out by early February at one point ... I never learn, it always takes longer than expected 😑

@Auglet 2 ай бұрын

@@kingsandthingsdon’t stress about it, love the content and if it takes longer to make it so be it

@ayindestevens6152 Ай бұрын

@@kingsandthingsquality over quantity

@JmsNmnn Ай бұрын

Why is this novel not credited as the first science fiction novel? (Currently credited to Frankenstein) It is pure speculative fiction

@Apanblod Ай бұрын

There's the story 'A True Story' written by the Syrian author Lucian of Samosata in the second century. Why isn't THAT credited as the first science fiction novel? 🧐

@charles_caermichael Ай бұрын

If you’re calling speculative fiction the same as sci fi then there’s the source of the issue. I know they’re linked and held equivalent at times but if you count anything speculative why not count religious prophecy? Revelations and Ragnarok. No, no. Speculative fiction is a good word for this, a term I like is social science fiction. Books that reimagine the social and economic landscapes of the future. The Blazing World is a book written in 1666 by Margaret Cavendish, this too is a work that gives beautiful insights into a future only the past could imagine.

@DerHammerSpricht Ай бұрын

The first sci-fi story ever written was Gilgamesh lmao

@echopraxia4552 Ай бұрын

As Apanblod mentioned, the first known piece of literature best fitting the “sci-fi” genre would likely be A True Story by Lucian of Samosata written in the 2nd century AD. Another contender might be Somnium (The Dream) by Johannes Kepler written in 1608. It has been considered to be one of the earliest works of science fiction by people such as Carl Sagan and Isaac Asimov.

@NecromancyForKids Ай бұрын

By the way, the very first book of a genre is not placed in that genre because it technically didn't exist yet.

@FearLoathing7777 Ай бұрын

23:03 "none of the meats had any particular seasoning" Nuke it

@NathanHigger Ай бұрын

Found the black man

@TheRealityWarper08 Ай бұрын

@NathanHigger I'm guessing by your name that you're white(creative btw)?

@SneedFeedAndSeed Ай бұрын

THIS IS WAY ICEY HERMANO! I CAN TOTALLY FEEL IT!

@francisdec1615 26 күн бұрын

Some meat, like Swedish meatballs or real Bolognese sauce barely has any spices in it, only a little onion, carrot and celery etc.

@mathieuleader8601 Ай бұрын

the glass harmonica sounds so haunting.

@arcadiaberger9204 Ай бұрын

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

@Samouraii 2 ай бұрын

Crazy how he predicted radio and tv

@DerHammerSpricht Ай бұрын

Crazy how long ago people were predicting AI/robots.

@victorpedrosoceolin3919 Ай бұрын

@@DerHammerSpricht where, please?

@colbyboucher6391 Ай бұрын

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 Ай бұрын

@@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 Ай бұрын

@@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

@johnkeviljr9625 Ай бұрын

Predicting the future is a fun exercise, but we are all prisoners of our own time and thoroughly limited. Excellent video. Thank You.

@afjer 29 күн бұрын

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

@chrisd6287 Ай бұрын

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

@arcadiaberger9204 Ай бұрын

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

@comradecockatoo3558 20 күн бұрын

Spore moment.

@micahistory 2 ай бұрын

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 Ай бұрын

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 Ай бұрын

@@mitchellcouchman1444 yes

@pierren___ Ай бұрын

He predicted electricity and internet.

@pierren___ Ай бұрын

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

@names_are_useless Ай бұрын

@@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.

@AmericanMephistopheles 2 ай бұрын

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

@mynym4543 2 ай бұрын

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…

@johntr5964 2 ай бұрын

That’s a very interesting and well done video! I’d love to see some analysis of other old Utopian writings, maybe from Sir Thomas More, William Morris, Alexander Bogdanov or Alexander Chapayev.

@douglasphillips5870 Ай бұрын

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

@vaxrvaxr Ай бұрын

Well said.

@PeterSchmuttermaier Ай бұрын

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

@vaxrvaxr Ай бұрын

@@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 Ай бұрын

@@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.

@goat9295 Ай бұрын

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

@JoshuaGold1 Ай бұрын

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

@paperclip9558 Ай бұрын

I love how 'imaginative' and 'out there' the futurism vision from people back then. Its so refreshing. Its so much better than contemporary era where people's imagination and vision seem to be stuck on old and tired popular scifi tropes, so its either star wars or blade runner.

@tripledair Ай бұрын

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

@thefunksbeats 23 күн бұрын

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

@piotrzagroba5301 2 ай бұрын

"The Poles are still grateful to Catherine the Great". Me, as a Pole: pffffff 😂

@mistycloud4455 Ай бұрын

Poland is nothing

@piotrzagroba5301 Ай бұрын

@@mistycloud4455 idk, I'm there right now and it doesn't seem like nothing.

@krzypl5959 Ай бұрын

@@mistycloud4455 don't you just love to randomly spread negativity

@Big_Dolfie Ай бұрын

@@mistycloud4455 poland is a conspiracy! It does not exist!

@leroysanchino Ай бұрын

@@krzypl5959internet in a nutshell

@Baathist_Brawler_1565 27 күн бұрын

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"

@stegotyranno4206 Ай бұрын

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 Ай бұрын

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 Ай бұрын

@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 12 күн бұрын

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 12 күн бұрын

@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

@lkrnpk Ай бұрын

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 Ай бұрын

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

@Reallyidktbh 20 күн бұрын

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 20 күн бұрын

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 2 күн бұрын

You meant Mustang 😂😊

@LuDux 2 ай бұрын

What is referered to as Poland at 36:20 was in fact Polish-Lithuanian confederation. Calling it Poland is pretty much the same as refering to Great Britain as England. It was pretty democratic, if you're noble, which I guess counts as anarchy for those living in absolute monarchies like Russia or France of 18th century

@Game_Hero 2 ай бұрын

reffering to the dominant nation of the "union of equals" is a very common practice that tells a lot about the nature of multinational societies.

@pierren___ Ай бұрын

Did you understood he elogise it ?

@pierren___ Ай бұрын

Most nobles were left wing progressists in the 18 century

@theaverageportugues4200 Ай бұрын

@@pierren___ there was no sutch thing in the 18th century, the term right wing only came to existende in the 19th century

@pierren___ Ай бұрын

@@theaverageportugues4200 bro never heard about the french revolution .

@MrMonkeybat Ай бұрын

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.

@DJL78 2 ай бұрын

This was extraordinarily well crafted. Bravo! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

@jeansantana565 Ай бұрын

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.

@theaverageportugues4200 Ай бұрын

Bro we need a bioshock game in this setting

@Rayrard Ай бұрын

It is always amazing that no one in the deep past could envision a dramatically different APPEARING future. The city of Paris looks more ancient Greek than modern. Like this anecdote still has them in petticoats and living in 18th century homes with horse-drawn carriages. It isn't a huge jump to think that mabe the carriages would propel themselves in the future, or that lights would exist that weren't candles but gave off light "in the way of the sun" with no need to change it. How difficult it is to imagine simple trousers and the concept of the "t-shirt" which is absurdly simple. Or communication across the air which would be fantastic, but is not out of the realm of imagination. The ones in the more modern era predict the idea of smartphones, but they still retain bulky batteries and wires. It is interesting to observe the human imagination does not take dramatic risks with predictions.

@trudieangelica Ай бұрын

This mindset reveals a great deal about our current society, and how we fixate on technological progress, as much as it reveals that people throughout history had different priorities.

@Rayrard Ай бұрын

@@trudieangelica good point. Most likely the people in the late 1700's didn't even have the ability to invision (or even fathom) what we know later on as technology, so they focused on social progress or political matters as the future advancements that would matter most. It's likeif you asked a Neanderthal what the future would be like... they just wouldn't have a clue what was even capable of being created in 100,000 years. He'd probably say "the mammoth will be extinct and all of us will have different kinds of fresh meat and fruit year round, and the wooden shelters we make will be stronger and warmer at night"

@pierren___ Ай бұрын

@@Rayrard the full book is not described here. He did predicted simpler clothing and electricity and internet

@pierren___ Ай бұрын

@@Rayrard for the greek style it is explained by the improvement it brought since the renaissance + its pretty and natural

@peppermintgal4302 Ай бұрын

@@pierren___ Electricity was a known phenomenon at the time, I believe.

@AdrianBoyko Ай бұрын

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

@dontcomply3976 16 күн бұрын

Just like Fry, Buck Rogers an Not Sure

@micahistory 2 ай бұрын

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

@ashr1190 2 ай бұрын

Every time I open KZfaq and see a Kings and Things upload, I know it's going to be a great evening. I've been hooked since I discovered the rulers of Bavaria series.

@TheDutchMitchell Ай бұрын

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

@crimmy838 Ай бұрын

Factorio gamers seething

@DerHammerSpricht Ай бұрын

Bro predicted Sudoku!

@Game_Hero 2 ай бұрын

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 Ай бұрын

Here here

@Shvetsario Ай бұрын

@@l4zrh4wk Hee hee

@pierren___ Ай бұрын

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

@Game_Hero Ай бұрын

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

@pierren___ Ай бұрын

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

@SherbertHusky Ай бұрын

This guy predicted the video screen and CGI. What insane powers of speculation you must have to predict that and so many other things correctly.

@DerHammerSpricht Ай бұрын

Jim Morrison predicted EDM/Drum-n'-Bass

@francisdec1615 26 күн бұрын

There was a Roman author predicting space travels 2000 years ago, although his story was supposed to be ironic.

@alpharius7712 Ай бұрын

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

@KBM345 2 ай бұрын

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 2 ай бұрын

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

@xjohnny1000 2 ай бұрын

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 Ай бұрын

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

@arcadiaberger9204 Ай бұрын

@@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 Ай бұрын

@@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 :)

@Metamerist625 Ай бұрын

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

@blanchjoe1481 Ай бұрын

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 Ай бұрын

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)

@elia9188 2 ай бұрын

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 2 ай бұрын

Just one person's view.

@DinoCism 2 ай бұрын

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

@enriquesanchez2001 2 ай бұрын

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

@elia9188 2 ай бұрын

@@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 2 ай бұрын

@@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.

@SomasAcademy 2 ай бұрын

I've heard a little bit about this book from Laurent Dubois' "Avengers of the New World," a book about the history of the Haitian Revolution which references and takes its title from that passage about the statue. Interesting to learn more about how Mercier envisioned the future!

@oskyys6853 Ай бұрын

Man predicted cancellation

@hashkangaroo Ай бұрын

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

@oskyys6853 Ай бұрын

@@hashkangaroo lunacy

@hashkangaroo Ай бұрын

@@oskyys6853 20:10

@peppermintgal4302 Ай бұрын

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

@oskyys6853 Ай бұрын

@@peppermintgal4302 world never changed

@ashmas900 Ай бұрын

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

@ignaciohernandez177 Ай бұрын

What a wonderful channel it makes you think about the past and how the future would be fascinating 😊

@jontalbot1 Ай бұрын

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

@AlexBaldwinFTW 25 күн бұрын

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

@rochesterjohnny7555 Ай бұрын

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

@followerofjulian1652 Ай бұрын

A hellish dystopia.

@MarcusAgrippa390 2 ай бұрын

I swear I love this channel! Every upload is excellent in it's eclectic nature while maintaining the aspects of the historical theme of the channel. Always well done. Also, it's 40 minutes long!!! Perfect for sending me to dreamland

@brunopereira6789 2 ай бұрын

The thing that is most offensive to me is the book burnings lol

@gammamaster1894 2 ай бұрын

I was thinking about this just the other day, will be a fascinating video

@YAH2121 16 күн бұрын

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.

@enriquesanchez2001 2 ай бұрын

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

@PeterSchmuttermaier Ай бұрын

This is a thought-provoking video about a thought-provoking book. Thanks so much for bringing it to my attention!

@JoeRogansForehead Ай бұрын

Okay .. Kings and Things is one of the best history channel names ive seen. Simple yet elegant

@polishmapper5968 2 ай бұрын

Literally 2440

@koffeekage Ай бұрын

This would make for a fantastic video game.

@ethanpf449 Ай бұрын

Really good video I always learn new stuff on this channel

@IbrahimAli-sc8ud 23 күн бұрын

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

@curtismoss8616 2 ай бұрын

they never predicted instantly accessible porn and advertisements that reflected your day to day thoughts.

@jackalenterprisesofohio 2 ай бұрын

Wait, we have instantly accessible pron? Why has no one told me!!

@mats7492 2 ай бұрын

Not anymore if you’re Texan

@Hwje1111 2 ай бұрын

@@mats7492texas no longer has ads?! Cool!

@mats7492 Ай бұрын

@@Hwje1111 No.Texas has no porn anymore. Unless you send your ID to a dubious online site , then you can accessit again!.. or use a VPN ..lol

@venus_envy Ай бұрын

@@mats7492 Wow, based Texas. Porn should be illegal everywhere, it's pure evil.

@1aikane 2 ай бұрын

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

@Gm-ce5kg Ай бұрын

earth cant die

@germanyballwork5301 Ай бұрын

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

@peppermintgal4302 Ай бұрын

@@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.

@ibbyseed 26 күн бұрын

I like how the idea of a car or modern transportation was so foreign to people in the past that it wasn’t even something they thought of in fiction. Like the idea wasn’t even conceivable and was beyond imagination. makes you think unimaginable things will take over the world in the next 500 + years that we now can’t even think of.

@johnjohnsson9903 2 ай бұрын

Love your vids. Keep it up!

@redbeard3946 2 ай бұрын

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 Ай бұрын

This is what we call "memetic warfare".