As the title says, what are all of the different futurisms, or like imaginings of the future?
So far in my sphere, i know of a few: solarpunk, cyberpunk, retrofuturism, and transhumanism.
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solarpunk: green new decolonialized future where we use technology, natural systems, and cultual wisdom to live sustainably and in harmony with the Earth and others
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cyberpunk: dystopia where technology is capable of many things, but is used in all the wrong ways. Megacorps control everything, and tech is ubiquitous
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transhumanism: future where humans can overcome their linitations through technology, and we also delve into deeper questions of how technology and its use affects people
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retrofuturism (i’m probably thinking more of atompunk, help me here???): Star Trek-esque, optimistic, 1900s view of the future with the typical flying cars, space hotels, and luxury comforts in a utopic setting
Can you guys think of any others? And if i’m wrong, please do correct me
In some senses, any sci fi setting is futurism, if they’ve linked it to the present (Star Wars doesn’t really count). The Expanse, at least early on, is a great example of futurism, but they ignored a few things for the sake of plot and storytelling (AI, and why would any ship ever need a human pilot…).
What’s interesting is that you can blend all of the above elements, and others, to create whatever vision of the future you’d like. However
Often overlooked in futurism is AI progress. Because it is hard to conceive of what that will look like. Banks, in the Culture series, conceived of benevolent AI overlords that kept us humans around and happy almost like pets – because we were amusing. Star Trek swung from data on one side, to the Borg on the other, but never really contemplated what ubiquitous AI would look like. So I’d add AI as it’s own topic.
Cyberpunk dabbled in post-human futures with brain computer interfaces, but not that seems kind of quaint compared to the corporate dystopian vibe that dominates that genre. But a good place to explore here is post-humanisn. What happens when augmentation and bioscience allows us to shape our future? So I’d add post-humanisn as a genre.
There are likely more. Rocketpunk is one my favourite aesthetics, but it probably belongs in retrofuturism now too :)