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The History of the Future

The History of the Future: Episode 8: HG Wells

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Episode 8

Episode 8: HG Wells

HG Wells

BBC Radio 4 Extra - The History of the Future, HG Wells

Juliet Gardiner looks at the dystopian predictions of the father of science fiction.

Juliet Gardiner looks at the dystopian predictions of the future from the father of science fiction. From September 2012.

Juliet Gardiner continues her History of the Future with a look at the figure who, for many of us, defines our modern vision of the future, HG Wells. 

Often called the 'father of science fiction' , Wells's most popular novels - The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds - gave a terrifyingly dark view of the future. An image of an army of belligerent Martians, of machines invading suburban England, of conflict in outer space, and of the mutation of species. Wells's future world is one where science has taken a wrong turn, where innovation is not used for the good of humanity but its destruction. It is not a vision of progress but a pessimistic prediction of decline and despair. Many of the imaginative scenarios he envisaged proved eerily prescient and some still haunt us today. 

Juliet Gardiner tries to discover why there was so much interest in the future at the end of the nineteenth century. What current concerns was Wells reflecting in his prophecies about the future? Wells was a biologist by training. He had studied under TH Huxley, the man described as 'Darwin's bulldog', and it was Darwin's theories that had thrown not only religious belief but also the whole notion of time into a ferment - providing a whole new model of change, progress and evolution. If, according to the theory of natural selection, a species could change and adapt over millions of years and then die out, then the whole concept of the future of humankind was challenged. 

Juliet continues to make the case that a History of the Future is a history of anxiety, speaking to Frank James and Roger Luckhust.

Produced by Victoria Shepherd.

A Juniper production for BBC Radio 4.

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Series looking at how cultures of the past viewed the possibilities of the future

Juliet Gardiner looks at how cultures of the past viewed the possibilities of the future, and what these visions say about the pre-occupations of the time

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