The Failure of the Future

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Johny Pitts examines failed utopias to decipher if they can help us reimagine the future.

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The Failure of the Future: A Promise of Peace

A Promise of Peace

BBC Radio 4 - The Failure of the Future, A Promise of Peace

Johny Pitts looks back at visions of utopias that failed to see if we can build a brighter future from past projections.

For decades, artists and scientists have dreamed up utopias that aim to reform the way we live. But why did they not become the future we are living in today? Is there something in those “what-might-have-beens” that’s worth returning to?

Writer and artist Johny Pitts explores a series of failed visions of the future. But rather than discarding them with the sands of time, he asks what we can learn from those past projections. And might elements of these forgotten worlds propel us towards a brighter tomorrow?

For Johny, there was a time when he felt he was living inside the future. Between 1950 and 1990, Japan was a time of great prosperity, innovation and invention. The nation seemed to be mapping out an advanced reality that could shape the future that the rest of the world might live in. And yet, that didn't come to fruition.

In this final episode, Johny examines Japan's plans for a peaceful world. In the horrific aftermath of the nuclear bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan adopted a new model around disarmament and peace-building which sent reverberations around the world. For a moment in time, global society seemed to be on the cusp of progress. Are there learnings from that era which would help us map out policies for peace today? Or do we need to fundamentally reimagine what peace might look like for our present world? 

Presenter: Johny Pitts
Producer and Sound Design: Anishka Sharma
Mix Engineer: Nigel Appleton
Executive Producer: Phil Smith

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