A Timeline Of Future Science Fiction Events

Below is a list of predictions made by speculative science fiction authors both past and present. Also listed is the novel or short story in which the prediction was made, as well as the year it was published.

Notably, the list puts the Hunger Games in the year 2108 and robot cats finally make an appearance in 2966. My favorite entry by far is the year 2107 when “Everyone blogs about themselves, all day, without shame: ‘only perverts do things in private.'”

2017

  • Devrie Konig enters Institute of Biological Hope to endure medical experiments that result in the finding of God.
    —Nancy Kress, Trinity 1984

2019

  • The USA loses its position as world leader to Japan. Extraterrestrial life is detected—and it sings.
    —Mary Doria Russell, The Sparrow, 1996
  • General paranoia about the AIDS virus reigns, leading to the imprisonment of society’s so-called "subversives."
    —Kay Kenyon, The Seeds of Time, 1997

2020

  • You no longer need a computer to use the internet, because the internet can be accessed directly through your brain.
    —Geoff Ryman, Air, 2004
  • American John Boone becomes the first human to walk on Mars.
    —Kim Stanley Robinson, Red Mars, 1993

2021

  • The last baby was born 25 years ago because women can no longer bear children.
    —P.D. James, The Children of Men, 1992
  • Humanity gets turned upside down: If androids are the ones that don't have feelings, then why do those humans seeking to hunt and kill them seem like the heartless ones?
    —Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, 1968

2023

2024

  • After WW4, resources are scarce. When men aren't hunting for food, clean water, and weapons, they're seeking the most valuable resource of all: women.
    —Harlan Ellison, A Boy and His Dog 1969

2025

  • Housing is scarce in New York, but a giant housing project at 334 East 11th Street provides a home for some NYC residents.
    —Thomas M. Disch, 334: A Novel, 1972
  • The University of San Diego is at the fore of library technology, which can digitize an entire library in hours. After this process, all books at the UCSD Geisel Library (and ultimately worldwide) will cease to exist.
    —Vernor Vinge, Rainbows End, 2006
  • Scientific expeditions to Saturn are now possible.
    —John Varley, Titan, 1979

2026

  • First colonial voyage to Mars.
    —Kim Stanley Robinson, Red Mars, 1993
  • In California, robotically-controlled houses run like clockwork (cooking, cleaning, garden sprinkling), even after their inhabitants are gone…
    —Ray Bradbury, There Will Come Soft Rains, 1950

2027

  • Lady Gaga arrested for civil disobedience after winning Nobel Peace Prize.
    —Charlie Jane Anders, Six Months, Three Days, 2011

2030

  • New York is enclosed in a big dome. AIs are governed by the Turing police and Turing-coded laws.
    —William Gibson, Neuromancer, 1984

2035

  • A cure for autism now exists, but a few people remain doubtful that they want to join what is seen as the "normal."
    —Elizabeth Moon, The Speed of Dark, 2002

2037

  • Privacy Act of 2037 passes, protecting identity of copied personae from later users.
    —Michael Swanwick, Trojan Horse, 1985

2038

  • Systems administrator Odell Vyphus has to shut off—aka kill—the first AI.
    —Cory Doctorow, Epoch, 2010
  • Cyberjournalists can get infected by computer viruses.
    —Gwyneth Jones, White Queen, 1991
  • Demon curator takes over the world, creating a museum with one enormous painting to convey the events of each year of history.
    —Robert Shearman, Restoration, 2011

2047

  • The Turing Test continues to be used to differentiate between levels of artificial intelligence.
    —Ian McDonald, River of Gods, 2004
  • Around this time, Daniel Weinreb leaves suburban Iowa for New York City, where he attempts "flying," or astral projection. He also has dreams of becoming a musician.
    —Thomas M. Disch, On Wings of Song, 1979

2050

  • All human technology is destroyed.
    —John Varley, Eight Worlds Series, largely between 1974-1980
  • You can leave earth by hiding in a giant sperm whale.
    —Arthur C. Clarke, Childhood’s End, 2009

2054

  • An influenza epidemic threatens to take over Oxford.
    —Connie Willis, Doomsday Book, 1992

2057

  • Someone violates the laws of the time-travel continuum by bringing a cat back from the Victorian era.
    —Connie Willis, To Say Nothing of the Dog, 1997

2059

  • In post-apocalyptic America, humans finally recognize cyborgs as capable of love. Communication involves being able to project oneself into cyberspace.
    —Marge Piercy, He, She and It, 1991

2075

2077

  • A giant meteorite hits Eastern Italy. This leads to other encounters with alien star ships. People still use cameras.
    —Arthur C. Clarke, Rendezvous with Rama, 1972

2082

  • Virtual reality is literalized, as people are able to become fully immersed in an online world called the Net.
    —Tad Williams, Otherland tetralogy, 1996-2001

2086

  • Aliens are surveying the earth. Siri, a crew member aboard the space ship Theseus, observes and attempts to understand the alien vessel.
    —Peter Watts, Blindsight, 2006

2092

  • A plague that has spread across Europe and America now reaches England. People come from America to plunder Europe. Some Europeans escape to Switzerland, but eventually die of typhus.
    —Mary Shelley, The Last Man, 1826

2094

  • First landings on Mars. (Again? Again!)
    —John Wyndham, The Outward Urge, 1959

2100

  • The Culture contacts Earth for the first time.
    —Iain M. Banks, Consider Phlebas, 1987

2107

  • Everyone blogs about themselves, all day, without shame: "only perverts do things in private."
    —Ben Elton, Blind Faith, 2007

2108

  • If you're between 12 and 18 years old, you might be chosen to fight to the death. The odds are not in your favor.
    —Suzanne Collins, Hunger Games trilogy, 2008-2010

2109

  • Joshua Ali Quare lives in an apartment on Mars, with his voice-activated laptop. He can also change his gender at will.
    —John Barnes, Kaleidoscope Century, 1995

2110

  • The United States and the Eurasian Coalition (China/Russia) try to build a space elevator, are unsuccessful.
    —David J. Williams, The Mirrored Heavens, 2008

2112

  • Doraemon (Gadget Cat from the Future) is born on September 3.
    —Fujiko Fujio, Doraemon series, 1969-1996

2116

  • Overpopulation being a problem, everyone has to report to their schedule termination at age 21.
    —William F. Nolan and George Cayton Johnson, Logan’s Run, 1967

2117

  • A suburb in San Francisco becomes the world's first solely teleportation-based community.
    —Isaac Asimov, It’s Such a Beautiful Day, 1969

2130

  • The flip-side of interstellar travel: wars are now intragalactic.
    —Orson Scott Card, Ender’s Game, 1985

2144

2150

  • The Macro Society, who practice macro philosophy, run the earth.
    —Don Plym and Thea Plym, 2150 A.D., 1971

2154

  • With robots, humans have never been so unemployed. Many live on welfare support.
    —Monica Hughes, Invitation to the Game, 1990

2157

  • Tommy finds a real book in his attic, one that doesn't have shifting words. Totally weird.
    —Isaac Asimov, The Fun They Had, 1951
  • Due to a virus spreading across the earth, we send an ark into deep space.
    —Ken Catran, Deepwater Black, 1995

2169

2171

  • Population of Mars attempts to unify, break colonial ties to Earth.
    —Greg Bear, Moving Mars, 1993

2180

  • Bounty hunter: one of the last jobs left.
    —T. B. Grover, Strontium Dog series, 1988-1990

2188

2200

2218

  • Time traveler goes back to convince JFK not to go to Dallas, fails.
    —Barry Malzberg, Shiva, 2001

2228

2240

  • After a nuclear war between America and Russia almost destroys earth, the humans that remain are saved by genetic traders known as Oankali. Considered too erratic to reproduce with themselves, humans are only allowed to survive via mating with Oankali (which look like large sea cucumbers).
    —Octavia E. Butler, Lilith’s Brood trilogy, 1987-2000

2303

  • Colonialism is still a thing: Colonists, suspended in stasis for the trip, travel in cargo ships that can hold 20,000.
    —Alastair Reynolds, Galactic North, 2006

2305

  • In Northern California, 16 year olds all get the "pretty" operation—it turns you into a full-lipped babe, but also creates brain lesions that make you a more obedient citizen.
    —Scott Westerfeld, Uglies trilogy, 2005-2007

2312

  • Computer brains in bodies are still trying and failing to pass Turing tests.
    —Kim Stanley Robinson, 2312, 2012

2320

  • Thailand is fighting back environmental damages brought on by climate change: bioengineered mammoths on treadmills generate power.
    —Paolo Bacigalupi, The Windup Girl, 2009
  • During the same century, climate change has forced some people off of the earth and onto the Moon and Mars, and later in Jupiter and Saturn.
    —Paul J. McAuley, The Quiet War, 2008

2366

2381

  • Population of Earth has reached 75 billion people. To compensate? Thousand-floor skyscrapers.
    —Robert Silverberg, The World Inside, 1971

2415

  • The Yukon Confederacy controls North America. China is still communist.
    —Theodore Judson, Fitzpatrick’s War, 2004

2500

  • Ulysse Mérou leaves Earth for outer space.
    —Pierre Boulle, Planet of the Apes, 1963

2540

  • Calling Zager and Evans! Babies grow in glass tubes so you ain’t got no use for husbands or wives.
    —Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, 1932

2551

  • Humans have moved to as far as the planet Resurgam, on the outskirts of colonized space. Archaeology is still a thing.
    —Alastair Reynolds, Revelation Space, 2000

2611

2966

3017

  • Aboard the battleships Lenin and MacArthur, research and security teams journey to the star Mote. Once there they'll encounters Moties: sequential hermaphrodites. If a Motie remains female for too long without becoming pregnant, the hormone imbalance will kill her.
    —Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, The Mote in God’s Eye, 1974

3172

  • Political power is split across the galaxy. You can still get a liberal arts degree from Harvard.
    —Samuel R. Delany, Nova, 1968

3961

802701

This post was taken almost directly from this Awl article, but I feel OK reprinting it here in it’s (near) entirety cause I added Amazon links to each book. Thanks and great job to Jane Hu. If you enjoyed this you might also enjoy this list of Events Taking Place In The Very Distant Future

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