timeline/perspective

I’ve always been fascinated by scientific future-casting (if such a thing can be scientific). I’m particularly interested in future timelines that are constantly modified to account for current events. Two such timelines are presented by J. R. Mooneyham: The aptly-named “Timeline“, and “Perspectives“.

The Timeline is a general outline of future history, and somewhat conservative and circumscribed in what it offers the reader. The Timeline is meant to be the ‘harder’ of the two works, in terms of science and predictions. But this also means the Timeline must be more generalized, more risk-averse– and also peter out entirely as we venture into the deep, deep future, where everything must ultimately give way to outrageous guesswork (partly due to technology advancing to levels indistinguishable from magic, as a famous quote by Arthur C. Clarke suggests).

Perspectives takes up where the Timeline leaves off, offering more risky speculation and outright fiction about what the future may bring, than is suitable in the Timeline. Perspectives helps illustrate some of the possibilities implied by the Timeline, as well as how certain select personalities of various periods might perceive (and exploit or respond to) their circumstances.