Futures Imagined

The Belle Époque excelled at imagining technological futures. Albert Robida's illustrated novels depicted television, flying cars, and underwater cities. Jules Verne, though growing pessimistic, continued producing technological romances. The 1900 Exposition included exhibits predicting life in 2000—moving sidewalks everywhere, personal flying machines, meals in pills.

These predictions revealed contemporary anxieties projected forward. Would technology liberate or enslave? Create leisure or unemployment? Unite humanity or deepen divisions? The future appeared simultaneously utopian and dystopian, often in the same prediction.

Children absorbed technological optimism. Toy stores sold miniature automobiles, model airplanes, chemistry sets, electrical kits. Boys dreamed of becoming engineers; girls were encouraged toward nursing or telephone operating—gendered technological futures. Schools added "modern" curricula: typing for girls, mechanics for boys. The future would be technological, but traditionally organized.