Interview with Thomas Harding about FUTURE HISTORY

Thomas, you have just written a book with the working title 2050 – Future History. The History of the future? What on earth is that?

Ha! What on earth is exactly right! It’s the history of the next thirty years told from the point of view of the year 2050.

Which event, which fact inspired you or gave you the idea for this book?

I was reading an article about climate change which said that despite the overwhelming evidence of a catastrophic future, nobody was taking any real action to stop it. Then I thought to myself, what would it take today to make people really change their lives? And the answer popped into my head: a history from the future which told us what would happen if we didn’t radically change our behaviour.

You call those politicians who did not care about climate change ”the populists“. Did you have real politicians of our days in mind? And is climate change connected to political choices?

Yes, the story is inspired by the politics of today, the remarkable way that politicians now get elected by telling us the lies we want to hear. Of course, this is not an entirely new phenomenon. Look back to the 1930s and you can find plenty of populists. There are even more further back in history. And certainly, the impact of homo sapiens on the planet partly flows from political choices. The choice not to tax airplane flights, for example, or the choice to leave the Paris Climate Change agreement.

In spite of the grim things you write about – climate disaster, dictatorship etc. – there are also good developments in your future history. What will be better, for instance?

I am an optimist. I believe that, despite the calamities that await us if we refuse to act now, our future will in some ways be bright. Automation and developments in Artificial Intelligence, for example, could bring about education that is tailored more accurately to individual needs. Similarly, improvements in medicine will result in longer and healthier lives. There are two main figures in your book: Nancy – a 112 year old historian – and Billy – a girl in her teens who wants to know about her past (our future).

Whom do you see as readers of the book?

When I write, I don’t have a specific age in mind. I hope that young adults will identify with the main character Billy and her challenges and journey. After all, if you are a teenager today, this book tells you what the world will be like in your 20s, 30s and 40s. I hope that older readers will relate to Gran Nancy and the experiences she has lived. Personally, I like reading books that are said to be for young-adults just as much as books written for old-adults. Good writing is good writing.

Last question: Is 2050 – Future History a novel or non-fiction or the fiction of nonfiction or what?

When I started on this project, I told people I was writing a non-fiction history of the future. They looked at me puzzled and I would say ‘No really, it’s going to be non-fiction.’ I wanted to have the same mind-set as when I have previously written about the past. I wanted to use a similar tone and narrative technique. If I got this right, I hoped it would encourage the reader to believe this text as a true history.