Moonbases have long symbolized progress, ambition, and national identity, and suddenly they’re back in the conversation. From retro-futuristic sci-fi visions to real NASA blueprints, humanity has imagined permanent lunar outposts for nearly a century. In this episode, we explore where those ideas came from, what it actually takes to build a home on another world, and why we’re still not there ye

Throughout history, people have imagined what the future might look like, sometimes in bold visions, and sometimes in outlandish predictions. Dreams of a Future Past is a podcast that explores how humanity has dreamed of the future through movies, technology, philosophy, and design.

Before there was science fiction, there was H.G. Wells. A futurist of the industrial age, Wells imagined atomic bombs, genetic engineering, space travel, and even early concepts of the internet decades before they existed. His work blends wonder with warning, using speculative technology as a lens to explore human responsibility and society’s moral evolution.

Throughout history, people have imagined what the future might look like, sometimes in bold visions, and sometimes in outlandish predictions. Dreams of a Future Past is a podcast that explores how humanity has dreamed of the future through movies, technology, philosophy, and design.

What if the atom could power everything from your home to your car? The Atomic Age blended retro-futurism, midcentury modern design, and Cold War anxiety, inspiring sleek gadgets, bold architecture, and stories of both optimism and destruction.

The Atomic Age emerged in the wake of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, when the world realized the atom could be both a weapon and a source of boundless energy. Governments, corporations, and pop culture embraced nuclear power with a mix of hope and fear, inspiring futuristic design, cartoons, sci-fi films, and ambitious visions of atomic-powered cities and vehicles that resonate with today's modern resurgence of AI and data center nuclear power.

Throughout history, people have imagined what the future might look like, sometimes in bold visions, and sometimes in outlandish predictions. Dreams of a Future Past is a podcast that explores how humanity has dreamed of the future through movies, technology, philosophy, and design.

Dune imagines a future where humanity rejects thinking machines and instead pushes human potential to its extremes, creating Mentats, Bene Gesserit, and entire cultures engineered to replace technology. Its world warns that overreliance on machines can erode human agency, while also suggesting that true power comes from mastering the mind and controlling scarce resources.

Blade Runner: The Neon Blueprint for Our Future

Throughout history, people have imagined what the future might look like, sometimes in bold visions, and sometimes in outlandish predictions. Dreams of a Future Past is a podcast that explores how humanity has dreamed of the future through movies, technology, philosophy, and design.

What if the future wasn’t sleek and utopian, but messy, corporate-controlled, and neon-lit? Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner flipped the script on science fiction when it hit theaters in 1982. Based on Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, the film envisioned a decaying Los Angeles in 2019 that felt hauntingly real. Its influence can be seen in everything from The Matrix and Cyberpunk 2077 to our own urban skylines.

Rooted in the dark paranoia of Philip K. Dick, whose stories blurred reality and perception. Initially a box office disappointment, it became a cornerstone of modern sci-fi. Originally envisioned and created 50 years go, at a time well before artificial intelligence, corporate big tech, and neon megacities were a reality.

What It Got Right

• The Cyberpunk Aesthetic: Syd Mead’s concept art of rain-soaked, neon-drenched cityscapes became the look of the future, Tokyo by way of noir.
• AI & Humanity: The Voight-Kampff empathy test predicted today’s debates about consciousness and artificial emotion.
• Urban Dystopia: Overcrowding, climate decay, and social division was once fiction, and now part of our global familiar headlines.

What It Missed

• Tech Timeline: Flying cars, replicants, and off-world colonies didn’t arrive on schedule.

Its Lasting Impact

From The Matrix to The Fifth Element, Blade Runner’s DNA runs through modern sci-fi. Its world of glowing skies and corporate towers reshaped how we imagine progress, and are less a warning and more a mirror.

Join Greg, Ian, and McKay as they explore this hugely influential movie and discuss how it has shaped the future in which we’ve already begun to live.

The 1893 Chicago World’s Fair - When America Invented the Future

Part 2

-- Throughout history, people have imagined what the future might look like, sometimes in bold visions, and sometimes in outlandish predictions. Dreams of a Future Past is a podcast that explores how humanity has dreamed of the future through movies, technology, philosophy, and design.

In Part 2 of this episode, we dive into the forces that shaped the fair, the dark side of the fair including "The Devil" in the White City, and its lasting impact on Chicago and world in which we live today. Join Ian, Greg, and McKay as they explore the many futuristic themes of the fair and uncover more of what they got right, and missed, at this amazing World's Fair.

What it Missed

• The just plain weird and gimmicky including Glow-in-the-dark cocktails and electroshock “Health Machines.”
• Depictions of global cultures.

Its Lasting Impact

• The structures with you can still visit today, including the Palace of Fine Arts which became the Chicago Museum of Science & Industry and the World’s Congress Building which became the Art Institute of Chicago.
• The serial killer "Devil" at the fair and his murder hotel.

Join us to find out how much of The White City was a blueprint for our future and how much a dream that faded with the lights.

The 1893 Chicago World’s Fair - When America Invented the Future

Part 1

Imagine a world’s fair that introduced the Ferris Wheel, hamburgers, spray paint, and electric light, all in one place. The 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, also known as the “White City,” put American innovation on the global stage, dazzling visitors with technology, architecture, and ideas that would shape the 20th century. It was part CES, part Olympics, and all spectacle.

There is so much to the fair that we had to break it up into two parts. In Part 1, we dive into the history and drama behind the fair and the futuristic ideas it showcased across electricity, architecture, food and much more! Join us as we cover the many dreams of the future at the fair which have become our everyday reality, including:

• A showcase of America’s manufacturing muscle and growing industrial power.
• The turning point from steam to electricity, featuring AC vs. DC showdowns between Tesla/Westinghouse and Edison.
• The Ferris Wheel as America’s answer to the Eiffel Tower.
• Moving Walkways as the ancestor of airport travelators and Disney’s Wedway movers.

Throughout history, people have imagined what the future might look like — sometimes in bold visions, sometimes in whimsical predictions. Dreams of a Future Past is a podcast that explores how humanity has dreamed of the future through movies, technology, philosophy, and design.

With an upbeat, conversational tone, the show will dive into iconic retro-futurist moments — from concept cars and world’s fairs, to sci-fi films and technology — and ask: what came true, what never did, and why? Along the way, listeners will discover the stories of inventors, businesspeople, and dreamers who helped shape our imagination of tomorrow.

Join McKay, Greg and Ian as they geek out over the future. What once was thought possible, and getting inspired by what might still be to come...