A Brief History of the Future

A Brave and Controversial Look at the Twenty-first Century

De: Jacques Attali

Narrado por: Alan Robertson

What will planet Earth be like in 20 years? At mid-century? In the year 2100? Prescient and convincing, this book is a must-read for anyone concerned about the future. Never has the world offered more promise for the future and been more fraught with dangers. In this powerful and sometimes terrifying work, Attali analyzes the past and pinpoints nine distinct periods of human history, each with its world center of power and prestige, and predicts what the tenth will bring by the end of this century.

Attali foresees the disappearance of individual countries and the dominance of a world government, with democracy prevailing. However, the ultimate, burning question is: Will we leave our children and grandchildren a world that is not only viable but better, or in this nuclear world bequeath to them a planet that will be a living hell? Either way, he warns, the time to act is now.

©2006, 2011 Librairie Arthème Fayard, English-language translation copyright 2009, 2011 by Arcade Publishing (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

garbage

I got about 2/3 thru it before I couldn't stomach any more of his self aggrandizing proficy...

Interesting in many ways

But not necessarily a "guide". Concepts presented are very general, and since its writing some have come true, however many could see these events unfolding prior to its time. Nevertheless it was an interesting read.

good stuff

really enjoy this one. Excellent content and the narrator did a heck of a good job.

well that was wrong

I stopped listening at the point where it said Russia would start making allies along its pipe route. Don't think it really panned out, wish you to talk to more about the algorithmic virus And it's human capitalist co-conspirators

The Dystopian Plan For The Future

The last 40 minutes or so (listening at 1.5x speed) reveals the frightening future the globalists/socialists have in store for us.

Transhumans - like Melinda Gates, he actually mentions her specifically! - will usher in an era of hyper democracy during which all of our needs will be taken care of so that we will not have to worry about the inequities and dangers of the world. Attali actually says that the UN Security Council will merge with the G8 to form this world government in which there will be a central bank, one currency, and everyone will live in massive, well-planned cities.

The term ‘for the common good’ is used so often that i lost track of how many times.

Attali talks about how energy, water and food supply will be scarce and force the powers that be to manage the population. Similar alarmist pap has been promoted since the 1970’s, yet these types are undaunted in their willingness to continue their narrative.

He wrote this in the early 2000’s, and just recently we have seen the subject of water scarcity come up as the next phony emergency that authorities want to use an an excuse to swoop in and take away more of our freedoms.

He also regurgitates all of the now debunked climate change lies dealing with man made climate change and the non issue of CO2 in the atmosphere. The other environmentalist lies of shrinking polar ice caps and coral reefs are also mentioned. Time is the enemy of these propagandists.

Another prediction that hasn’t aged well is the scarcity of petroleum and low chance of finding enough new reserves to keep oil flowing past 2050, a myth that was totally exploded from 2018-2022.

If this isn’t enough, Attali is also a big fan of the ideas of Karl Marx and repeatedly refers to Marx’s true ideas, and how these future transhumans will fix the mistakes made by those who have tried to implement Marx’s failed ideology in the past (and present).

The events of the covid shutdown and how we saw the naked face of authoritarianism, kind of ruined the gentle touch Attali tries to ascribe to the intentions and methods of government to act in ‘the common good.’

This is a terrifying book because people actually want this kind of future for the world. Science fiction authors have written about this kind of dystopia for generations - and most have done a better job - but this book is scary because it presents itself as a plan.

Worth your time if you are a student of the future

What made the experience of listening to A Brief History of the Future the most enjoyable?

Part 1 was somewhat of a mad romp through history, with the author's particular spin, and Part 2 extended, somewhat, the lessons extracted from Part 1. This is a worthy approach.

What did you like best about this story?

Even though the 'lessons' were far from comprehensive, it is always good to get a new take in case one has missed something critical. Several of the 'lessons' were not things I had heard elsewhere nor thought of myself.

What aspect of Alan Robertson’s performance would you have changed?

The pacing was so slow I had to listen to the whole thing on 2X speed. That worked though.

Any additional comments?

Geography and associated geographic political power has always been important in providing the context in which ideas and industries have interacted in the past. This might prove, as the author suggests, to be a less important factor in the future, meaning that the story lines of 'future history' will not follow geographic political lines so much going forward. On the other hand, corporations, including insurance companies, are creatures of the geographic political power, and are likely never to rise to the level of, much less usurp wholesale in the way described in this audiobook, the powers invested in government. This is particularly true as the power of the rich (esp. corporations) to buy elections through marketing is weakened over time (as is all marketing efforts) due to the 'news noise' level of the internet. Couple this with the ability of anyone/everyone who is interested to get all of the sides of an issue rather than rely on 4th estate opinion leaders, and it will become more difficult over time for the few to dominate the many (at the moment the 2 party system in the USA is a key remaining factor in this domination).

But that is just my take... buy the book and think about the author's approach and the limitations thereof and you will benefit. No book about the future is easy or light or has any possibility of being 'right', but most books represent a point of view that will itself be a factor. This book included.

He’s got the rhythm right and it was joy listening

Second book from Attali I am consuming, as informative as the first, an excellent exercise in some cases , and plucking at the thresholds in others! Requires another dive!

Waste of time

The history part is full of mistakes that a student should not make. I am not sure why the author did not retire and realised that he can’t write a good book any more. For example, he mentioned that several countries are candidates for a good future such as UAE, then he mentions that other countries such as Dubai may have a chance! Also, when he talks about Nanotechnology and how it will impact the further, it is clear that he did not know what he was talking about. He did not erase arch the subject beyond a quick look at Google and just repeated what unspecialised people say. Finally, it is clear that the author is anti-America and he could not even hide it. Very bad book and truly a waste of time.

This is way off.

After 11 years from when this book was released, there are a lot of misses.

feels like a popular mechanics article

The author should have stopped writing when he got from the history lesson to predicting the future. this stuff is ridiculous, sounds like a 5 year old wrote it.