Frequently Asked Questions

Are these scenarios predictions of the future?

The field of futures studies uses the plural “futures” to indicate that it does not attempt to predict a singular future but instead is an approach to project multiple different futures that illustrate a range of possible scenarios. We can use the scenario set to think about upper- and lower-bounds for technosignature searches, as well as other insights for Earth today, but it is important to remember that we are discussing projections of plausible futures (plural) rather than actually making predictions about the future (singular).

What is an artifact from the future?

Imagine that you are a time traveler returning from a visit to one of these 10 future scenarios. You bring back an object—a souvenir or “artifact”—that you can share with your family and friends. 

Creating “artifacts from the future” can help to bring these worlds to life, by imagining physical objects that might be found in each scenario. An artifact from one of these future scenarios could be anything at all, including visual art, music, song lyrics, jewelry, clothing, writing—and even mundane objects like a formal letter from a municipality or a corporate audit report!

Can I create an artifact from the future?

Yes! Just reach out to us. We are currently in a pilot phase, and we will be promoting broader participation soon.

When will I be able to see some of the artifacts?

We hope to release the first exhibition of artifacts in September 2025.

Does a short story count as an artifact?

A short story can indeed be an artifact, as long as it is a short story that supposedly exists in that world, rather than a story about that world! This means that there is a lot of room for experimentation with the format itself, because someone might want to think about how short stories look like in that future world and what purposes they serve. The artifact could also have more than one narrative layers: e.g. it could be a student's essay from 3025 discussing a classic ancient short story from 2025 for some sort of a school project or exam (if such things exist in that scenario). This means that both the form and the content of the written artifact can be creatively adjusted to serve the goal of showing a glimpse of that future world.