Science fiction meets alternate history as a curator looks back on the 21st century through 100 of its artifacts—from silent messaging systems to artificial worlds on asteroids.

In the year 2082, a curator looks back at the 21st century, offering a history of the era through a series of objects and artifacts. He reminisces about the power of connectivity, which was reinforced by such technologies as silent messaging—wearable computers that relay subvocal communication. He recalls the Fourth Great Awakening, when a regimen of pills could make someone virtuous, and notes disapprovingly the use of locked interrogation, which delivers “enhanced interrogation” simulations via virtual reality.

Many of the artifacts are just an update or two away from our present—like “deliverbots”—while others may be the logical conclusions of current trends, such as Glyphish, an emoticon-based language that supersedes the written word.

The unnamed curator quotes from a self-help guide to making friends with “posthumans,” describes the establishment of artificial worlds on asteroids, and recounts pro-democracy movements in epistocratic states. In this fascinating work of science fiction and alternate history, Adrian Hon constructs a possible future by imagining the things it might leave in its wake—while offering readers a new perspective on the present.