If a Victorian met Elon Musk they would completely get him. The world’s richest man, determined to use technology that doesn’t yet exist to colonise Mars. Classic Victorian thinking.The Victorians didn’t really take us to the moon. But what they did do was give us a way of thinking about the future that helped us to.Before the Victorians, people assumed the future would look a lot like the present.After the Victorians, we started assuming that great inventors would make the future wildly different from today. And we began to look to the Elon Musks of the world to shape the future for us.This is what today’s guest thinks anyway and it’s a convincing argument.Iwan Morus is the author of How the Victorians Took Us to the Moon and a historian at Aberystwyth University.Music from: www.motionarray.comProduced by Freddy ChickEdited by Thomas NtinasExecutive Producer Charlotte LongIf you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts, and audiobooks at History Hit - enter promo code PATENTED for a free trial, plus 50% off your first three months' subscription. To download, go to Android or Apple store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.