What are some of the earliest imaginings of what the future might look like?

by Maybemushrooms

I see the The blazing world (1666) cited often as being 'the first sci-fi book ever', and lots of works mentioned n the modern literary cannon like Frankenstien and War of the Worlds - but im sure that there must have been ancient equivalents of 'in 50 years there will be flying cars' types of thoughts existing in society.

gynnis-scholasticus

I can recommend some earlier threads about Greco-Roman imaginings of the future. This is discussed here by u/voltimand (from a philosophical view), here by u/Aithiopika, here by u/mythoplokos, here by u/Tiako and u/AmesCG, and here by u/publiucclodius