That the world is turbulent is not a new insight. Heraclites1 around 500 BC
observed that the world is in flux – in continual change. His view, that nothing
in the world ever stays the same, was summarized as, ‘one cannot step in the same
river twice’.
One might argue that turbulence was increased with the advent of scientific
thinking, and the commencement of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century,
for humankind has been continually disrupted by new technologies and profound
social change. This was observed by many, but in particular Jules Verne and H.
G. Wells, who used their understanding of change and the medium of fiction, to
address future possibilities and to comment on the present.