History is often seen as a fixed record. But what if a different history of life on Earth had changed our present—and humans’ possible futures in the cosmos? Future Histories of Life, Otherwise explores alternative pasts and speculative futures. The project uses storytelling and creative research to challenge how we think about science, technology, and planetary life.

This project invites you to see beyond familiar narratives. We follow missed possibilities and unrealized discoveries to illuminate what it is to be human when life beckons us to the stars. Blending science fiction, counterfactual history, and immersive world-building, we imagine what life will become in life’s story on Earth and beyond.

Explore the Collection

Through original essays, speculative research, and artistic experiments, this collection disrupts linear histories, revealing how past, present, and future are deeply entangled.

Contributors

Future Histories of Life, Otherwise brings together scholars, researchers, and writers whose work challenges conventional narratives and reimagines the past to explore alternative futures.

Contributors include Gerardo Aldana, Asif Saddiqi, Lois Rosson, Dana Burton & Valerie Olson, and Evie Kendal, whose essays and speculative research expand how we think about history, science, and planetary life.

Press Inquiries & Updates

For media inquiries, please contact Emily Badgley