page_title: Anachronism
section_title: Future anachronism
hierarchical_section_title: Anachronism / Art and literature / Future anachronism
caption_attribution_description: English: Cover of Amazing Stories, July 1931
context_page_description: An anachronism is a chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of persons, events, objects, or customs from different periods. The most common type of anachronism is an object misplaced in time, but it may be a verbal expression, a technology, a philosophical idea, a musical style, a material, a plant or animal, a custom, or anything else associated with a particular period that is placed outside its proper temporal domain.
  An anachronism may be either intentional or unintentional. Intentional anachronisms may be introduced into a literary or artistic work to help a contemporary audience engage more readily with a historical period. Anachronism can also be used for purposes of rhetoric, propaganda, comedy, or shock. Unintentional anachronisms may occur when a writer, artist, or performer is unaware of differences in technology, language, customs, attitudes, or fashions between different historical eras.
context_section_description: Even with careful research, science fiction writers risk anachronism as their works age because they cannot predict all political, social, and technological change.
  For example, many books, television shows, radio productions and films nominally set in the mid-21st century or later refer to the Soviet Union, to Saint Petersburg in Russia as Leningrad, to the continuing struggle between the Eastern and Western Blocs and to divided Germany and divided Berlin. Star Trek has suffered from future anachronisms; instead of "retconning" these errors, the 2009 film retained them for consistency with older franchises.  
  Buildings or natural features, such as the World Trade Center in New York City, can become out of place once they disappear.
caption: In the future envisioned on this 1931 cover of Amazing Stories, propeller airplanes would coexist with space technology advanced enough for a large-scale colonization of Mars.
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