Optimistic SF was very much in vogue last century despite two world wars and the cold war. In contrast, early SF writers in the 19th century had a very dark out

Optimistic SF was very much in vogue last century despite two world wars and the cold war. In contrast, early SF writers in the 19th century had a very dark outlook on the future. Despite the fact that Europe was at the peak of it's influence and the relatively small amount of conflict in the back half of the century (particularly compared to the era of turmoil in the first half), many writers thought the human race was done for and science was at it's limit (Kelvin didn't help that thought). Obviously there are outliers on both fronts (lots of Verne, Orwell, Ellison, etc)