History Main / WeWillAllBeHistoryBuffsInTheFuture

In the future, people seem to know all the details of their history and are able to spout them off to the local FishOutOfTemporalWater without a moment's hesitation, despite the fact that in this day and age, many a college-educated adult couldn't tell you who won the Battle of Trafalgar[[note]]The British[[/note]] or who Simon Bolivar[[note]]South American Independence Leader[[/note]] was without at least stopping to think.

This may be justified in CrystalSpiresAndTogas cases, where the education system is demonstrated to be miles and miles ahead of what it is currently, or in situations where people of the future possess special technology that improves learning and memory. Regardless of the justification, this can cause severe FridgeLogic if the future society in question also demonstrates that [[FutureImperfect it screws up details about our current society]]. One questions whether the history buffs of the future [[UnreliableNarrator can be believed]]...

* Subverted with Comicbook/BoosterGold of Franchise/TheDCU. He's an ex-jock museum janitor from the future who used stolen super-gadgets to travel into the present and become a superhero. He uses a [[HeyItsThatVoice robot helper with the voice of Fry from]] ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' to anticipate crimes, but he doesn't actually ''know'' much about the history. This gets him in trouble a lot... This may be a SeriesContinuityError as in his original origin story he actually studied history in college, specializing in "the Age of Superheroes". Although, it never said he ''passed''...

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* Justified in ''Film/DemolitionMan'', where one of the protagonists is an actual 20th century buff.

* Everyone who's anyone in ''Literature/ReadyPlayerOne'' is an expert on the 1980s, even though the story takes place in 2044. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that the TreasureHunt that forms the plot of the series was organized by a man who grew up in TheEighties and was a big fan of the pop-culture from his youth. If you don't have encyclopedic knowledge of that time period, you don't have a shot.

* Many characters in ''GhostInTheShell'' spout off about all sorts of historical occurrences and books. Justified by the fact that cyberbrains allow people direct connection to the internet, and provide dramatically enhanced memory.
* For a post-apocalyptic manga set centuries in the future, ''{{Gunnm}}'' makes some oddly specific references to historical events and people, up to and including Alan Parsons.

* Subverted with BoosterGold of TheDCU. He's an ex-jock museum janitor from the future who used stolen super-gadgets to travel into the present and become a superhero. He uses a [[HeyItsThatVoice robot helper with the voice of Fry from Futurama]] to anticipate crimes, but he doesn't actually ''know'' much about the history. This gets him in trouble a lot...
** This may be a SeriesContinuityError as in his original origin story he actually studied history in college, specializing in "the Age of Superheroes". Although, it never said he ''passed''...

* In ''[[Literature/CouncilWars There Will Be Dragons]]'', the section of the world the protagonists live in is kept from sliding into total barbarism after the tech supporting the decadence got turned off. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that the people who know the most are all ''re-enactors'' who've been living the life (or an idealized version of it, at least).

* ''PhilOfTheFuture'' does this a lot.

* In ''Series/BabylonFive'', Captain John Sheridan is specifically mentioned to be "a bit of a history buff", although his areas of interest primarily seem to be TheAmericanCivilWar and WorldWarII. It's somewhat justified for a military commander to be knowledgeable about military history.

* Subverted by ''{{Monty}}'', when Professor Xemit, a time-traveller from the year 2525 stranded in the present, when asked who will win the 2008 US presidential election tell Monty that he has no idea, given the early 21st century is (to him) an extremely long time ago.

* {{Lampshaded}} in a recent ''BattleTech'' publication of in-universe conspiracies, has one tract about how crazy it is that so many things reference the 20th Century, which was over 1000 years ago...and there are only a few references to say, the 29th Century, only 200 years before.

* Subverted in, of all places, ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars''; the ''Predacons'' are all history buffs, but due to some Big Brother cover-up HandWave, the ''Maximals'' aren't, instead treating their history as (roughly) Arthurian lore. This proves useful in an earlier episode, when [[OurSoulsAreDifferent the spark of Starscream]] drops by for a visit, and attempts to [[UnusualEuphemism bullslag]] his way into the Predacons' good graces with a false story of his role in ''TransformersTheMovie'', but falls apart into FridgeLogic when Ravage shows up, reminding us that the Transformer race is ReallySevenHundredYearsOld, and thus are able to have several living witnesses of events that happened ''millions of years ago'' to verify the facts for them.

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** In the episode "The Royale" the away team finds an old astronaut's space suit that has the United States flag on it with 52 stars. It is ''Riker'' who instantly tells the years when that number of stars was in use, even though Data was also along.

** Possibly justified by Riker hailing from the US in canon, and [[ExpandedStatesOfAmerica the US adding a couple of extra states]] being the kind of event you'd expect the history curriculum to cover in some detail.
*** Maybe. If you saw a flag with 38 stars would you know off the top of your head what years that covers?

*** Maybe. If you saw a flag with 42 stars would you know off the top of your head what years that covers?

* In Creator/DavidWeber's ''ApocalypseTroll'', the time-traveling fighter jock just ''happens'' to be history buff, able to spout encyclopedic explanations of events leading up to her time of origin. This extends to technical explanations of future machinery that had already become antiquated by her time.

* In David Weber's ''ApocalypseTroll'', the time-traveling fighter jock just ''happens'' to be history buff, able to spout encylopedic explanations of events leading up to her time of origin. This extends to technical explanations of future machinery that had already become antiquated by her time.
* In ''There Will Be Dragons'', the first book of the CouncilWars series, the section of the world the protagonists live in is kept from sliding into total barbarism after the tech supporting the decadance got turned off. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that the people who know the most are all ''re-enactors'' who've been living the life (or an idealized version of it, at least).

* ''Series/RedDwarf'', in particular series 1 and 2, makes many humorous references to 20th century culture that seem dated 2 decades on, never mind three million years. Rimmer and Lister are from the 22nd century but even then it still makes little sense.

* Subverted by ''{{Monty}}'', when Professor Xemit, a time-traveler from the year 2525 stranded in the present, when asked who will win the 2008 US presidential election tell Monty that he has no idea, given the early 21st century is (to him) an extremely long time ago.

In the future, people seem to know all the details of their history and are able to spout them off to the local FishOutOfTemporalWater without a moment's hesitation, despite the fact that in this day and age, many a college-educated adult couldn't tell you who won the Battle of Trafalgar[[hottip:*:The British]] or who Simon Bolivar[[hottip:*:South American Independence Leader]] was without at least stopping to think.

* Justified in ''DemolitionMan'', where one of the protagonists is an actual 20th century buff.

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* Various ''StarTrek'' series are guilty, justified in that most of the characters spouting off these historical facts are [[TheSpock just that damn smart]].
** ''StarTrekVoyager'', oddly, is the most convincing of the various series: rather than TheSpock, who knows Earth history better than all the human crewmen, it has Tom Paris, who is interested in 20th century history and culture. They portray it realistically - he accidentally reveals himself to a 20th century human by referring to the Soviet Union in the present tense in 1996 (because he was only five years out...). Also, he's more interested in the 1950s than (as you might expect) the 1990s the decade the show aired.

This may be justified in CrystalSpiresAndTogas cases, where the education system is demonstrated to be miles and miles ahead of what it is currently, or in situations where people of the future possess special technology that improves learning and memory. Regardless of any justification, this can cause severe FridgeLogic if the future society in question is also demonstrated to be of the variety that [[FutureImperfect screws up details about the ways of our current society]]. One is forced to question, in these cases, whether the history buffs of the future [[UnreliableNarrator can be believed]]...

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* Many characters in ''GhostInTheShell'' are able to spout off about all sorts of historical occurrences and books. Justified by the fact that cyberbrains allow people to be directly connected to the internet, and provide dramatically enhanced memory.

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** Considering ''DemolitionMan'' takes place in 2032, the place should be full of people who ''lived'' in the 20th century.
*** Ah, but you know how quick older people are to forget the world they grew up in once something better comes along. [[SarcasmMode Ahem.]]
*** There was also a horrific earthquake in the intervening years, leveling the existing infrastructure and causing an enormous loss of life. Anyone who did live through that probably didn't ''want'' to remember most of what had come before.

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* Various ''StarTrek'' series are also guilty, usually justified in that most of the characters spouting off these historical facts are [[TheSpock just that damn smart]], but sometimes unexplained.
** ''StarTrekVoyager'', oddly, did this the most convincingly of the various series: rather than TheSpock, who somehow knows Earth history better than all the human crewmen, it has Tom Paris, who conveniently happens to be interested in 20th century history and culture. They even portray it realistically - he accidentally reveals himself to a 20th century human by referring to the Soviet Union in the present tense in 1996 (because he was only five years out...). Also, he's more interested in the 1950s than (as you might expect) the 1990s in which the show aired.

* ''Series/RedDwarf'', in particular series 1 and 2, makes many humorous references to 20th century culture that seem dated 2 decades on, never mind three million years. To be fair, Rimmer and Lister are from the 22nd century but even then it still makes little sense.

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* Subverted by ''{{Monty}}'', when Professor Xemit, a time-traveler from the year 2525 stranded in the present, tells Monty (when asked who will win the 2008 US presidential election) that he has no idea, given the early 21st century is (to him) an extremely long time ago.

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* Anyone with a mobile device that can search Wikipedia.

* ''RedDwarf'', in particular series 1 and 2, makes many humorous references to 20th century culture that seem dated 2 decades on, never mind three million years. To be fair, Rimmer and Lister are from the 22nd century but even then it still makes little sense.

* ''{{Futurama}}'' is notorious for this, in combination with constant FutureImperfect faux pas. It usually [[RuleOfFunny gets a pass for being a comedy]].
* Subverted in, of all places, ''BeastWars''; the ''Predacons'' are all history buffs, but due to some Big Brother cover-up HandWave, the ''Maximals'' aren't, instead treating their history as (roughly) Arthurian lore. This proves useful in an earlier episode, when [[OurSoulsAreDifferent the spark of Starscream]] drops by for a visit, and attempts to [[UnusualEuphemism bullslag]] his way into the Predacons' good graces with a false story of his role in ''TransformersTheMovie'', but falls apart into FridgeLogic when Ravage shows up, reminding us that the Transformer race is ReallySevenHundredYearsOld, and thus are able to have several living witnesses of events that happened ''millions of years ago'' to verify the facts for them.

* Subverted with Booster Gold of TheDCU. He's a dumb, jock-ish museum janitor from the future who used stolen super-gadgets to travel into the present and become a superhero. He uses a [[HeyItsThatVoice robot helper with the voice of Fry from Futurama]] to anticipate crimes, but he doesn't actually ''know'' much about the history. This gets him in trouble a lot...