Go Back To The
Future With Forbes
Twenty years ago, over 140,000 Forbes readers participated in an unusual experiment designed to test the limits of long-distance communication: a letter from their own past. The experiment, called an “E-Mail Time Capsule,” invited readers to communicate with the future by writing themselves a letter. We promised to store it for them and send it back in one, three, five, ten or twenty years. Now, we’re sending out the final batch, and it’s got us thinking about time — your past, the year that was, and the promise of the American Dream at the nation’s semiquincentennial.
Join us November 19th at 12pm ET for a live conversation and Q&A as Forbes editors open the 20-year E-Mail Time Capsule. Explore what this digital experiment reveals about innovation, reflection, and the future of the American Dream ahead of the nation’s 250th birthday.
We’ll Discuss:
- Lessons for today’s and tomorrow’s tech from the past
- How we brought the concept of an automated time capsule to life on schedule for 20 years, and what our readers think about it
- Highlights of notable news, events and trends in billionaires, innovation, money, politics and more from 2025 and what we can expect in 2026
- Why Forbes is using our country’s 250th birthday to celebrate the American Dream
Speakers
Alex Knapp is a senior editor covering healthcare, science, and cutting edge technology who joined Forbes in 2011. He’s written dozens of profiles of entrepreneurs across a variety of fields and done deep dives into technological trends from superconductors to space travel to pharmaceuticals. He also co-authors the InnovationRX newsletter and edits the Under 30 lists for Science and Healthcare in both North America and Europe. He has a B.S. in biochemistry from WPI and a J.D. from the University of Kansas School of Law.
David M. Ewalt is the Editor in Chief of Scientific American. He previously worked as Editor In Chief of Gizmodo and at The Wall Street Journal, Reuters and Forbes. He is the author of two nonfiction books: Defying Reality: The Inside Story of the Virtual Reality Revolution, an exploration of the history, development and future of the emerging technology, and Of Dice and Men: The Story of Dungeons & Dragons and The People Who Play It, which was chosen as one of the best books of 2013 by Amazon and Hudson Booksellers.
Michael Noer is an Executive Editor at Forbes.
