Signs from the Future originates from my earlier works—Why Only Art Can Save Us: Aesthetics and the Absence of Emergency (2017), and Being at Large: Freedom in the Age of Alternative Facts (2020). In these books, I developed an emergency theory proposing that our greatest crisis is the lack of emergencies. This doesn’t mean there are no emergencies; rather, the most urgent issues—climate change, economic inequality, ongoing genocides—are often overlooked. Governments no longer need to declare a state of exception (as Giorgio Agamben argued); they can simply ignore these urgent crises. This was especially evident during the pandemic, since Donald Trump never declared a state of emergency. Closer examination reveals that many politicians who dismiss major emergencies are also the ones dismissing warnings. Trump, Javier Milei, and other far-right populists are quick to discredit and defund warning institutions. But why? In my opinion, this problem isn't limited to these politicians but runs deep within our culture. Many thinkers, scientists, and even philosophers believe we should replace traditional sources of legitimacy—those that once helped us interpret warnings—with a “transparent realism without authority.” The issue is that warnings don’t rely solely on reality or objectivity because they aim to influence the present, not just shape the future. Whether a warning becomes reality is secondary to the strength and pressure it exerts.