It's an interesting question because we can only piece together the somewhat distant past through black and white photos, writings and other artifacts. Ancient history is based on eyewitness accounts that have to be translated and deciphered or whatever physical evidence was left behind.

Now everything is so well-documented, but almost completely not curated, except for by media outlets which have their own presentation styles or biases.

In the more recent past, we learn about and form opinions based on the mediated past. I cannot type the following without you hearing them in your head:

Hindenberg: "OH! THE HUMANITY!" MLK: "I have a dream!" Moon Landing: "That's one small step..."

The future will generally ignore many of the mundane details of our daily lives and think of our past in terms of generalizations and major mediated events. They will simplify our current reality in the way that we simplify the complexity of the past. Very clear heroes and villains will be written about in textbooks. Difficult issues will be divided into two basic stances in spite of the myriad opinions.

The general public will know about Michael Jackson, Titanic, and American Idol, much like we know about Louis Armstrong, The Three Stooges, and Casablanca. Things like Arrested Development, My Bloody Valentine, and Punch Drunk Love which have cult followings today will mean as much to most people in the future as Memphis Minnie, Yours Truly Johnny Dollar, and Metropolis mean to people today. They will be curiosities that may be mentioned or considered, but our major cultural products will serve as our representations.

As far as events in American history go, they will see images of the burning twin towers, first responders running into danger, and America briefly putting aside our petty disagreements to mourn together.

They will wonder how we could have been so negligent before and after Hurricane Katrina as they see helicopter shots of debris and destruction throughout New Orleans mixed with shots of families wearing tattered clothes.

They will remember Barack Obama telling us that there is no red America or blue America.

They will likely see the Nasa scientists jumping for joy before seeing a cutaway of "Mohawk guy" as they observed Curiosity's progress.

At some point I imagine they will see our first female president swearing in.

I imagine they will hear audio of a ceremonial speech following the signing of laws that guarantee civil rights to LGBTQ Americans.

Unfortunately, they will also see more tragedies and senseless battles over ideologies, opinions, land, and other trivialities that are extremely insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

Overall, I think they will view us favorably as we generally view our ancestors. We are products of our time that make the best of what we're given. We utilize the knowledge gained by those before us and try to leave something more for the next generation. They have to view us favorably at some level because they will be a product of us. Products of our genes, our ideas, our stories, and our ambitions.