Neil Vora isn’t just an expert on infectious diseases , pandemics and nature conservation . He also considers himself something of a savant on dystopian fiction. When Vora, an epidemiologist at Conservation International, isn’t treating tuberculosis patients or speaking to audiences about human health and deforestation, he spends his time watching movies and reading stories about contagions and other doomsday scenarios. It might seem odd to seek distraction in horrors. But in a new essay published this week in Atmos, Vora explains how the history of doomsday narratives illuminates something surprising for our future: hope. Vora writes in Atmos: “As much as I enjoy these modern dystopian depictions, I admit, they’re misleading. While they help us diagnose the threats we face, they fall short on remedies even when they exist. They present the end of the world as inevitable.…