<
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/31/can-science-fiction-wake-us-up-to-our-climate-reality-kim-stanley-robinson>
"Robinson is often called one of the best living science-fiction writers. He is
unique in the degree to which his books envision moral, not merely
technological, progress. Their protagonists are often diplomats, scholars, and
scientists who fight to keep their future societies from repeating our
mistakes. Robinson’s plots turn on international treaties or postcapitalist
financial systems. His now classic “Mars” trilogy, published in the
nineteen-nineties, describes the terraforming of the Red Planet by scientists
seeking to create a “permaculture,” or truly sustainable way of life. A typical
Robinson novel ends with an academic conference at which researchers propose
ideas for improving civilization. He believes that scholarly and diplomatic
meetings are among our species’s highest achievements.
Climate change has long figured in Robinson’s plots. “Antarctica,” a novel from
1997, revolves around glaciologists at a fictional version of McMurdo Station,
the principal U.S. outpost in Antarctica. (Robinson researched the book there,
exploring ice cathedrals and helping to take the first G.P.S. reading of the
South Pole.) In the two-thousands, climate started to become his central
subject; his wonky brand of sci-fi turned out to be well suited to a reality in
which the future depends on fast, unlikely, and coördinated global reform.
“Science in the Capital,” a trilogy of novels published between 2004 and 2007,
follows administrators at the National Science Foundation as they fight climate
change through grants; “New York 2140,” from 2017, is set in a Venice-like Big
Apple and explores efforts to reform the financial system on ecological
grounds. With each book, Robinson has revised his deeply researched
climate-change scenario, focussing not just on environmental havoc but on
solutions that might stop it."
Via Bill Daul.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
