How Science Fiction Can Shape Our Reality — with Kim Stanley Robinson

The meta-crisis is so vast: climate change, exponential
technology, addiction, polarization, and more. How do we grasp
it, let alone take steps to address it? 


One of the thinking tools we have at our disposal is science
fiction. To the extent that we co-evolve with our stories,
science fiction can prepare us for the impending future — and
empower us to shape it.


This week on Your Undivided Attention, we're thrilled to have one
of the greatest living science-fiction writers — Kim Stanley
Robinson. His most recent novel is The Ministry for the
Future, a sweeping epic that reaches into the very near
future, and imagines what it would take to unite humanity and
avoid a mass extinction. Whether or not you've read the book,
this episode has insights for you. And if this episode makes you
want to read the book, our conversation won't spoil it for you.


Clarification: in the episode, Robinson refers to philosopher
Antonio Gramsci's "pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the
will." This phrase was originally said by novelist and playwright
Romain Rolland. Gramsci made the phrase the motto of his
newspaper, because he appreciated its integration of radical
intellectualism with revolutionary activism.

RECOMMENDED MEDIA 

The Ministry For The Future


Robinson's latest novel and the subject of our conversation —
which reaches into the near future, and imagines what it would
take to unite humanity and avoid a mass extinction


A Deeper Dive Into the Meta Crisis


CHT's blog post about the meta-crisis, which includes the fall of
sense-making and the rise of decentralized technology-enabled
power 


Half Earth Project


The project based on E. O. Wilson's proposal to conserve half the
land and sea — in order to safeguard the bulk of biodiversity,
including ourselves


ClimateAction.tech


Global tech worker community mobilizing the technology industry
to face the climate crisis

RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES

18 – The Stubborn Optimist’s Guide to Saving the Planet:
https://www.humanetech.com/podcast/18-the-stubborn-optimists-guide-to-saving-the-planet


Bonus – The Stubborn Optimist’s Guide Revisited:
https://www.humanetech.com/podcast/bonus-the-stubborn-optimists-guide-revisited


29 – A Renegade Solution to Extractive Economics:
https://www.humanetech.com/podcast/29-a-renegade-solution-to-extractive-economics


Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for
Humane Technology. Follow us on Twitter: @HumaneTech_