S03E55 - Kim Stanley Robinson on Real Utopian Futures

Kim Stanley Robinson discusses Real Utopian Futures.


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Shownotes


The reference page on Kim Stanley Robinson, his works,
interviews, talks, etc. (including a discussion forum):


https://www.kimstanleyrobinson.info/


Robinson, K. S. (2020). The Ministry for the Future. Orbit Books.


https://www.orbit-books.co.uk/titles/kim-stanley-robinson/the-ministry-for-the-future/9780356508863/


Robinson, K. S. (2017). New York 2140. Orbit Books.


https://www.orbit-books.co.uk/titles/kim-stanley-robinson/new-york-2140/9780356508788/


Robinson, K. S. (1988). The Gold Coast. Macmillan.


https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780312890377/thegoldcoast/


Blumenfeld, J. (2024). Managing Decline. Cured Quail, Vol. 3.


https://curedquail.com/Managing-Decline


Blumenfeld, J. (2022). Climate Barbarism. Adapting to a wrong
World. Constellations, 30, 162–178.


https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-8675.12596


the quoted Kohei Saito video:


https://youtube.com/shorts/WnvhD7p651M?si=SdfPftKOCJM6MS9j


the lecture in which Kim Stanley Robinson talks about
“futurecide” and “preemptive capitulation”:


https://youtu.be/HpzXkpx29S4?si=PVlOE53Hj5-BZR5B


reporting on and summary of the talk:


https://www.ioes.ucla.edu/article/the-war-on-science-is-here-kim-stanley-robinson-says-its-just-the-beginning/


Löwy, M. (2005). What is Ecosocialism? Capitalism Nature
Socialism, 16(2), 15–24.


https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10455750500108237


for an overview of the history and different schools of
Ecomarxist/Ecosocialist theory:


https://www.historicalmaterialism.org/ecology-marxism-andreas-malm/


on Anna Kornbluh:


http://www.annakornbluh.com/


on Mass Extinction Events:


https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-is-mass-extinction-and-are-we-facing-a-sixth-one.html


Dressler, A. (2025). You have 100 ‘Energy Slaves’. The Climate
Brink.


https://www.theclimatebrink.com/p/you-have-100-energy-slaves


on the 30 by 30 Biodiversity Goal:


https://www.cop28.com/en/thought-leadership/The-30x30-Biodiversity-Goal-at-COP28


the International Maritime Organization:


https://www.imo.org/


on the ‘Half-Earth Project’:


https://eowilsonfoundation.org/what-is-the-half-earth-project/


Wilson, E. O. (2016). Half-Earth. Our Planet’s Fight for Life.
Norton Books.


https://wwnorton.com/books/9781631492525


Pendergrass, D. & Vettese, T. (2022). Half-Earth Socialism. A
Plan to Save the Future from Extinction, Climate Change and
Pandemics. Verso.


https://www.versobooks.com/products/2650-half-earth-socialism


one of the many interviews/talks in which Kim Stanley Robinson
talks about science fiction as the realism of our times:


https://youtu.be/p1wNhc46xjE?si=hOdKuwRQhef-9tLs


on the Turing Test:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_test


on Neoliberalism attaching itself to demands of the New Left:


Boltanski, L. & Chiapello, E. (2018). The New Spirit of
Capitalism. Verso.


https://www.versobooks.com/products/1980-the-new-spirit-of-capitalism


on Friedrich Hayek:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Hayek


Williams, R. (2015). Structures of Feeling. In: D. Sharma &
F. Tygstrup (Ed.), Structures of Feeling. Affectivity and the
Study of Culture (pp. 20-26).


https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110365481.20/html


on Keynesianism:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keynesian_economics


Vogl, J. (2017). The Ascendancy of Finance. Polity Press.


https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=the-ascendancy-of-finance--9781509509294


Graeber, D. (2011). Debt. The First 5,000 Years. Melville House.


https://files.libcom.org/files/__Debt__The_First_5_000_Years.pdf


on Thomas Piketty:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Piketty


on Gabriel Zucman:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Zucman


on the ‘Zucman tax’:
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/les-decodeurs/article/2025/09/23/zucman-tax-what-the-proposed-wealth-tax-would-mean-for-france_6745653_8.html


on Carbon Taxes:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_tax


Sorg, C. (2023). Finance as a Form of Economic Planning.
Competition & Change, 29(1), 17-37.


https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10245294231217578


Sarkar, S. (2024). The Carbon Coin. An Eco-Speculative Approach
to Decarbonisation in Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the
Future. Green Letters, 28(4), 297–310.


https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14688417.2025.2483998


A policy proposal on ‘Carbon Reward’ from the same researcher
whose earlier policy work inspired the ‘Carbon Coin’ idea in The
Ministry for the Future:


https://deltonchen.substack.com/p/new-economic-blueprint-for-resolving


see also:


https://globalcarbonreward.org/newsletters/carbon-coin/


on Quantitative Easing:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantitative_easing


on Carbon Drawdown:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_sequestration


on Nicolas Stern:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Stern,_Baron_Stern_of_Brentford


on the Democratic Socialists of America:


https://www.dsausa.org/


the Network for Greening the Financial System:


https://www.ngfs.net/en


on COP30 in Belém:


https://unfccc.int/cop30


Solnit, R. (2022). Orwell’s Roses. Penguin.


https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/607057/orwells-roses-by-rebecca-solnit/


Future Histories Episodes on Related Topics


S3E47 | Jason W. Moore on Socialism in the Web of Life


https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e47-jason-w-moore-on-socialism-in-the-web-of-life/


S03E44 | Anna Kornbluh on Climate Counteraesthetics


https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e44-anna-kornbluh-on-climate-counteraesthetics/


S03E32 | Jacob Blumenfeld on Climate Barbarism and Managing
Decline


https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e32-jacob-blumenfeld-on-climate-barbarism-and-managing-decline/


S03E30 | Matt Huber & Kohei Saito on Growth, Progress and
Left Imaginaries


https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e30-matt-huber-kohei-saito-on-growth-progress-and-left-imaginaries/


S03E23 | Andreas Malm on Overshooting into Climate Breakdown


https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e23-andreas-malm-on-overshooting-into-climate-breakdown/


S02E18 | Drew Pendergrass and Troy Vettese on Half Earth
Socialism


https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s02/e18-drew-pendergrass-and-troy-vettese-on-half-earth-socialism/


---


If you are interested in democratic economic planning, these
resources might be of help:


Democratic planning – an information website


https://www.democratic-planning.com/


Sorg, C. & Groos, J. (eds.)(2025). Rethinking Economic
Planning. Competition & Change Special Issue Volume 29 Issue
1.


https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/ccha/29/1


Groos, J. & Sorg, C. (2025). Creative Construction -
Democratic Planning in the 21st Century and Beyond. Bristol
University Press. [for a review copy, please contact:
amber.lanfranchi[at]bristol.ac.uk]


https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/creative-construction


International Network for Democratic Economic Planning


https://www.indep.network/


Democratic Planning Research Platform:


https://www.planningresearch.net/


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Episode Keywords


#KimStanleyRobinson, #JanGroos, #Interview, #FutureHistories,
#FutureHistoriesInternational, #futurehistoriesinternational,
#Utopia, #RealUtopias, #DemocraticPlanning, #Keynes, #Dystopia,
#DemocraticEconomicPlanning, #Capitalism, #EcoSocialism,
#Socialism, #GreenCapitalism, #Narratives,
#ClimateCounterAesthetics, #Transition,
#SocioEcologicalTransition, #SocialDemocracy, #ScienceFiction