Kim Stanley Robinson on Real Utopian Futures
Future Histories International
Demographics, Inequality, and Possibility
Robinson links demographic shifts and extreme inequality to possible future struggles and the need for human agency.
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:
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:
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:
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:
the Network for Greening the Financial System:
on COP30 in Belém:
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
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
S03E30 | Matt Huber & Kohei Saito on Growth, Progress and Left Imaginaries
S03E23 | Andreas Malm on Overshooting into Climate Breakdown
S02E18 | Drew Pendergrass and Troy Vettese on Half Earth Socialism
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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
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
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