Nostalgia vs. Progress: A Critical Dialogue

Science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson imagines the future for a living. And the future is very much upon us. Robinson’s seminal 2020 novel Ministry for the Future opens in the year 2025. Robinson tells Akshat Rathi about how our real-life climate politics stack up against what he imagined for this era. They also discuss the dangers of science-fiction thinking in politics and why, for all his admiration of science and technology, Robinson remains so enamored with the unglamorous workings of a body like the United Nations.

This episode was originally broadcast in January 2025.

Explore further:

• Past episode with Kim Stanley Robinson about climate utopias and optopias

• Past episode with outgoing White House Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi about what the next four years will hold

• Past episode with Colombia’s environment minister Susana Muhamad about the country’s commitment to fossil fuel nonproliferation 

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Sharon Chen, Siobhan Wagner, Ethan Steinberg, and Jessica Beck. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

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