Imagining 2025 and Beyond with Dr. Ruha Benjamin

Published in 1993, 'Parable of the Sower' is a dark and vivid portrayal of a future where global climate change and economic crises have led to social chaos. The story is told through the diary entries of Lauren Olamina, a 15-year-old Black girl living in a gated community near Los Angeles. Lauren suffers from hyperempathy, a condition that makes her feel the pain and pleasure of others. As her community is destroyed by external threats, Lauren embarks on a perilous journey north, developing a new faith called Earthseed along the way. Earthseed's central doctrine is that 'God is Change' and cannot be resisted, but can be influenced. The novel explores themes of survival, faith, family, hope, and community in a world torn apart by environmental devastation, economic collapse, and violence.

In 'We Have Never Been Modern,' Bruno Latour challenges the conventional understanding of modernity by arguing that the strict divisions between nature and society, science and culture, are constructs rather than realities. He contends that modernity is characterized by a dual process of 'purification' and 'hybridization,' where moderns attempt to separate nature from society but inevitably create hybrids that mix politics, science, technology, and nature. Latour suggests that these hybrids, such as environmental crises and technological advancements, reveal the limitations of modern thought and the need for a more integrated understanding of the world. The book advocates for rethinking the definition and constitution of modernity to better address contemporary challenges[1][2][5].