The Novel is a Kind of a Story That Performs Too

52sec Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

N philo ophy: We construct our sense of meaning out of the world. Some people do it by way of religion, which is a kind of a story. Science fiction all gifts in that it gives you time travel to another time and then suddenly you're living there. It gives you telepathy, in that you are inside other people's heads, and that's rare. These are all stories. And then the novel is akind of a story that performs too.

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_