Kim Stanley Robinson on “Utopian” Science Fiction

Kim Stanley Robinson on “Utopian” Science Fiction

One of the premier writers of thinky sci-fi, Kim Stanley Robinson opened his book “The Ministry for the Future” with an all too plausible scenario: a lethal heat wave descends on India, with vast, horrifying consequences. It’s a sobering read, especially after July, 2021, was declared the hottest month on record. And yet Robinson tells Bill McKibben that his work is not dystopian; his central concern is how the globe could respond to such a disaster and begin to halt the momentum of global warming. “That whole dystopian postapocalyptic strain—it doesn’t serve as a warning, it doesn’t make you change your behavior,” Robinson notes. “I reject all that. I write as a utopian science-fiction writer.” But, “at the moment we’re at right now in world history,” he admits, “I have to set a pretty low bar for ‘utopia.’ If we dodge a mass-extinction event in this century, that’s utopian writing. That’s the best we can expect from where we are right now. Having put that story on the table as being possible, it suggests that we ought to be trying for it.”

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Major Decisions Ahead for the Supreme Court

Major Decisions Ahead for the Supreme Court

In its last term, the Supreme Court dropped bombshell after bombshell. We saw major conservative advances on gun rights, separation of church and state, environmental protection, and reproductive righ...

10 Loka 20220s

Pro-Life, with One Exception—for Herschel Walker

Pro-Life, with One Exception—for Herschel Walker

Herschel Walker, the Trump-endorsed Republican Senate candidate in Georgia, encountered not one but two “October surprises” this week, after an ex-girlfriend of his claimed that Walker quietly paid fo...

6 Loka 202230min

Joshua Yaffa on What’s Next for Ukraine

Joshua Yaffa on What’s Next for Ukraine

The contributor Joshua Yaffa, who was based in Moscow for years and has been reporting from Ukraine since the start of the war, speaks to David Remnick from Kyiv. There, Yaffa says, the latest news fr...

3 Loka 202213min

Is Biden’s Student-Debt Relief Plan the Worst of Both Worlds?

Is Biden’s Student-Debt Relief Plan the Worst of Both Worlds?

Nearly two years into his Presidency, Joe Biden, with an executive order, announced a plan to forgive up to twenty thousand dollars in student debt for millions of borrowers. This plan, the first mass...

29 Syys 202225min

Andy Borowitz on Our Age of Ignorance

Andy Borowitz on Our Age of Ignorance

Not only are we living in a time where people are proud of their ignorance, argues the writer and comedian Andy Borowitz, but some of our most educated politicians are now playing down their intellige...

27 Syys 202213min

The “Cynical, Disgusting” Migrant Flights to Martha’s Vineyard

The “Cynical, Disgusting” Migrant Flights to Martha’s Vineyard

Last week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis flew roughly fifty migrants from San Antonio, Texas, to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Some of these migrants said that they were actively misled about wher...

22 Syys 202230min

The Legal Fight for Democracy

The Legal Fight for Democracy

Now seven weeks away, the midterms are often cast as a referendum on the President and his party. But, this year, some see democracy itself on the ballot. One of those people is the attorney Marc Elia...

19 Syys 202218min

Can King Charles III Capture the Queen’s Popularity?

Can King Charles III Capture the Queen’s Popularity?

Three quarters of a million people are expected to file past Queen Elizabeth II’s casket this week. After seven decades on the throne she was the only monarch most Britons have ever known. In that tim...

15 Syys 202224min

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