Kim Stanley Robinson: "Climate, Fiction, and The Future"
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
Nate Hagens
4.8 • 554 Ratings
🗓️ 12 April 2023
⏱️ 85 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode, Nate is joined by climate science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson to discuss how he contributes to the discussion of climate and pro-social changemaking through writing. There have been many calls to improve the communication of scientists to the general public in hopes it will help people understand the severity of the various global threats we face. A key component to such communication comes from art and literature. Even further, the humanities help us think about the type of future and culture we want to have given the information that science brings us. How can we incorporate fiction into our set of tools to bring more people into awareness of the pressing systemic dynamics underpinning global events?
About Kim Stanley Robinson:
Kim Stanley Robinson is an American science fiction writer. He is the author of over twenty books, including the internationally bestselling Mars trilogy, and more recently Red Moon, New York 2140, and The Ministry for the Future. He was part of the U.S. National Science Foundation's Antarctic Artists and Writers' Program in 1995 and 2016, and a featured speaker at COP-26 in Glasgow, as a guest of the UK government and the UN. His work has been translated into 28 languages, and won awards including the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards. In 2016 asteroid 72432 was named "Kimrobinson."
To watch this video episode on Youtube: https://youtu.be/Xc53KPv7flk
Show Notes & Links to Learn More: https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/66-kim-stanley-robinson
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to The Great Simplification with Nate Higgins. |
| 0:06.3 | That's me. |
| 0:07.7 | On this show, we try to explore and simplify what's happening with energy, the economy, the environment, in our society. |
| 0:17.0 | Together with scientists, experts, and leaders, this show is about understanding the bird's eye |
| 0:23.3 | view of how everything fits together, where we go from here and what we can do about it as a |
| 0:29.1 | society and as individuals. |
| 0:33.2 | Joining me today is Kim Stanley Robinson, a very well-known science fiction author. |
| 0:40.3 | I've long thought that we need to better communicate science to the general public, |
| 0:46.3 | but in a way that uses art and literature to be able to change the mental landscapes of an individual human mind. |
| 0:56.5 | Stan has been publishing science fiction novels for almost 40 years now. He's a leading figure in climate fiction writing. |
| 1:04.2 | Stan incorporates strong influences of ecological, cultural, and political themes and features |
| 1:10.5 | scientists as the heroes in his work. |
| 1:14.2 | Many of you have heard or read his most recent novel, Ministry for the Future, which has been |
| 1:20.7 | highly praised for the illumination of possible near-term climate impacts and how imagining such an issue might change our responses |
| 1:31.6 | to what we face. |
| 1:33.2 | How can we incorporate fiction into our set of tools to bring more people into awareness |
| 1:38.5 | of the pressing system dynamics that underpin global human events. |
| 1:46.0 | This was a very interesting conversation. |
| 1:48.7 | I hope you enjoyed it. |
| 1:49.8 | Please welcome Kim Stanley Robinson. Hello, Stan. |
| 2:06.7 | Hey there, Nate. |
| 2:07.7 | Great to see you. |
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