Anthropogenic climate change as a catalyst toward an utopian society...maybe.
As a kid, I was quite the science fiction buff. (Now I can only lament that I don't have more time to read and write such things.) One of the books that I really enjoyed as a kid was The Forgotten Door. Keeping in mind that I was 11 when I read it first and have not read it in 2+ decades, I'm only left with vague impressions. I do remember, however, that the main character, Jon, came from a place where the people lived in harmony with their planet. (No cars!)
In my early 20s, I read the Courtship of Princess Leia (or, at least, I think it was that book...perhaps it was another Star Wars book). Somewhere in the story, she begins to think back on Organa and how the inhabitants tried to live carefully so as not to impact the world around them.
So what brought this to mind? I was thinking about a comment I read...somewhere. I wish I could find it again, but the author was discussing how they couldn't envision capitalism in a society that is trying to deal with anthropogenic climate change. I'm not saying I agree that ACC will be the death of capitalism (in fact, I quite doubt it), but the author did have a point. How are we going to deal with the fact that we have to figure out how to deal with limited resources when global population is rising and we've knocked this rather massive system out of equilibrium? Will it, in fact, have an impact on the way our economy works? Will we be able to use science and engineering as a way to minimize our global footprint?
I get the sense that we are going in that direction. I worry that it's too little, too late. Still, things I read about in stories that were science fiction in my youth are now coming about, some of which are due to the push to reduce our impact on the planet. Anthropogenic climate change (or, global warming) seems to be the catalyst for a lot of these changes.
Going back to science fiction, I notice that there are a number of sci-fi stories that depict a global population that has largely overcome its problems. (Think Star Trek, as another example.) Some character may mention how they used to have these problems but then everyone just *pop* snapped out of it. I don't see a lot of sci-fi that deals with the specific issues of how that transformation happened, nor what were the events leading up to it. (Okay, Dune is probably a good exception.)
I think it would be fascinating to see sci-fi that really does examine how these changes in mindset happen "on the ground", but I imagine it would be difficult to do well. I suspect it's because people don't really have a good idea about how these shifts occur until after the fact. However, I'm curious about books like that because maybe it can tell us if were on the right track. Of course, we could also end up like so many dystopian novels, seeing what caused our decline only once it's too late.
In my early 20s, I read the Courtship of Princess Leia (or, at least, I think it was that book...perhaps it was another Star Wars book). Somewhere in the story, she begins to think back on Organa and how the inhabitants tried to live carefully so as not to impact the world around them.
So what brought this to mind? I was thinking about a comment I read...somewhere. I wish I could find it again, but the author was discussing how they couldn't envision capitalism in a society that is trying to deal with anthropogenic climate change. I'm not saying I agree that ACC will be the death of capitalism (in fact, I quite doubt it), but the author did have a point. How are we going to deal with the fact that we have to figure out how to deal with limited resources when global population is rising and we've knocked this rather massive system out of equilibrium? Will it, in fact, have an impact on the way our economy works? Will we be able to use science and engineering as a way to minimize our global footprint?
I get the sense that we are going in that direction. I worry that it's too little, too late. Still, things I read about in stories that were science fiction in my youth are now coming about, some of which are due to the push to reduce our impact on the planet. Anthropogenic climate change (or, global warming) seems to be the catalyst for a lot of these changes.
Going back to science fiction, I notice that there are a number of sci-fi stories that depict a global population that has largely overcome its problems. (Think Star Trek, as another example.) Some character may mention how they used to have these problems but then everyone just *pop* snapped out of it. I don't see a lot of sci-fi that deals with the specific issues of how that transformation happened, nor what were the events leading up to it. (Okay, Dune is probably a good exception.)
I think it would be fascinating to see sci-fi that really does examine how these changes in mindset happen "on the ground", but I imagine it would be difficult to do well. I suspect it's because people don't really have a good idea about how these shifts occur until after the fact. However, I'm curious about books like that because maybe it can tell us if were on the right track. Of course, we could also end up like so many dystopian novels, seeing what caused our decline only once it's too late.