We hear it a lot, the idea that humans are bad at long-term thinking, that we’re not good at planning, that it’s hard for people to think beyond their own immediate problems. We've heard that people don’t really think about the future until they have children, that they seek immediate gratification, and will always prioritise short-term profit over long-term gains. This idea pops up everywhere, particularly with the subtext ‘climate action was always doomed because it's impossible for humans to act think sensibly about the future’. But is this true? In this episode we talk about fictional futures - fantastic, terrifying, and inspiring - that humans have imagined for the future of our species, and talk to authors about how to expand our own imaginations. Media mentioned:Borne by Jeff VandermeerWoman on the Edge of Time by Marge PiercySalvage by Jennifer MillsStar Trek: TNGWarhammerAuthors interviewed:Mantle by Romy AshFrom the publisher:Ursula is a self-possessed geologist. In her life on the mainland, she’s a guardian of the timescale, dividing history into segments and reading the Earth’s depths. It sounds like science fiction, but it’s simply science.When her ailing mother is struck with a mystery illness she is called to the coastline of lutruwita/Tasmania. What begins as an incurable rash evolves into something more dangerous.With the sickness spreading across the island, and beyond, Ursula finds herself stranded, stuck in her mother’s house and increasingly entangled with a younger man who she met at the pub. She is grieving, beginning to unhinge – and now she too has the rash. The wild places of the island are solace, even as the world around her begins to shift. As she faces this eruption of new life, and grapples with death and decay, Ursula realises that this change may not signal an end, but a beginning. Deeply moving and utterly original, Mantle is a powerful novel that shows us our fate is intertwined with the people around us, and the fate of our world.Killionaires by Scott LeckieFrom the publisher:A provocative and imaginative story, Killionaire asks what might happen if humanity decided that extreme wealth had limits and began building something radically different in its place.‘The world has never had more billionaires - 3,300 of them. Between them they hold more than 20 trillion US dollars. Anyone who bothers to look can see that they are undermining the very foundations on which democracy is based. My book asks 'What if no one was allowed to become a billionaire?' Leckie says.Blending satire, social commentary, political imagination and sharp humour, Killionaire introduces readers to ‘Pacifica’, an ambitious social experiment that challenges conventional ideas about wealth, power and community.Conceived as a response to growing inequality, climate disruption and political division, Pacifica becomes the vehicle through which Leckie imagines an alternative future.With a cast of larger-than-life billionaire characters, including arms dealers, technology moguls and corporate powerbrokers, Killionaire examines the consequences of concentrated wealth and influence, asking what happens when money and power accumulate without limits.
