One interesting conversation I had at SciBarCamp was on how to get science fiction writers talking more to climate scientists, so they can take the latest science and turn it into compelling stories. The idea would be to tell it like it is. Instead of techno-optimizism or space opera, stories set in the current century that explain what the climate crisis will really do to us.
Several people talked about the need for some more positive visions, rather than the apocalyptic stuff. So, how about a set of stories from the latter half of the 21st Century, set in the world in which we won the battle. We made it to a completely carbon-neutral world. There were heroic efforts along the way by colourful individuals. There were political battles, and maybe a few bloody revolutions. But we avoided burning the trillionth tonne. The world is a little warmer, and we lost a few coastlines, but we avoided the critical thresholds that trigger runaway warming. I’d like to read stories about how we made it.
Maybe a volume of short stories?
It is great that things like SciBarCamp exist. I wish we could get one going here at Gangplank. Maybe in the near future.
Red Mars, it describes how people on Earth in the near future simply can’t cope with their own garbage so they send some brave scientists off to mars to set up shop. Ecology is at the heart of the story.
I love Red Mars because it illustrates how we could have a giant, noble science goal that could motivate students and scientists in just about every realm of science and engineering. We’ll need psychology, engineering, software (lots of software), physics, chemistry, biology, sociology, etc. It would be a project that could be incredibly inclusive.
[cool -thanks for the pointer. Could I persuade you to use real contact details rather than fake ones? – Steve]
Oh great idea!… and it need not be all that fictional. Just plausible.
If one dips into the study of Artificial Intelligence.. first you will note the year 2031 is sort of holy…the conjecture is that is when we will see true mind machine AI – (that is if we don’t have it already). But that is a singularity moment – a point in time beyond which we don’t know anything.
The obvious plot is the race to 2031 – AGW seems like tipping points will cascade us into doom – at the very moment when the machine intelligence realizes it needs to keep power flowing to its CPUs. So when AI realizes even it may be overheating, then conflict ensues.
Pretty plausible. Great sci fi movies seem to have good numbers.