January 04, 2026

S03E55 - Kim Stanley Robinson on Real Utopian Futures

1 hour 8 minutes

Kim Stanley Robinson discusses Real Utopian Futures.

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Shownotes

The reference page on Kim Stanley Robinson, his works, interviews, talks, etc. (including a discussion forum):

https://www.kimstanleyrobinson.info/

Robinson, K. S. (2020). The Ministry for the Future. Orbit Books.

https://www.orbit-books.co.uk/titles/kim-stanley-robinson/the-ministry-for-the-future/9780356508863/

Robinson, K. S. (2017). New York 2140. Orbit Books.

https://www.orbit-books.co.uk/titles/kim-stanley-robinson/new-york-2140/9780356508788/

Robinson, K. S. (1988). The Gold Coast. Macmillan.

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780312890377/thegoldcoast/

Blumenfeld, J. (2024). Managing Decline. Cured Quail, Vol. 3.

https://curedquail.com/Managing-Decline

Blumenfeld, J. (2022). Climate Barbarism. Adapting to a wrong World. Constellations, 30, 162–178.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-8675.12596

the quoted Kohei Saito video:

https://youtube.com/shorts/WnvhD7p651M?si=SdfPftKOCJM6MS9j

the lecture in which Kim Stanley Robinson talks about “futurecide” and “preemptive capitulation”:

https://youtu.be/HpzXkpx29S4?si=PVlOE53Hj5-BZR5B

reporting on and summary of the talk:

https://www.ioes.ucla.edu/article/the-war-on-science-is-here-kim-stanley-robinson-says-its-just-the-beginning/

Löwy, M. (2005). What is Ecosocialism? Capitalism Nature Socialism, 16(2), 15–24.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10455750500108237

for an overview of the history and different schools of Ecomarxist/Ecosocialist theory:

https://www.historicalmaterialism.org/ecology-marxism-andreas-malm/

on Anna Kornbluh:

http://www.annakornbluh.com/

on Mass Extinction Events:

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-is-mass-extinction-and-are-we-facing-a-sixth-one.html

Dressler, A. (2025). You have 100 ‘Energy Slaves’. The Climate Brink.

https://www.theclimatebrink.com/p/you-have-100-energy-slaves

on the 30 by 30 Biodiversity Goal:

https://www.cop28.com/en/thought-leadership/The-30x30-Biodiversity-Goal-at-COP28

the International Maritime Organization:

https://www.imo.org/

on the ‘Half-Earth Project’:

https://eowilsonfoundation.org/what-is-the-half-earth-project/

Wilson, E. O. (2016). Half-Earth. Our Planet’s Fight for Life. Norton Books.

https://wwnorton.com/books/9781631492525

Pendergrass, D. & Vettese, T. (2022). Half-Earth Socialism. A Plan to Save the Future from Extinction, Climate Change and Pandemics. Verso.

https://www.versobooks.com/products/2650-half-earth-socialism

one of the many interviews/talks in which Kim Stanley Robinson talks about science fiction as the realism of our times:

https://youtu.be/p1wNhc46xjE?si=hOdKuwRQhef-9tLs

on the Turing Test:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_test

on Neoliberalism attaching itself to demands of the New Left:

Boltanski, L. & Chiapello, E. (2018). The New Spirit of Capitalism. Verso.

https://www.versobooks.com/products/1980-the-new-spirit-of-capitalism

on Friedrich Hayek:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Hayek

Williams, R. (2015). Structures of Feeling. In: D. Sharma & F. Tygstrup (Ed.), Structures of Feeling. Affectivity and the Study of Culture (pp. 20-26).

https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110365481.20/html

on Keynesianism:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keynesian_economics

Vogl, J. (2017). The Ascendancy of Finance. Polity Press.

https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=the-ascendancy-of-finance--9781509509294

Graeber, D. (2011). Debt. The First 5,000 Years. Melville House.

https://files.libcom.org/files/__Debt__The_First_5_000_Years.pdf

on Thomas Piketty:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Piketty

on Gabriel Zucman:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Zucman

on the ‘Zucman tax’: https://www.lemonde.fr/en/les-decodeurs/article/2025/09/23/zucman-tax-what-the-proposed-wealth-tax-would-mean-for-france_6745653_8.html

on Carbon Taxes:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_tax

Sorg, C. (2023). Finance as a Form of Economic Planning. Competition & Change, 29(1), 17-37.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10245294231217578

Sarkar, S. (2024). The Carbon Coin. An Eco-Speculative Approach to Decarbonisation in Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future. Green Letters, 28(4), 297–310.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14688417.2025.2483998

A policy proposal on ‘Carbon Reward’ from the same researcher whose earlier policy work inspired the ‘Carbon Coin’ idea in The Ministry for the Future:

https://deltonchen.substack.com/p/new-economic-blueprint-for-resolving

see also:

https://globalcarbonreward.org/newsletters/carbon-coin/

on Quantitative Easing:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantitative_easing

on Carbon Drawdown:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_sequestration

on Nicolas Stern:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Stern,_Baron_Stern_of_Brentford

on the Democratic Socialists of America:

https://www.dsausa.org/

the Network for Greening the Financial System:

https://www.ngfs.net/en

on COP30 in Belém:

https://unfccc.int/cop30

Solnit, R. (2022). Orwell’s Roses. Penguin.

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/607057/orwells-roses-by-rebecca-solnit/

Future Histories Episodes on Related Topics

S3E47 | Jason W. Moore on Socialism in the Web of Life

https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e47-jason-w-moore-on-socialism-in-the-web-of-life/

S03E44 | Anna Kornbluh on Climate Counteraesthetics

https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e44-anna-kornbluh-on-climate-counteraesthetics/

S03E32 | Jacob Blumenfeld on Climate Barbarism and Managing Decline

https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e32-jacob-blumenfeld-on-climate-barbarism-and-managing-decline/

S03E30 | Matt Huber & Kohei Saito on Growth, Progress and Left Imaginaries

https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e30-matt-huber-kohei-saito-on-growth-progress-and-left-imaginaries/

S03E23 | Andreas Malm on Overshooting into Climate Breakdown

https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s03/e23-andreas-malm-on-overshooting-into-climate-breakdown/

S02E18 | Drew Pendergrass and Troy Vettese on Half Earth Socialism

https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s02/e18-drew-pendergrass-and-troy-vettese-on-half-earth-socialism/

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If you are interested in democratic economic planning, these resources might be of help:

Democratic planning – an information website

https://www.democratic-planning.com/

Sorg, C. & Groos, J. (eds.)(2025). Rethinking Economic Planning. Competition & Change Special Issue Volume 29 Issue 1.

https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/ccha/29/1

Groos, J. & Sorg, C. (2025). Creative Construction - Democratic Planning in the 21st Century and Beyond. Bristol University Press. [for a review copy, please contact: amber.lanfranchi[at]bristol.ac.uk]

https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/creative-construction

International Network for Democratic Economic Planning

https://www.indep.network/

Democratic Planning Research Platform:

https://www.planningresearch.net/

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Episode Keywords

#KimStanleyRobinson, #JanGroos, #Interview, #FutureHistories, #FutureHistoriesInternational, #futurehistoriesinternational, #Utopia, #RealUtopias, #DemocraticPlanning, #Keynes, #Dystopia, #DemocraticEconomicPlanning, #Capitalism, #EcoSocialism, #Socialism, #GreenCapitalism, #Narratives, #ClimateCounterAesthetics, #Transition, #SocioEcologicalTransition, #SocialDemocracy, #ScienceFiction

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By Jan Groos

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