British Library: Future Thinking
Submitted by KimonFuture Thinking: Kim Stanley Robinson and Roman Krznaric
Mon 29 Mar 2021, 19:30 - 20:45
Online event
How do we make the world better today for the people of tomorrow?
Despite the long history of human civilisation, and everything we have inherited from our ancestors, we rarely stop to really consider what the future will be like for those who follow us, and how our own actions now will affect them. Kim Stanley Robinson is one of the world’s most acclaimed science fiction writers, best known for his Mars trilogy and the ecological, cultural, and political themes of his books, in which scientists often feature as heroes. His most recent novel, The Ministry for the Future, imagines how a UN body is set up to fight for the rights of our descendants and how increasingly direct action starts to be used to counter crisis after crisis. Blending stunning, kaleidoscopic writing with hard fact, it explores huge challenges but also a truly better world.
At this special event, chaired by award-winning science writer Gaia Vince, he is joined by leading public philosopher Roman Krznaric, whose book The Good Ancestor also looks beyond the frenetic short-term thinking of today and uses inspiring examples to show how we might do better by future generations, just as those before built cathedrals, or the NHS.
The call for long-term thinking grows every day – but what is it, has it ever worked, and can we even do it? Join us for an evening of expanded time horizons.