A Magical Futurism short story from KSR only available in German language. Please find contents and further information at my blog.

Dear Kim,
I have read many of your books, with very high level of sociological, scientifics and search for empowering vision. These experiences are mainly in closed areas ( mars, spaceship, earth..).
Is possible to support/reboost humankind vision, after this today Covid-19 experience, with aiming at spreading humankind more widely in universe (solar system for starting) to guarantee that we could not disappear through one microbe (like prion on Aurora)?
What political/social trend or industrial leader to convict ?
What financial added value to support their decision (iron in comet, deutherium on moon, gold on mercure...)?

Thanks to Antifada and KSR for a wonderful interview, and to Kimon for bringing it to me/us.

Robinson likes EO Wilson's concept of confining humans to a portion of Earth's surface so other species have a better chance to survive. I wonder if he knows of Alan Savory's (controversial) work reclaiming land through cattle grazing management. I wonder what KSR thinks of it.

KSR recently penned an essay for the Sierra club, referring to the environmental crisis that may very well overwhelm us all and titled: The is no plan B. Well that is no longer the case! And for those who are rightly convinced by hard experience, that mankind is unable to change direction sufficiently to avoid an eco apocalypse, and even human extinction, the only plan B able to do the job is already getting underway at http://www.energon.org.uk

Excited when I found it at BN, and read it, with great interest, in 6 hours. Now I sit saying over and over to myself  "Oh NO, you did NOT!!!" Great plot, smooth flow throughout, twists and turns abound, and then I was left hanging onto nothing at the end. Leadin to another? Nope Exerpt from a follow on the same line? Nope

Just 5-6 blank pages leaving me to ask WTH? Far too many possible directions that were triggered by the main characters (no spoilers from me :-) to leave it with a simple one liner.

Hello,

The book Green Earth is the first one I read by KSR and I love it. It is really great and I recommended it to some friends. Unfortunately, my friends understand only a little English and therefore I would like to ask if this book will be translated into German. If yes, I could present it to my friends.

Kind regards,

Andrea

I just finished reading the Red Mars chapter “Homesick”. It is a powerful state of mind that I’m left with. An incredible rush of new insight leading to nothing short of the peace and tranquility of love. But then I’m just an old hippie with unfinished dreams. Thank you Kim Robinson. 

I'm catching up on KSR's work- my last read was Rice and Salt- so I slogged through Shaman.  Well worth the effort but a bit too long.  One question for whoever reads this:  "mamma mia"?  

I knew since I read the Mars series (and gave up on the last book) that Kim has an excellent knowledge of science and its possibilities, but that his knowledge of politics and finance is strictly lower class.

2312 was an excellent book, full on interesting ideas on the future of our solar system and the transforming of celestial bodies and the creation of new ones. It was a really interesting idea.  The novel kept one moving and anxious to continue to read.

However, now we come to New York 2140.  It has no interesting plot, it is boring, and it is a propaganda essay, which in its full context is an insane lie. Let’s point out some interesting observation on the book:

1.       Kim condemns, like most current liberals, the massive faults in our current government, industry and blames the 1% for their greedy “find the place that makes the most profit.”

2.       The issue with this is first, Kim is part of the 1%.  Of 7 billion people on earth, the 1% comprises anyone with an income of $400,000/per year and/or a new worth of around $800,000.

3.       That is a lot of people, (70M) including him and me.

4.       Kim seems to forget that without unbridled capitalism we would all still be living in caves and gathering roots and berries.  Is that what he wants?  Kim would condemn our ancestor who picked up a stick, hooked it to a horse and displaces four guys with sticks.  That is productivity and it is the only reason we are not still living in caves and gathering roots and berries.

Bottom line:  Great scientific ideas.  Poor understanding of capitalism and how it has created the “wealth of nations.”  Suggestion: Stay with the kind of novel like 2312.  That way, he will not demonstrate his poor understanding of the modern world of finance.

I had never heard of Kim Robinson. I was sitting in a coffee shop in a B&N while my wife shopped. I read, but I was not in the mood to book hunt. I love science fiction books, fantasy, and classics. This f*cking book kept catching my eye for some reason. I looked at it about ten times. I could not figure out why and walked to it, picked it up, and began reading it. It was 2312. My wife came over and said, "Funny, the title of this book is the same as our address." Boom. Mind blown. I bought it immediately. I still have not read it, but it sits on my bookshelf because I live there!

-Chris Kessel

Hi Kim,
I love your writing! I just finished Aurora, Shaman and New York 2140. (Reverse order of reading). I am in awe of your writing. Did I say I love your writing? I wish I could articulate my thoughts to you about your characters, stories, research, science and most of all connections to nature. You are brilliant!
I am telling everyone to read your books and will be gifting several. Thanks for your amazing stories.
Barbara

Since the quantum computer is smart enough to narrate the story, it is probably smart enough to raise children. It would be advantageous to just freeze sperm and eggs and then combine them when reaching Tau Ceti instead of having people trapped in a ship for that long. The rest of the life support could be frozen, or could just be allowed to live for the duration of the trip. 

Hi,

I am a space enthusiast.

recently I was in a conference from AIAA (53 confreence Atlanta 10-12 July). in that conference, in some speech some one talk above the possibility to using the sand of Phobos and Deimos for aerobraking on Mars.

I am not an engineer then  I don’t know if the idea works or is just poppycock. But if works, that means that Phobos and Deimos could

Currently I am enjoying reading "Blue Mars" in Japanese. Now I saw two characters' name which is Priska and Irishika. I am wondering if these two names show the different person. I think they are Swiss persons who is familiar with law and consitition.

Hi Kim,

I'm Jordi Bruno, your neigbourgh at Zurichberg when your wife and I were young postdocs at Eawag

I saw you today on a Spanish newspaper and I thought I'll send you a big hug to both of you

Take care

Jordi

Good day dear sir(s), 

I read your article in Scientific American here: 

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-will-it-take-for-humans-...

May I suggest a different approach: 

Humans need not migrate themselves to colonize the Milky Way. The could migrate life, in the fom of microbes, engineered to survive in an environment. What if we could place microbes on Venus that can survive its temperature, and reproduce ?  And then let nature take over, and evolve these bacteria into something more complex, perhaps altering the atmosphere and creating animal life in the process ? Im not saying that "building" such microbes will be easy, but I certainly believe it to be easier and more feasible than moving ourselves into the universe using spaceship arcs. 

I think microbes is the correct way to continue. The reason it is not popular, is because it will take about one billion years for the Venus microbe to evolve into intelligent life, and that is the best case scenario. And none of us is ready to wait that long! 

So perhaps it is our vanity that prohibits us from colonizing space ? We want immediate results so that the people involved in the program get the credit while they are alive. I do not think that interstellar travel will work at such small scales. 

Thank you for your time to read this, I would be interested in a response at dim DOT tripakis At gmail dot com. 

Fantastic interview in High Country News! As a fellow resident of Davis who has worked for decades to protect the Sierra Nevada, thank you.

Hi,

My name is Patrick Haney, and I want to send a letter to Kim Stanley Robinson for a school English project about his short story "the Lucky Strike". Does anyone have his contact information (even email), or is there anyway I can get to it?

Thanks!

However "ligjht" a treatment R's article in Scientific American, "What Will It Take for Humans to Colonize the Milky Way?"  may be, I am distressed that he isn't writing instead on what it will take for us earthlings to survive on this rapidly-warming planet beyone the end of this         century.  Similarly for most of the other larg-ish species with whom we share the Earth. The exponential release of methane in the arctic and the exponential rise in temperatures, especially in the Arctic, have collaborated to produce run-away warming-- as we have seen in the past (nearly-) three years of unprecedented record global temperature averages. It is happening NOW.  Does anyone else think of the flashback scenes in David Bowie's film, "The Man Who Fell To Earth"-- a man in search of a still-habitable planet, as his own has been cooked?  Could Robinson's colonizers survive a multi-generational voyage on an interstellar vessel-- seems not worth a thought as we watch our own "spaceship Earth" crashing, ecologically   (For those who have not been following the problem of Artctic methane releases, google  (1) methane from the melting tundra, (2) the dissociation of methane hydrates underwater- particuylarly on the Siberian shelf, and (3)b, burps" or plumes of pure methane released beneath the seas as the thinning hydrates are no longer strong enough to continue capping off seams of this gas beneath the comtinental shelf.  And/or watch a few of the youtube talks by Prof. Guy McPherson on the subject.)

Dear futurists/sci fi fans

just by chance -- a new book on the future of New York City comes out just before Kim's in October, 2016, called Ecotopia 2121. It's filled with 100 full-color pics of what 100 Green cities of the future will possibly look like (if they survive the eco-catastrophes of today and go on to become super ecofriendly, that is).

You can get more info, and see some of these illustrations, at:

ecotopia2121.com

Kim Stanley Robinson will be giving the keynote lecture at the April 15th event sponsored by Columbia's Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture. More information can be found here and here. Free and open to the public. We hope you can make it!

"Power and the Space of the Planet"

Friday, April 15th, 2PM

Wood Auditorium, Avery Hall, Columbia University

The Reds need to reconsider

They have not given enough thought to their position.

Everything is “natural” including humans traveling to the Mars and making a “nest” of it via terraforming.   Many living things migrate; alter their surroundings, nest – in different ways.     Computers and plastic are “natural.”   It is not possible for something to be “un-natural.”   We are such an arrogant species, that we feel that we have the ability to “create” matter that is assembled in some what that it is no longer “natural.”  So, what the Greens want to do on Mars is quite “natural.”

Or, if I am not allowed that – then allow me this – any action towards Mars “changes it” including looking at it.  So, if the Reds are so damned hell bent on leaving Mars in its pristine state, they not only should they not set one single foot or pod or wheel on it, but should not enter its orbit and should not even look at it from afar.  You cannot be “partially” pregnant.  You are either “changing Mars” or you are not.  It is like the joke:  A guy meets a woman in a bar and says, will you sleep with me if I pay you 1 million dollars, she says yes; then he says, how about if I pay you $10 – and she says, what do you think I am a prostitute, to which he replies, we have already established that, we are now only haggling over the price of the service.  Changing Mars is changing Mars.

cool