The Ministry for the Future A Novel

And then I'm reading The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson.

I love Kim Stanley Robinson. I just read a book by him. I think it's called Aurora. And I read Project Hail Mary a while ago and it got me on a science fiction kick. So I'm reading this. It's about climate change.

And then I'm reading The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson. I love Kim Stanley Robinson. I just read a book by him. I think it's called Aurora. And I read Project Hail Mary a while ago and it got me on a science fiction kick. So I'm reading this. It's about climate change. And it's been really interesting so far.

The idea ... came from Kim Stanley Robinson's book the ministry for the future which takes place sort of in the near future as societies come to grips with climate change and one of the things central banks come up with in that future is these things called carbon coins.

You've talked a good deal with my dear friend Kim Stanley Robinson and about his book Ministry for the Future, which is wonderful, but because I love New York City so much, my favorite of his books is New York 2140.

If you read Kim Stanley Robinson's new book, The Ministry for the Future, he's clearly contemplating what it would mean when violence begins to be a way people try to move opinions on this, ecoviolence.

Like, "The Ministry for the Future" came out I think in like 2020 and it basically predicted the heat wave in India, which is a major part of the plot of the book.

And so, this book has become a hot commodity because it, it really does describe what's happening in the world.

This is an important book. And it's really about, how do people adapt to what's happening?

There's a book that I've talked about on the show a couple of times that is quite popular called Ministry of the Future.

And I think it's a very good book.

Barack Obama's favorite book Ministry for the Future which is a legitimately very good book it's just funny that he likes it because it absolutely embraces terrorism it embraces like killing politicians it embraces sneaking into the house of oil and gas executives and murdering them in the night as well as a wonky carbon crypto uh fucking investment portfolio but like there's a lot of different ideas in that book

one of the things that book deals with the inciting incident of that book is a horrible wet bulb moment in India that kills I think it's millions of people just like a nightmare disaster um and one of the things the Indian government does as a result against the express wishes of the global community is start like a essentially like an atmosphere exceeding program in order to mitigate how bad the heat waves are and like there's a bunch of consequences to that and I kind of think one of the things that's most realistic about that book is as we have more shit like this happen you will have nations on their own carry out climate mitigation efforts that could have serious effects on other countries because any of this stuff you do like if you seed clouds in the southwest or whatever in order to increase rain to raise the level at Lake Mead um that will like you can't fuck with the water cycle like that and it not have impacts other places um and this is a thing that certainly global law like the international legal system is not ready to deal with um and it's certainly something that our media ecosystem is not ready to deal with and it will happen this is an inevitability in my opinion

Barack Obama's favorite book, Ministry for the Future, which is a legitimately very good book. It's just funny that he likes it because it absolutely embraces terrorism in the brain, like killing politicians.

It embraces sneaking into the house of oil and gas executives and murdering them in the night, like half as well as a wonky carbon crypto fucking investment portfolio. But like there's a lot of different ideas.

Yeah, like a lot of the characters in that book would have killed Obama. Like it's yes, it's a very like but one of the things that book deals with. So the inciting incident of that book is a horrible wet bulb moment in India that kills.

I think it's millions of people. It just felt like a nightmare disaster. And one of the things the Indian government does as a result against the express wishes of the global community is start like essentially like an atmosphere exceeding program

in order to mitigate how bad the heat waves are. And like there's a bunch of consequences to that. And I kind of think one of the things that's most realistic about that book is as we have more shit like this happen, you will have nations on their own

The last book I started in 2021 and the first Book I finished in 2022 was called Ministry of the future By Kim Stanley Robinson who is an interesting science Fiction author in part because Ministry of the future is About climate change it is a science fiction look at About like a thousand different potential solutions to Climate change and Kim Stanley Robinson is actually like An expert he works for the the Sierra Center I think it's Called he's won a bunch of awards for his work on like Trying to like posit different solutions to climate Change he's he understand he's not like coming at this From the perspective of an even even a well-researched Author he's he's writing from the perspective of someone Who is an actual scientific expert in what happens and How the different solutions might work and the thing That's really interesting about Ministry of the future is It's this fascinating melange of like a lot a number of The character the Ministry of the future is this kind of Hypothetical new UN agency that's put in place after a Horrible wet bulb heat event kills 20 million people in India and they're they're kind of trying to push for very Technocratic solutions to climate change so like one of The big things the book focuses on a lot is this idea of a Climate coin which is a kind of international backed by Banks cryptocurrency that that pays as a kind of long-term Bond for sequestering carbon so that like countries like Saudi Arabia that have huge oil reserves actually make more Money by refusing to pump out oil and thus get paid in these Coins so it's really technocratic solutions like that And then also terrorist groups that may be funded by this UN agency building fleets of drones to murder people on Commercial air flights in mass in order to cripple the entire Air travel industry and stop carbon emission and carrying out Mass assassinations on like CEOs of oil companies living in Their private islands so it's this really interesting mix of Like kind of liberal politicians and like bankers like working Out these very wonky solutions to things and like terrorists Who have lost people in climate emergencies mass murdering Billionaires and and so it's a very it's the widest possible Ranging look at kind of different solutions to climate change And how they might work and it's a very optimistic book and There's there's elements of it that I kind of the optimism I Kind of disagree with I think oddly enough Kim doesn't give Enough weight to the dangers of authoritarian populism and and The threat I think they present to any of these kind of potential Solutions but it's still a very well thought out look at climate Change and I think really worth reading if you want something That will both bring up different because he also goes into a lot Of like very scientific solutions like pumping up water from Underneath glaciers in order to stop glaciers from sliding and Like slow the rate of melt and all these other kind of like Very much like technical here's a thing that we can do that Will reduce the effect of this specific kind of climate change It's really a very good book and it's apparently was Barack Obama's favorite book of the year which considering the degree Of which it talks about murdering politicians and business Leaders is interesting to me I think he was maybe more paying Attention to the carbon coin stuff than the shooting oil Industry executives in their face while they're sleeping well he Was also a fan of Parasite so whomp de doo He may just have been told this is a book you should say you like But it is it is a very good book it is really worth reading And it's it's it is a work of science fiction but honestly It's like it's also it's well again Kim really understands This stuff from a technical level so I think it's pretty Unimpeachable from that point of view there are some kind of Sociological areas where I don't think the book I think there's Some shit missing particularly as regards the problems Authoritarianism is going to cause in reaching for these Solutions but I think it's still really really valuable

And the last book I started in 2021 and the first book I finished in 2022 was called Ministry of the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson who is an interesting science fiction author in part because Ministry of the future is about climate change. It is a science fiction look at About like a thousand different potential solutions to climate change and Kim Stanley Robinson is actually like an expert He works for the the Sierra Center. I think it's called He's won a bunch of awards for his work on Like trying to like posit different solutions to climate change He's he understand he's not like coming at this from the perspective of an even even a well-researched author He's he's writing from the perspective of someone who is an actual scientific Expert in what happens and how the different solutions might work and the thing that's really interesting about Ministry of the future is it's this fascinating melange of Like a lot a number of the character the Ministry of the future is this kind of hypothetical? New UN agency that's put in place after a horrible wet bulb Heat event kills 20 million people in India And they're they're kind of trying to push for very technocratic solutions to climate change so like one of the big things the book focuses on a lot is this idea of a climate coin, which is a kind of international backed by banks Cryptocurrency that that pays as a kind of long-term bond or sequestering carbon So that like countries like Saudi Arabia that have huge oil reserves actually make more money By refusing to pump out oil and thus get paid in these coins, so it's really technocratic solutions like that and then also Terrorist groups that may be funded by this UN agency building fleets of drones to murder people on commercial air flights in mass in order to cripple the entire air travel industry and stop carbon emission and carrying out mass assassinations on like CEOs of oil Companies living in their private islands so it's this really interesting mix of like kind of liberal politicians and like bankers like working out these very wonky solutions to things and like Terrorists who have lost people in climate emergencies mass murdering billionaires and and so it's a very it's the widest possible ranging look at kind of different solutions To climate change and how they might work, and it's a very optimistic book And there's there's elements of it that I kind of the optimism I kind of disagree with I think oddly enough Kim Doesn't give enough weight to the dangers of authoritarian populism and and the threat I think they present to any of these kind of potential solutions But it's still a very well thought out look at climate change, and I think really worth reading if you want something that will both Bring up different because he also goes into a lot of like very scientific solutions like pumping up water from underneath glaciers in order to stop glaciers from Sliding and like slow the rate of melt and all these other kind of like very much like technical Here's a thing that we can do that will reduce the effect of this specific Kind of climate change. It's really a very good book And it's apparently was Barack Obama's favorite book of the year which considering the degree Talks about murdering politicians and business leaders is interesting to me I think he was maybe more paying attention to the carbon coin stuff than the Shooting oil industry executives in their face while they're sleeping. Well. He was also a fan of parasite so He may just have been told this is a book you should say you like, but it is it is a very good book It is really worth reading And it's it's it is a work of science fiction But honestly, it's like it's also It's well again Kim really understands his stuff from a technical level So I think it's pretty unimpeachable from that point of view. There are some kind of sociological areas where I don't think the book I Think there's some shit missing Particularly as regards the problems authoritarianism is gonna cause in in reaching for these solutions But I think it's still really really valuable and

Barack Obama's favorite book Ministry for the Future which is a legitimately very good book it's just funny that he likes it because it absolutely embraces terrorism it embraces like killing politicians it embraces sneaking into the house of oil and gas executives and murdering them in the night as well as a wonky carbon crypto uh fucking investment portfolio but like there's a lot of different ideas in that book

one of the things that book deals with the inciting incident of that book is a horrible wet bulb moment in India that kills I think it's millions of people just like a nightmare disaster um and one of the things the Indian government does as a result against the express wishes of the global community is start like a essentially like an atmosphere exceeding program in order to mitigate how bad the heat waves are and like there's a bunch of consequences to that and I kind of think one of the things that's most realistic about that book is as we have more shit like this happen you will have nations on their own carry out climate mitigation efforts that could have serious effects on other countries because any of this stuff you do like if you seed clouds in the southwest or whatever in order to increase rain to raise the level at Lake Mead um that will like you can't fuck with the water cycle like that and it not have impacts other places um and this is a thing that certainly global law like the international legal system is not ready to deal with um and it's certainly something that our media ecosystem is not ready to deal with and it will happen this is an inevitability in my opinion

It's just funny that he likes it because it absolutely embraces terrorism in the brain, like killing politicians. It embraces sneaking into the house of oil and gas executives and murdering them in the night, like half as well as a wonky carbon crypto fucking investment portfolio.

But one of the things that book deals with. So the inciting incident of that book is a horrible wet bulb moment in India that kills. I think it's millions of people. It just felt like a nightmare disaster.

I think the book Ministry for the Future really lays out all of the, kind of like the best case scenario for all these types of things and how they can work together to overall turn in this direction.

Ministry of the future By Kim Stanley Robinson who is an interesting science Fiction author in part because Ministry of the future is About climate change it is a science fiction look at About like a thousand different potential solutions to Climate change and Kim Stanley Robinson is actually like An expert he works for the the Sierra Center I think it's Called he's won a bunch of awards for his work on like Trying to like posit different solutions to climate Change he's he understand he's not like coming at this From the perspective of an even even a well-researched Author he's he's writing from the perspective of someone Who is an actual scientific expert in what happens and How the different solutions might work and the thing That's really interesting about Ministry of the future is It's this fascinating melange of like a lot a number of The character the Ministry of the future is this kind of Hypothetical new UN agency that's put in place after a Horrible wet bulb heat event kills 20 million people in India and they're they're kind of trying to push for very Technocratic solutions to climate change so like one of The big things the book focuses on a lot is this idea of a Climate coin which is a kind of international backed by Banks cryptocurrency that that pays as a kind of long-term Bond for sequestering carbon so that like countries like Saudi Arabia that have huge oil reserves actually make more Money by refusing to pump out oil and thus get paid in these Coins so it's really technocratic solutions like that And then also terrorist groups that may be funded by this UN agency building fleets of drones to murder people on Commercial air flights in mass in order to cripple the entire Air travel industry and stop carbon emission and carrying out Mass assassinations on like CEOs of oil companies living in Their private islands so it's this really interesting mix of Like kind of liberal politicians and like bankers like working Out these very wonky solutions to things and like terrorists Who have lost people in climate emergencies mass murdering Billionaires and and so it's a very it's the widest possible Ranging look at kind of different solutions to climate change And how they might work and it's a very optimistic book and There's there's elements of it that I kind of the optimism I Kind of disagree with I think oddly enough Kim doesn't give Enough weight to the dangers of authoritarian populism and and The threat I think they present to any of these kind of potential Solutions but it's still a very well thought out look at climate Change and I think really worth reading if you want something That will both bring up different because he also goes into a lot Of like very scientific solutions like pumping up water from Underneath glaciers in order to stop glaciers from sliding and Like slow the rate of melt and all these other kind of like Very much like technical here's a thing that we can do that Will reduce the effect of this specific kind of climate change It's really a very good book and it's apparently was Barack Obama's favorite book of the year which considering the degree Of which it talks about murdering politicians and business Leaders is interesting to me I think he was maybe more paying Attention to the carbon coin stuff than the shooting oil Industry executives in their face while they're sleeping well he Was also a fan of Parasite so whomp de doo He may just have been told this is a book you should say you like But it is it is a very good book it is really worth reading And it's it's it is a work of science fiction but honestly It's like it's also it's well again Kim really understands This stuff from a technical level so I think it's pretty Unimpeachable from that point of view there are some kind of Sociological areas where I don't think the book I think there's Some shit missing particularly as regards the problems Authoritarianism is going to cause in reaching for these Solutions but I think it's still really really valuable.

The last book I started in 2021 and the first book I finished in 2022 was called Ministry of the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson who is an interesting science fiction author in part because Ministry of the future is about climate change. It is a science fiction look at about like a thousand different potential solutions to climate change and Kim Stanley Robinson is actually like an expert He works for the the Sierra Center. I think it's called He's won a bunch of awards for his work on like trying to like posit different solutions to climate change He's he understand he's not like coming at this from the perspective of an even even a well-researched author He's he's writing from the perspective of someone who is an actual scientific expert in what happens and how the different solutions might work and the thing that's really interesting about Ministry of the future is it's this fascinating melange of like a lot a number of the character the Ministry of the future is this kind of hypothetical? new UN agency that's put in place after a horrible wet bulb Heat event kills 20 million people in India And they're they're kind of trying to push for very technocratic solutions to climate change so like one of the big things the book focuses on a lot is this idea of a climate coin, which is a kind of international backed by banks Cryptocurrency that that pays as a kind of long-term bond or sequestering carbon So that like countries like Saudi Arabia that have huge oil reserves actually make more money By refusing to pump out oil and thus get paid in these coins, so it's really technocratic solutions like that and then also Terrorist groups that may be funded by this UN agency building fleets of drones to murder people on commercial air flights in mass in order to cripple the entire air travel industry and stop carbon emission and carrying out mass assassinations on like CEOs of oil Companies living in their private islands so it's this really interesting mix of like kind of liberal politicians and like bankers like working out these very wonky solutions to things and like Terrorists who have lost people in climate emergencies mass murdering billionaires and and so it's a very it's the widest possible ranging look at kind of different solutions To climate change and how they might work, and it's a very optimistic book And there's there's elements of it that I kind of the optimism I kind of disagree with I think oddly enough Kim Doesn't give enough weight to the dangers of authoritarian populism and and the threat I think they present to any of these kind of potential solutions But it's still a very well thought out look at climate change, and I think really worth reading if you want something that will both Bring up different because he also goes into a lot of like very scientific solutions like pumping up water from underneath glaciers in order to stop glaciers from Sliding and like slow the rate of melt and all these other kind of like very much like technical Here's a thing that we can do that will reduce the effect of this specific kind of climate change. It's really a very good book And it's apparently was Barack Obama's favorite book of the year which considering the degree Talks about murdering politicians and business leaders is interesting to me I think he was maybe more paying attention to the carbon coin stuff than the Shooting oil industry executives in their face while they're sleeping. Well. He was also a fan of parasite so He may just have been told this is a book you should say you like, but it is it is a very good book It is really worth reading And it's it's is a work of science fiction But honestly, it's like it's also It's well again Kim really understands his stuff from a technical level So I think it's pretty unimpeachable from that point of view. There are some kind of sociological areas where I don't think the book I Think there's some shit missing Particularly as regards the problems authoritarianism is gonna cause in in reaching for these solutions But I think it's still really really valuable.

I read this book called The Ministry for the Future.

And there's 150 pages where these characters climb some Swiss Alps, and nothing fucking happens.

They just get to the top.