I enjoy thinking about the future. So, I like to read science fiction books, especially those that are based on hard science. These books provide scenarios on how the future might evolve.
To that end, I have enjoyed reading books written by Kim Stanley Robinson, a prolific author based in California. The last book I read, “2312” is as interesting as the previous one.
As the title suggests, Kim describes the world almost 300 years from now. Several intriguing developments that have taken place by the time year 2312 arrives
Human beings now live on most of the planets, and many of their moons. For each planet (and moon) humans have developed a way of living appropriate for the climate condition.
· On Mercury, where a principal character lives, the problem is heat from sun. If you are in open sunlight, you will get fried in no time. So, you have to keep moving ahead of sunrise. That is not a major problem because the planet revolves very slowly. What is a particularly intriguing solution is that an entire city, called the Terminator, is built to move on rails. Of course, if there is a problem with the rails and the city cannot move, there is a huge crisis.
· On Venus, humans have designed a solar shield, once again to protect the plane from intense heat. If the solar shield is threatened, the entire population on Venus is at risk.
· For the population living on Titan, a moon of Saturn, where another important character is from, the problem is reverse. It is too cold, and so the habitats are designed to allow people to survive intense cold.
Transportation among these planets and moons is provided on asteroids that are hollowed to provide capacity and luxury to travelers. They rotate slowly so humans are able to enjoy “gravity” in form of centrifugal force. Called terrariums, these massive spaceships come in different flavors each suited to different expectations of long travel.
Space elevators, anchored at equators, are commonly used to transport people from the planet to a geosynchronous orbit. This way, they can catch ferries to spaceships without having to burn a lot of fuel to get into the orbit. Both Earth and Mars have such space elevators.
There is a move to repopulate earth with animals—reanimation---that involves dropping animals using various landing technologies. Of course, this repopulating is not enthusiastically endorsed by everyone.
In the future, humans don’t come as either male or female. There are multiple varieties, and most humans come equipped with both sex organs. That is the case with the two main characters of the book.
Artificial intelligence has a firm hold on civilization. Most people have an AI device, “qube”, embedded in their heads. Some, however, prefer to wear them on wrists (like an Apple watch). These qubes provide whatever assistance their humans need. There are also humanoids, robots, walking around and they are indistinguishable from humans. One main part of the story deals with a coup engineered by the qubes against humanity.
The book is a fascinating journey through an imagined future. The detail with which Kim paints the picture made this book a NY Times Bestseller and won the Nebula Award.
It does stretch your imagination.