Hello World, I'm Tomasino. This is SolarPunk Prompts, a series for writers where we discuss SolarPunk, a movement that imagines a world where technology is used for the good of the planet. In this series we spend each episode exploring a single SolarPunk story prompt, adding some commentary, some inspirations, and some considerations. Most importantly, we consider how that story might help us to better envision a sustainable civilization.
If this is your first time here, I'd recommend checking out our introduction episode first, or the season's introduction, where we talk about what SolarPunk is, why you should care, and why this series came into being. Today's prompt is The Pharmacists.
A motley collection of neo -archeologists, data experts, doctors, and bio -hackers, are going through databases of the fallen pharmaceutical corporations, looking for drugs and solutions which worked but were too cheap for the company giants to market. With so many medicines and best chance to rediscover cures. In our episode, The Disabled Community, we asked a question about the availability of common drugs like insulin in your SolarPunk communities.
Today's prompt takes us a step farther, putting pharma in the spotlight. The worldwide pharmaceutical industry has not been without its issues, especially in low and middle income countries. In 2010, developing countries where 70% of the world population live produced only 7% of the drugs they consume. By 2021, that number had grown to about 10%, mostly in the production of generics.
you In the global south, the phrase, imitation to innovation has been the driving mantra to build research and development capabilities. Using the cash flow from the sale of generic drugs, money could be funneled back into developing labs and trials. In places like Brazil, Cuba, India, and Indonesia, that has meant industrial development and public health evolution.
Other low and middle income countries tended toward research for local needs, though even these are showing susceptibility to market demands. The poorest areas aren't profitable, even for the low income countries themselves, and the end result is a situation ripe for exploitation.
Whether by means of rigorous intellectual property protections or outright schemes like routing drug shipments through third party countries without medical review oversight, prices are And what happens when generics finally do make their way to light? Well, it turns out that sometimes that's even worse. The economist writes of a dire scarcity of these drugs that is worsening, not because they are too expensive, but because they're too cheap.
The margin for profit on some generic medications is so low that the drug makers simply stop producing them. And here we see a return to our writing prompt. In a future world with solar -punk communities flourishing, we will still see a need for pharmaceuticals. People still get sick. Vaccines are still vital. Antibiotics will still mean life or death.
And without the heavy burden of IP laws weighing down the situation, a community of data diggers could find a vital treasure trove in the records of the old pharma empires. There is plenty of fiction based around the need for a cure. A hero's journey can easily be instigated by such a need, but solar -punk is about more than heroes. How can we twist the familiar patterns towards something new where the community can be at the focus? And collective effort outshines the individual.
Perhaps we can focus on the art of rediscovery. Or maybe our plot can twist and turn around a mystery. Are we driven towards contemporary social commentary? Or is the story a celebration of open societies? This one can be fun. The seriousness of health and the need for medical care will carry a significant weight on its own. None of us needs to think hard to find commonality with the sick. So we can use that as a springboard beyond the empathetic and into new territory.
What is your community building or rebuilding? What elements of our present will become building blocks for their future? This team of data archaeologists is scouring for knowledge that will will be that backbone. Do they already find plans and instructions for building farming equipment? Is there a wild young data jockey overly excited by his horde of dentistry textbooks, all too eager to geek out over braces and fillings at dinner?
In this vein, rediscovery can take on aspects we see regularly in high fantasy. The commonplace for us is the magical for them. Perhaps the knowledge is known to have existed in the past, but was lost with time. A forgotten technique rediscovered is a powerful bit of knowledge, will it be shared or horded? In the solar punk genre, these questions take on a different dimension. The question of whether to hoard or share isn't about the community, but it might be about the surrounding ones.
Is there a neighbor who threatens? Will this be enough to bring peace instead? What other new directions What can the genre offer? Is there a list of things half remembered by your community? Is this data source universal in nature or focused on a specific topic? Is the rediscovery for the information itself or to trade and share with others? And what happens if knowledge isn't enough on its own? What if the information needs others to help act?
My mind goes back to our episode about moonshots here, where a project is simply too large for a single community to tackle. Or maybe it's something everyone is already working on and the true antagonist is time itself. Our future in Solar Punk is hopeful, but not without danger and not without difficulty. What sort of difficulties and dangers might a community face together? A not so distant pandemic comes to mind quickly. How would a Solar Punk community tackle an issue like that?
We can imagine independent groups around the world all searching for answers. They race against time to dig up the knowledge. Is there some clue buried in these old pharma data warehouses? Was there already research on the subject that never saw the light or stopped being profitable? Imagine the detective story unfolding at a macro level as groups struggle to find the missing pieces of the puzzle. How many bits of specialty knowledge go into the creation of a vaccine? Where do you begin?
Who is wrangling the efforts? Medicine is an incredibly intricate field requiring huge depths of knowledge and specialty skills. Beyond that, the information at the heart of medicine is burdened by secrecy. Where will your communities find their answers? Will it be new research? Or might they find something buried that was already known? What could have stopped us? the last plague. There is now some hope that malaria could be eradicated by 2050.
What else could have been solved already if the trade secrets and intellectual property were known to all? Your story can explore that idea through a solar -punk lens of hope. There are so many ways such an important rediscovery can bend and twist the plot of a good story. Let's not lose sight of the main character in that effort. And by main character, I of course mean the community itself. Who are these colorful people that make up your village?
The hacker filled with bravado, but plagued by overthinking and seeing conspiracy in everything of the old world. The researcher who struggles to overcome ancient jargon and corporate speak in the same ways we struggle with dead languages. The doctors, nurses, and caregivers who bear the pains of the suffering. and cannot fathom the uncaring world that kept cures from patients, or knowingly pushed harmful choices.
Their inability to fathom that reality can bring us distance from our own realities as readers. The blessing of a community protagonist is that we can experience all of these perspectives and more. Let your imagination run wild. Until next time, I'm Tomasino. I hope you'll join me for the next Solar Pond Prompt. Music in this episode is $50 to breathe. It will make you feel better if you put it in the right place, and I refuse to accept that there's nothing I can do about it.
From Angie's Sunday Service, by Chris Soprinsky.