What science fiction teaches us about imagining a better world | Rethinking Humanitarianism

Time and again, guests on this season of Rethinking Humanitarianism have called for systemic changes to the humanitarian system and global governance – from alternatives to the UN to revolutionised global climate financing.

But how can you imagine something you’ve never seen before, while being grounded in the realities of today?

In many ways, this is the domain of science fiction. The writer and activist Walidah Imarisha once said: “Any time we try to envision a different world – without poverty, prisons, capitalism, war – we are engaging in science fiction.” With science fiction, she added, we can start with the question “What do we want?” rather than the question “What is realistic?”

In this first episode of the New Year, host Heba Aly looks to the future to explore how science fiction can bring about paradigmatic change by helping us believe a better world is possible.

She is joined by sci-fi authors whose work speaks directly to the future of global governance and how to better address crises. Kim Stanley Robinson is the acclaimed science fiction writer behind the Mars trilogy, and, more recently, The Ministry for the Future. Malka Older is the author of Infomocracy and The New Humanitarian short story Earthquake Relief. Mexico City. 2051.

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If you’ve got thoughts on this episode, write to us or send us a voice note at podcast@thenewhumanitarian.org. 

SHOW NOTES

• Disaster response 2.0: What aid might look like in 30 years time (by Malka Older, for The New Humanitarian)
• Decolonising Aid: A reading and resource list
• Why Science Fiction Is a Fabulous Tool in the Fight for Social Justice | The Nation
• Kim Stanley Robinson: Remembering climate change ... a message from the year 2071 | TED Countdown

BOOKS AND AUTHORS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

• Kim Stanley Robinson, The Ministry for the Future (2020)
• Malka Older, Infomocracy (2016)
• Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower (1993)
• Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward: 2000–1887 (1888)
• H. G. Wells, A Modern Utopia (1905) 
• Ursula K. Le Guin (see The Dispossessed, 1974)
• Walidah Imarisha (see Octavia’s Brood, 2015)
• Joanna Russ (see The Female Man, 1975)
• Cory Doctorow, Walkaway (2017)
• Neon Yang, The Tensorate series (2017-19)
• Martha Wells, The Murderbot Diaries series (2017-21)