A Better World is Possible

[soos_mite_ah]

I'm trying to write a book about someone time travels into the future and I want to use models like Spiral Dynamics and The Four Turnings Theory to help me build this futuristic world. I'm not at a place where I have the plot or characters mapped out but I want to focus on the world building aspect first. 

The reason why I want to write this book is because I want to envision a better future. A lot of stories in the time travel genre, even if it’s something set in the future, is a reflection of how people feel in the present. The Jetsons came out in 1962. The first time humanity got to space was 1961. The first time we were able to fly was 1903. In the span of less than 60 years, we were able to go from ground only transportations to being able to go to space. No wonder people thought in 1962 that in 2062 people will be living like the Jetsons up in space with all types of robots. Back to the Future was envisioning the year 2015 from the lens of 1985 and the optimism of the future back then. Now that we’re in the Crisis era, a lot of our media that depicts the future has to do with dystopias (think the Hunger Games, Cyber Punk 2077 etc.). But I think at this point in time, with cultural nihilism being at it’s peak, rather than envisioning dystopias to critique the present, I think it’s important that we envision building something better.

That’s why the Solar Punk aesthetic is popular. But I think rather than a couple of Pinterest mood boards, I want to create a more cohesive narrative of how society and people develop and ultimately, have it be something hopeful and something to aspire to. While I did enjoy the Jetsons and Back to the Future, I think the thing that messed with me even when I was a kid is how much it focused on the fantastical, technological aspect of the future rather than the social one. Unlike what Back to the Future thought in 1985, we didn’t get flying cars in 2015. But something that would send someone from 1985 into a coma if they saw us today is how much more accepting we are of gay and trans people and how much more common things like interracial marriage is. That’s the real controversial, juicy stuff, not the flying cars and hover boards. Sure, I want to make changes in the material world through my world building. But I want to emphasize the changes of policy and social attitudes even more. I don’t want my depiction of the future to be something that seems other worldly. I want it to seem like something that can be tangible.

Bascially, this journal is going to be where I track my research as I'm doing my world building. 

[soos_mite_ah]

 

[soos_mite_ah]

 

[soos_mite_ah]

Reading List 

This is going to be pieces of media that I want to consume. It's not a literal reading list that features books but it's also going to feature movies, shows and more. 

Imagining a Solar Punk World: 

• Disney's Strange World 
• A Psalm for the Wild-Built and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers
• Studio Ghibli's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Castle in the Sky, and Princess Mononoke
• Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy
• Always Coming Home by  Ursula K. Le Guin
• Walkaway by Cory Doctorow
• Glass and Gardens: Solarpunk Summers by Sarena Ulibarri 
• The Ministry of the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson 

More Technical Material

• The Fourth Turning and The Fourth Turning is Here by Neil Howe and William Strauss
• I don't know any sources for this but things on decomodifying housing 
• The videos on Alan Fisher's Youtube Channel about urban planning and public transit 
• Continue watching videos from Real Life Lore 
• Rewatch Leo's videos on Conscious Politics
• Various Books from my degree (I'm not in my apartment right now so I cannot list them off the top of my head). 

Philosophy

• Salvation by bell hooks 
• All About Love by bell hooks 
• The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays by Albert Camus 
• The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt by Albert Camus 
• The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov
• Walden and Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau
• Vulcan's Hammer by  Philip K. Dick

Topics to Research (no specific sources, just explore these things)

• Parallels between the previous crisis era and now 
• comparing the counter culture movement to the transcendentalist movements 
• green energy 
• what different countries are doing and potential solutions to current problems