Staring Down the Apocalypse: Three Visions of Earth’s Future

The Science and Visionary Fiction Reading Group will read three powerful explorations of human agency, individual and collective–three debut novels from three different time periods. Seventy years ago, in the midst of the Cold War, Arthur C. Clarke’s 1953 classic Childhood’s End starkly portrayed one path for humanity in addressing its social ills.  Kim Stanley Robinson’s first novel, The Wild Shore, published in 1984 at the height of Reaganism, imagined the emergence of resistance to geopolitical and environmental disasters. M.E. O’Brien and Eman Abdelhadi’s just published Everything for Everyone explores a collective response to the crises of today. We will supplement these with other recommended readings and videos.