fourteen sci-fi writers change the planet
- Save the World
- Transform the World
- Fix the World Anthology
Income inequality is worse than it was in the Roaring Twenties. Corporations are moving fast and breaking things, and the social contract seems to be falling apart, aided by social media on steroids. There has to be a better way.
We asked sci-fi writers to come up with innovative ways the world could work better. Universal basic income, smaller communities, AI voting, and learning to live in harmony with nature are just a few of the ideas explored inside these pages. So buckle up and settle in for a look at the world of the future.
The world’s not going to transform itself.
Today I swam through MOMA. I’d already trained myself to not think about how filthy the water must be, or of sea snakes, both favorite topics of my boyfriend, Leon. Anyway, they say the water inside is filtered. By the time I got to the third floor, I was exhausted, despite the audio-guide retrofitted with a breathing apparatus. Perhaps it was just the excitement of it all coming together at last.
Leon says it was a waste, encasing the art, then flooding the museum—frivolous and elitist. Do the homeless in Queens give a rat’s ass about some stunt like flooding MOMA? How many millions did it cost?
I say it was a gesture of optimism. A Nothing Can Keep New York Down sort of thing, and for that triumph of technology and political will, priceless. Did folks in Queens get off on the first moon landing? You bet they did.
READ MOREIt was mostly private donations anyway, which also galls Leon—that such big money would show up for the MOMA project. They even reinstalled Guernica.
Treading water, I wondered what Picasso would say to his masterpiece becoming an aquarium decoration?
--From Immersion, by Stephanie N. F. Greene
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