Thanks for the note! I didn't read it for the first time until a few years ago. It's such a fascinating thought experiment in the kinds of property rights and market relationships we might develop if we were able to reset on a blank canvas. And as I say in the piece, it's the wrangling and debates that the various fleshed out characters engage in that makes it so rich and realistic.
Kim Stanley Robinson lives in my city, and as a new student at UC Davis, I had to read the Mars series as part of a science fiction seminar that was part of my "integrated studies" freshman honors program. This makes me want to re-read the series now that I've got a quarter century under my belt to appreciate the politics and science at a deeper level!
I loved this piece. Such an important point but we’re all too busy being divided to seek any Commons.
KSR mentions Mondragon in Ministry for the Future too. So good.
I challenge the promise of abundance though. When we have more stuff we won’t suddenly be satisfied.
The earth is already abundant - it’s taking more that we needs that has created the ‘scarcity’
Thanks for the note! I didn't read it for the first time until a few years ago. It's such a fascinating thought experiment in the kinds of property rights and market relationships we might develop if we were able to reset on a blank canvas. And as I say in the piece, it's the wrangling and debates that the various fleshed out characters engage in that makes it so rich and realistic.
Kim Stanley Robinson lives in my city, and as a new student at UC Davis, I had to read the Mars series as part of a science fiction seminar that was part of my "integrated studies" freshman honors program. This makes me want to re-read the series now that I've got a quarter century under my belt to appreciate the politics and science at a deeper level!