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> Most importantly Solarpunk is a rejection of dystopic fears and a return to hope, not as a con-trick, but as a construct. Yeah I just don't find that to be very "punk." In cyberpunk, we have drug-addicted hackers, alienated from society. "Solarpunk," to me, sounds pretty wholesome and very much in line with the direction that society wants to go.
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That is true but a chef is classed as a (usually) expert so knows what they're talking about. Put another way, I value the opinion of a chef about food than everyone else.
To the point though, if somebody told you that Bills Burger Bin had great burgers and you responded with "How would you know? Where are all the burgers you've made?" , that would make you a jackass.
The one problem I have with solarpunk is that much of the fiction is simply not that good. I think most emblematic of that is maybe Cory Doctorow's book "Walkaway". I have lately come to accept that the book had a huge influence on me; it just keeps coming up in conversation. Well... I bring it up, because it struck a chord, and because it fits well with the conversations I have. But the writing is so.... aaaargh, so…
> The one problem I have with solarpunk is that much of the fiction is simply not that good. I agree. I was intrigued by the genre and picked up what happens to be the only books mentioned in the article by name: The Dispossessed and Sunvault. They're both fairly boring. Slow paced, lack of nail-biting moments, some stories from Sunvault completely went over my head (barely understood anything from them)... I have re…
Her parents were anthropologists and she herself was politically engaged, so much of her work deals with themes of culture, the relationship between culture and technology, cultural supremacy, gender, and power in general. Much of her work inverts the racial and gender order of traditional scifi.
"The Rule of Names" is another short story in that anthology that I loved -- this one was less political in nature, and introduces her Earthsea universe. It's fairly easy to find a PDF copy of this one on the internet.
As far as her novels go, "A Wizard of Earthsea" might be the best starter novel if you're interested in giving her novels another shot.
IMO this quote from it captures the essence of her writing (and the experience of reading it) pretty well:
“You want to work spells,' Ogion said presently, striding along. 'You've drawn too much water from that well. Wait. Manhood is patience. Mastery is nine times patience. What is that herb by the path?'
'Strawflower.'
'And that?'
'I don't know.'
'Fourfoil, they call it.' Ogion had halted, the coppershod foot of his staff near the little weed, so Ged looked closely at the plant, and plucked a dry seedpod from it, and finally asked, since Ogion said nothing more, 'What is its use, Master?'
'None I know of.'
Ged kept the seedpod a while as they went on, then tossed it away.
'When you know the fourfoil in all its seasons root and leaf and flower, by sight and scent and seed, then you may learn its true name, knowing its being: which is more than its use. What, after all, is the use of you? or of myself? Is Gont Mountain useful, or the Open Sea?' Ogion went on a half mile or so, and said at last, 'To hear, one must be silent.”
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wind%27s_Twelve_Quarters
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Its extremely peculiar. 10% of the country is unemployed. Business and museums are shutting down for good. Cities are emptying out. Hugging another human has been demonized and is considered irresponsible. People are getting fined for not wearing facial coverings. Our way of life has been completely hijacked by fear. Things are very unstable and then we have an election.
One can take the necessary precautions to protect themselves and those around them without living in fear
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One can take the necessary precautions to protect themselves and those around them without living in fear
The best precaution is being under the age of 70 years old.
The problem with solarpunk is right there in its name: Nearly everything that gets labeled solarpunk is simply not punk. Punk music was born as an expression of the cultural and economic alienation of youth in Thatcher's UK. Cyberpunk was the extrapolation of this into a world defined by the trends of the 1980s: accelerating technology that dehumanizes, unchecked globalization, runaway capitalism that leaves a perman…
Punk music predates thatcher and was born in NYC (even if political punk did originate the year thatcher took over the Conservative party.) It was inherently a rejection of the artists of the British Invasion (in the case of the Ramones, the first true punk band) and how corporate music in America had become. Also proto-punk goes back to the 60s.
Los Saicos would disagree[1] ;) Punk means different things to different people. Lets not get hung up on it.
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The best precaution is being under the age of 70 years old.
And not having any of the plethora of conditions that also put one in a high risk category.
OTOH, if you're not in one of one categories you have very little to worry about.