2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson
3/31/2024
Kim Stanley Robinson’s novel, 2312 is to be read slowly, meditatively. Go about it steadily, like a steam train going from station to station, though you should never really stop—you will need the momentum to comprehend the whole and see the vast picture Kim Stanley Robinson has painted. It’s a slice-of-life space opera–in itself an impressive achievement.
Preferably read during a month when nature cools down and rhythms slow—October—or when it speeds back up from nearly zero, so that it still moves fairly slowly—February. Anything quicker and the resulting discrepancy might throw you out of the story. You have been warned.
It is an immersive read, a 640 page glimpse into another world, a detailed imagining of a possible future and its problems. Through the tale of Swan and Warham and their journeys up and down the solar system, we are learning their world and the conspiracy that threatens to throw it all into chaos. If it is true that the human brain craves and creates stories as a survival tool, to better navigate the complex world of events and emotions, then Kim Stanley Robinson is the master of that tool: his books in general and 2312 in particular, paint a vivid, detailed map of future roadblocks, cul-de-sacs and shortcuts. His books are hand guides for the next day, the next leap of humanity.
There’s action, there’s philosophy, there’s love and loyalty. There’s technology and what it makes out of us. Swan, one of the main characters, is from Mercury and she is a hard character to love—but through her altered humanness I found her to be utterly human and thus loveable, even if not liked.
Through all the technology and the cosmic-scale conspiracies and human fallacies, Kim Stanley Robinson (I wish I knew him, for many reasons, but one of them is so that I could just call him Stan) asks the ultimate question: what makes us human and is there something that could subtract from that? He makes us ponder through our emotions, and he shines a torch at the essence of the question from many angles—metahumans, post-capitalistic society, longevity, technological advances, even what we become when we are away from Earth.
And then there’s gender, the almost uncomfortable in their strange expressions, but nevertheless liberating future genders. Their multitude a kind of freedom—there are so many combination that identification becomes almost meaningless and you can “just be”. A gender utopia.
I find Kim Stanley Robinson’s scope and themes admirable and necessary. We don’t know where we’re going and since we are already on our way there, it’s best if we start discussing about it, intelligently, patiently and in depth. Right about now, already. His portrayal of nature and Earth makes the stomach ache in fear of ever loosing them to climate change and pollution.
The drink to accompany the many hours of reading is a matcha smoothie—it will keep you healthy and it’s vibrant colour will not let you slumber. Never tried one, but the bright green is what I imagine the Enceladean aliens must have looked like, and you’ll get that after you read the book.
Further readings:
If you are curious (I certainly am) on how he comes up with his future technologies, this interview sheds some light: https://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/space-flight/kim-stanley-robinson-built-a-moon-base-in-his-mind
Don’t miss this interview, from an amazing issue of NatureCulture, bridging anthropology and science fiction: https://www.natcult.net/interviews/writing-science-fiction-out-of-experience-sf-social-science-and-planetary-transformations/