We are delighted to announce that Neal Stephenson spoke at the SOSV Climate Tech Summit (Oct. 25-26). Neal Stephenson’s latest, “Termination Shock,” is a riveting take on what the near-future life might look like when climate goes badly sideways. You can hear his take on the issue below.
Neal Stephenson is a world-renowned speculative fiction author who won Hugo, Locus, Arthur C. Clarke, and Prometheus awards for science fiction, historical fiction, maximalism, cyberpunk, and post-cyberpunk (he coined the term ‘metaverse‘ in 1992 in his cyberpunk novel Snow Crash). In his works, Stephenson explores areas such as mathematics, cryptography, philosophy, currency, and the history of science.
In addition to his writing, Stephenson has worked as a member of the technical staff for Blue Origin (a suborbital aerospace company founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos), as an inventor at Intellectual Ventures Labs, and as Chief Futurist of AR unicorn Magic Leap.
His most recent literary effort is the climate fiction novel, Termination Shock, in which an eminent female protagonist tries to navigate economic, technological and political intrigue in a world subject to extreme weather events and high temperatures, even as an unexpected geo-engineering project becomes a catalyst for global turmoil. Geo-engineering approaches to climate (some are described here) have been controversial for years, but the MIT Technology Review reported this month that the topic was explored again at the White House, possibly entering suggesting an Overton window for the concept?
Neal Stephenson was interviewed by Jason Pontin, partner at the deep tech fund DCVC. Jason is the former Editor-in-Chief of the MIT Technology Review and a major sci-fi aficionado. Neal shared his views on climate technologies, how he conducted research for his novel, what he thinks of the connection between technology, economics and politics, and how speculative fiction can contribute to our world.
Related Links:
- Neal Stephenson website
- Neal Stephenson: Termination Shock at Town Hall Seattle (video)
- Neal Stephenson: Termination Shock at the Long Now Foundation (video)
- Sci-Fi Icon Neal Stephenson Finally Takes on Global Warming (WIRED)
- Can Science Fiction Help Solve Our Biggest Problems? (WIRED)
- Neal Stephenson on Building and Fixing Worlds (WIRED)
- Neal Stephenson: Sci-Fi, Space, Aliens, AI, VR & the Future of Humanity (Lex Fridman Podcast)
- Neal Stephenson and Bill Gates talk about Neal’s book “Seveneves” (YouTube)
