Phoebe Wagner

these negative dystopian futures, that then what were we going to be inspired to build towards?

That we had to be imagining something positive alongside these also important dystopian works.

And so that's when I found Solarpunk online, and I felt like it was a great intervention into this sort of dystopian mindset.

Exactly.

Right.

I mean, I think we're seeing that play out so much with how with AI.

Right.

And how some of it is being compared to like iRobot, which is a sort of bizarre comparison in my mind because of the dystopian nature of that film.

And so, yeah, I think we've definitely seen science fiction impact our thinking around technology and sometimes in negative ways.

We also have the positive example of Star Trek.

Right.

I always like to point that out.

And the communicator being the inspiration for the cell phone.

But certainly it's had an impact, which is what I think is the power of solar punk and this type of storytelling.

We know there can be that impact.

Yeah, there's always been this technological focus, right?

I mean, I think a lot of people see it right in the name, solar punk, and people start to think about solar panels, right?

And so one of the things that solar punk does is I think it makes sort of green energy and sustainable technology feel much more accessible, right?

So it feels like something that like an average community member can have and can imagine how it could impact their community rather than it being something that feels sort of out of reach.

I know certainly right now in my life, it doesn't feel like I have the ability to get like solar panels for my house, things like that.