Stephen Heintz & Kim Stanley Robinson

Public policy expert Stephen Heintz and science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson work in very different fields. But each, in his own way, has sketched out a vision of  what we must do to face down the intersecting crises of our time: the ever-growing threat of climate change, the looming potential breakdown of the post-01945 international order, the ambiguous prospects of rapid technological changes in fields like AI, biotechnology, and geoengineering. While their methods may differ, they align on their conclusions. 

We need a new logic for the future — not just a cosmetic change or amelioration of current conditions but a complete and coherent worldview as adapted to our present moment as the post-01945 international order was for its own.

Heintz and Robinson’s approach is multifaceted, intentionally avoiding the temptations of simple answers to complex questions. In Heintz’ words, this logic is “an amalgam of the ancient, modern, and new.”

About Stephen Heintz and Kim Stanley Robinson

Stephen Heintz is an American nonprofit executive and public policy expert. Since 02001, he has served as president of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF), a family foundation with an endowment of approximately $1.2 billion that advances social change for a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world. Previously, he co-founded and served as president of Dēmos, a think tank dedicated to developing a more inclusive democracy.

As one of our greatest living science fiction authors, Kim Stanley Robinson has written over two dozen books, each conjuring a world as vividly complex as our own. His works, such as the Mars trilogy and The Ministry for the Future, often center on climate change, governance, and sustainable futures. This will be Robinson’s fifth Long Now Talk, having previously spoken in 02022, 02018, 02017, and 02016. 

Why This Talk Matters Now

Even as we confront the new and returning challenges of this geopolitical moment, we also face a certain meta-challenge: the outdated assumptions, decades or even centuries old, informing our systems of international relations. The status quo — national sovereignty, neo-liberal economics, and zero-sum thinking above all — cannot be maintained in the face of shifting planetary conditions. What that status quo threatens to backslide into — imperialism, great power competition, and unfettered slaughter — is even less pleasant to countenance. Without a cohesive, intellectually rigorous effort to create new assumptions underpinning international relations, planetary thriving is itself at risk. 

Three core shifts inform Heintz and Robinson’s thinking, cutting across ecological, political, and economic lines. First, they emphasize the need to recenter the value of all life, rather than the narrow-minded anthropocentrism of so much conventional moral accounting. Next, they propose a shift from national sovereignty to more collaborative modes of governance, taking the nation-state not as an essential unit of international relations but just one model among many on the planetary stage. Finally, they call on all of us to develop regenerative economic systems that can turn the tide on the regime of extractive economics that has become the dominant form of social exchange under contemporary capitalism.

The Long View

Expanding our frames of thinking about the world has always been core to Long Now’s mission. “The Big Here & The Long Now,” Brian Eno’s foundational essay on the power of expanding our empathy through space and time, has set the tone for our work of building long-term thinking and planetary wisdom. More recently, Long Now Talks and Ideas interviews from Kate Raworth & Roman Krznaric and Jonathan Blake & Nils Gilman have showcased the brilliant possibilities of regenerative doughnut economics and inclusive planetary governance. 

Where To Go Next

• READ Stephen Heintz’s 02025 essay, “A Logic For the Future”
• WATCH Kim Stanley Robinson’s 02022 Long Now Talk, “Climate Futures: Beyond 02022.”
• READ Forrest Brown’s 02023 Pace Layers essay, “In "The Ministry for the Future," New Ideas From Ancient Wisdom.”