Everything for Everyone

A challenging read: more of an impressionistic scrapbook than a traditional novel, the visions of the future are pretty light on "how" and even "why", jumping to just telling the "what". But it's an ambitious undertaking, and I think positive versions of the future are worth creating and supporting. Just because it hand-waves how we get there, the discussion of possible futures isn't valueless. It presents a kind of grounded optimism that we could use more of. I'm glad to have read it, even if I wish it had covered more of the mechanics.

This was super fun. I thought the oral history format was a really clever format choice, like looking into a giant construction site through little windows cut in the scaffolding and only kind of being able to grasp the depth of the pit. I kept thinking about KSR's New York 2140 and how it couldve been the same world almost, but with more grittiness and trauma and explanations about how we get from here to fully automated gay luxury space communism. I'm pretty sure I have big political differences with the authors, but I seriously enjoyed it nonetheless. I'd really appreciate seeing more of this kind of fantastic dreaming from those who want a drastically different world.