The Currency of the Anthropocene. Dismantling the Theological Presupposition of Neoliberalism in Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future

This essay analyzes Kim Stanley Robinson’s latest Sci-fi novel, The Ministry for the Future (2020), by focusing on key narrative elements developed in the text that offer solutions to our current climate crisis. Although fictional, these ideas are theoretically relevant because they challenge the current symbolic system of neoliberalism based on a sacrificial economy and a notion of transcendence that demands the infinite accumulation of surplus value. In particular, I examine the import of Robinson’s argument regarding the need for political representation of future generations through the creation of an ad hoc intragovernmental branch (the above-mentioned Ministry of the title of his novel) and a new understanding of value based on the concept of the Carbon Coin reward system.