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In my opinion solar punk shouldny be infused in a narrow set of politics, solarpunk should represent a future where technology coexist with nature regardless of the economic system
@@thebookofivewell there are multipleways to get to that future, i find the current “community” of solarpunk hobbyists to be very stringent and narrow about how solarpunk needs to be the ultimate utopia and that no conflict could be present in solarpunk which is absurd, it defeats the entire purpose of the genre. Also i find the whole genre to be based on ghibli films which do have conflict
If you think about it there are alot of series that could count as solarpunk if you dont purely see it as a utopia genre, for example one can argue pokemon to be the perfect solarpunk setting sure it has its issues but it fits most of the definitions, Iain m banks culture series could too, or post-post cyberpunk series with the dying earth genre as well like with horizon zero dawn or xenoblade
I've been thinking about that...like no wonder we are headed towards a dystopian type future, it's because that's all we can visualise (that's in our collective consciousness). If people can't visualise a different way, we will never get there.
The one big issue with solarpunk is that unlike cyberpunk, the movement appeared before the actual works that could be part of it. Cyberpunk grew organically as a reaction to an increasingly technology-driven capitalism in the 80s and beyond. Solarpunk is basically an opposing concept to cyberpunk but there is not much besides the manifesto and some short stories that could give the movement depth and nuance which it needs to influence culture in a way cyberpunk did, or at least to engage in the debate with cyberpunk's cynical pessimism about the future. So far it looks like a manufactured movement, very much like internet music genres like vaporwave and such - an aesthetic and vibe above creative substance.
Im not sure thats true, the solar punk vibe has been around for a long time & has much material evidence, its just been maginalised as utopic idealised irrealvence by ....... the powers of commodification. That doesn't mean that its not maturing, gaining momentum or viable. Apart from tech bros deifying Ayan Rand & thinking Bladerunner was a great suggestion, nobody wants to live in the dark satanic neon mills of Fritz Lang . Despite the issue of aesthetic romanticisation ...in the game of "would u Rather?" cant we all just get along with nature, techoolgy & each other' should win! Rather than be held hostage by a few % of comparative advantage psychopaths claiming that cooincidently that society can only run heirachically & that obviously kniveing your way to the top through corporate force is the best measure of worthyness , cuz thats human natur bro. A new vision of human nature is needed, me thinks - & - meta modern solar punk offers it
This. Solarpunk is all looks, no substance, and ironically for something called 'punk' its conformist (looking and dressing different means nothing if you all think the same) and trend following. It is, ironically, the sort of shallow non-movement the upper class in a cyberpunk world would follow for social cred. That said, I enjoy the aesthetic, even if it has zero substance.
It would be nice to know how to "kickstart" it as a movement in a grassroots kind of way. I mean I am absolutely no William Gibson but would like to contribute in my own little way if I can. The aesthetic and the potential is there, as you've said, we just need to fill the rest with intent and some punk attitude.
To add onto this, there's very little to go off of in solarpunk. In cyberpunk we have a lot of good background detail from just the setup. We know what society is like, who the protagonists are, who the antagonists are likely to be, who the power players are, the types of adversaries and hazards that can be faced, and the types of jobs and adventures that can be set in the setting. Solarpunk not so much. It's not hard to come up with all of this in a story or work, but people like to use thematic shorthand when when figuring out what things they like. Why is Fantasy just a rip off of LotR? Because that's what was popular and became a shorthand for fantasy. Solarpunk doesn't have a shorthand like cyberpunk does. Hell, Stonepunk has more of a shorthand than solarpunk.
It's not a bug, it's a feature. I'm part of a musical collective and a participatory artist (i write larps and rpgs), making solarpunk music in Brasil. Solarpunk isn't about taking people's imagination, it isn't about a ready solution, nor is it about some kind of conflict. It is about doing what is Virtuous, and good for everyone. It's about getting involved in the process of creating Reality. Radical Participation requires it to not populate the imaginary and consolidate a structure. It's post structuralist by nature, and that is exactly what makes it absurdly potent. You can't capture something that isn't finished. You get to make the Solarpunk future, with us. You get to make the music, the visual arts, the artisanship, the technology, everything. It's the future you want. No one can deliver it to you in your doorstep.
First one and a half of a minute into the video and as soon as the words "what's so punk about trees?" were spoken I already loved it. A very much needed genre covered by a very much needed type of video essay, thank you for this, this is great work!
its not punk. there is no fighting the system. it just portrays a system that happens to be cheery and upbeat and in touch with nature. all of the "punks" besides cyberpunk are not punk and they just have a level of technology and slap punk onto the name.
@@Zectifin solarpunk is about fighting the current system, focused on exploitation of nature and resources, constant uncontrolled growth and spreading misinformation about climate change. It is replaced by another system, sure, so what? I don't really get what you're trying to say here to be honest. Punk is about defiance, solarpunk shows defiance towards our current toxic relationship with nature
@@Zectifin solarpunk is about fighting the current system, focused on exploitation of nature and its resources, uncontrolled growth and spreading misinformation about climate change that benefits those who profit from it. It is replaced by another system, sure, so what? I'm not sure if I understand the point you're trying to make here to be honest. Punk is about defiance. Solarpunk shows defiance towards our current toxic relationship with nature
To anyone interested in solarpunk I'd recommend reading Murray Bookchin, as many of the views espoused by the genre feel like they're drawn directly from his ecology-centric libertarian socialism.
@nivaldoschmiedel8245 in the most basic terms it rejects both capitalism and private property as well as state ownership by emphasizing mutual aid, common ownership and self-organisation. Andrewism's video on the Commons illustrates some parts of that: th-cam.com/video/HG4Y8bgUwQ0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=GUrAfVcytaQr88wn
@@nivaldoschmiedel8245the original European libertarians were anarchists. The previous comment may be talking about non state socialism. Probably better to use anarcho-libertarian. Look into that term and read about bakhunin and go from there.
I will not tolerate cyberpunk slander. Cyberpunk doesn't "fail" in any aspect, and it does exactly what it sets out to do. It's supposed to be a WARNING, a premonition of the tech future we are barreling toward if we don't get our sh#t together. It succeeds at that with flying colors.
I didn't like when video author said something like "Solarpunk was made up by this, this and that unlike Cyberpunk that was born out of a novel or movie". I come from watching part 3 from these great Cyberpunk documentary here on YT and a lot more elsewhere and Cyberpunk was assembled in a similar way by different pieces of media here and there, like comics, novels, short stories, games and more. To me it sounds exactly the opposite, Cyberpunk was born organic while Solarpunk was made on purpose, tailored to be a response, a positive punk future. I find it funny, Cyber was analogic and organic while Solar has been digital and manufactured.
Heres what i wrong in my other comment as a counterpoint i dont believe that cyberpunk is possible in the current set of economic system of corporatism especially in the united states, technology would never advance to that level since companies are LAZY they dont innovate when they dont require it, like technofeudalism, only through war imperialism ajd conflict does innovation happen under the current system, for example the usa practically destroyed their own space program when the soviets fell, its only when china built their space station did the usa step up, because technofeudalism is LAZY and will never innovate unless there is conflict cyberpunk future is thus impossible unless challenged by solarpunk or another
@@l1nkryuthe original form of solarpunk had another name i forgot, but most ghibli films were named after this, technically solarpunk always existed but didnt have a definable term, the culture series by banks is solarpunk, foundation by asimov is too technically
I'm deeply impressed by this video. The amount of work you've put into it is clearly visible and the further reading section only encourages to explore the topic further. You've made wonderful job with this one, I think it's gotta be one of my fave essays (and I watch plenty of those) I really hope the algorithm will pick it up, this video needs to be watched by much more people
we also need more trainpunk. trains have always been the most efficient form of transportation and should be used as a default mode in a climate- and energy constrained world.
I wonder what atomicpunk would look like. Not the Fallout 4 that's retro futuristic, like modern nuclear punk. Maybe it would look very bland and something close to brutalism but white, round shapes everywhere like a nuclear reactor exhaust.
My world changed when I realized the dystopian direction of our society. I just couldn't stop seeing the cracks and stupidity in everything within our system. First came the rage, then the anxiety and I had to sought help to navigate this ocean of feelings. I grew exhausted of the pessimism and then found a new emotion in me: Raw passion. This is it. I realized we could build wonders. Change. fucking. everything. We can build Solarpunk. I had quitted my job a year ago in favor of something climate, and began working on electric batteries (I know, huge issues there). I need the financial stability for a while so decided to take a first step literally a month ago. One experiment. A whatsapp community where every Sunday I curate and share uplifting and Solarpunk stuff, in hopes of switching the pessimism paradigm to something bright. Super small thing, but I'll give it my best as my first forage into something different. I also know that my career will probably take a huge turn towards regeneration and positive impact.
An idea was coming about, that we could grow our own food (on small scale) on balconies. It's therapeutic, eco-friendly, you know what you used to grow it (pesticides or not), etc. Though some governments are banning the practice to have us more dependent on them, they can't regulate all.
I live in china, the population density of my city is 1405 person per km^2. The density and lifestyle shown in most solarpunk media is just impossible. You could build your little island of idyllic sustainability in your high-tech farm, but what about the others? I know people have good will and put their hearts into their creation, but to me, solarpunk is feels too... corporate to trust.
That's an interesting point! That being said, I think the goal of solarpunk is not to provide a blueprint, but to help people break away from the limits of the "that's the only system we have" mentality. I don't think high density housing will disappear in a post-scarcity world, even if it will probably look a bit different from what we have now. Thank you for your comment!
I watched your video again. I think the main critique I have with Solarpunk is that it envisions a flavour of utopian future, but the road there is eithervmissing, or a painfully corporate one. Cyberpunk at least shows you a failed prospect of our world and calls for violence against the machine, but what should we do to reach the solarpunk world that we want? buy yogurt?
"Capitalism is stopping us form reaching this solarpunk future, where is your RAGE?" This is the message I want to read from future, more mature solarpunk media
@@_furydance8890 that's a fair critique of existing works. Stepping outside of this paradigm, there already exists a large corpus of anarchist works that tackle this particular topic, as well as real world examples of anarchist projects existing today (i.e. The Zapatistas or AANES aka Rojava). Anark had a great video called "After the Revolution" that tackles this precise problem, you might check it out (th-cam.com/video/sMoTWFZjoYA/w-d-xo.htmlsi=nqMci0p_s06TIn4R), I think Andrewism did some videos about alternative ways of social organisation, I mention the library economy in the video, but he covered broader topics as well
You can also take a look at the Chilean Project Cybersyn as an example of a non-capitalist system of the distribution of resources, though it's important to mention that Allende wasn't an anarchist.
I think many misunderstand cyberpunk. It was not manufactured. It came out of a collection of works by people who correctly looked at where our society was headed and looked at what tech actually has been used for by humans for the last 300 years and it doesn't add up to a utopia. And I hate to say it but based on the ideas presented here "solar punk" has already been tried and fizzled out. Because as near as I can tell it is basically the 60s hippie communes with some cool future tech and early 2000s Frutiger Aero inspired aesthetics. It also seems to be set far enough in the future that like the utopias of Star Trek it already skips over the hard parts and just fast forwards to utopia. I honestly don't see how that really is going to be more than a fad.
It can’t happen in our lifetime but 100 to 200 years from now it could be a reality. I would imagine several wars, a electrical reset, and governmental reset could propagate this type of society. It would have to be in a world where the population is heavily declined. That is my prediction for the next few hundred years.
Yes, solarpunk is what happens when hippies, punks and hip hop come together to find a solution. You are waiting to be told a solution, instead of providing one. Solarpunk is to get involved. To go make it happen. It does not need a formula, it needs people who understand we are trash, and are willing to recycle ourselves.
It already being tried just means the right conditions weren't there. People tried to apply gender theory in the last century. It failed miserably with sadly some people unaliving themself due to the emotiobal turmoil in being the subject of failed social expediments. Now it seems to at least have a leg to stand on Nasa tried inflatable space stations in the past, it failed. Now they reconsider thanks to new modern materials. Religion got critizised onfe by Galileo. He also already did that, guess what, several centuries later people did it again and now the movement is stronger than ever! So your argument of "people already did that" is pretty weak, when conditions change regurarly. Solarpunk just needs to have the posibility to apply it which also comes through technology we need to push towards amd social systems beneficial for it to become at least somewhat real.
Solarpunk starts with people gradually practicing it, experimenting what works and what doesn't work. Start living the way you intent on the practices that work and gradually you can structure a system around the practices so the transition becomes smooth and and acceptable instead of enforcing change and see if people like it or not.
Solarpunk will remain a fiction as long as 1% of the population control 90% of the world's wealth. Governments now need corporate wealth to function too which is why COP24 had world leaders consulting with investors and corporate executives. You could get 99% of the worlds population going green and it wouldn't change a thing because they are a minor part of the world's ecological problems.
Cyberpunk succeeds because it feels genuine. It actually addresses what we are doing. There are people everywhere, alongside the industries needed to sustain all of them. It isn't pretty, but we can see ourselves reflected in it. Solarpunk...I love the concept, but it has some obvious flaws. It just kind of avoids some serious economical and social problems. It doesn't feel like an attempt to a possible future, rather than a "wouldn't that be nice" kind of thing. I think a Solarpunk that looks industrious and densely populated would have far more appeal. Clearly producing solar cells, electric vehicles, recycling, wind turbines and blades...even green technology needs to be produced. Vertical farms seem more realistic than personal vegetable gardens for example. Combine eco-friendly with eco-nomical. How does a green advanced civilization exist? Make it believable. People are far more likely to buy into Eco-friendliness, if it seems like something realistic and feasible. Don't mean to sound harsh. I really liked your video. I think making the idea as appealing as possible to as many people as possible is super important.
Solarpunk is hopeful, utopistic even, utopias don't leave much space to write tragedies, like what kind of struggle can there be when you have a limitless resource?
in the end solarpunk is born from an aesthetic and it still feels like only that an aesthetic i think dear alice also encapsulates one of my main complains with solarpunk, its used by corporations and techbros to point to change without any real change while having little interaction with the real world. Cyberpunk despite also suffering from being turned in an aesthetic doesn't fail at its goal as much, its a cautionary tale about were does late stage capitalism leads, this makes cyberpunk offering no solutions more ok, since its not about a solution its about stopping apathy its a cry for action before the future that it shows becomes a reality. If anything the main falling i see in cyberpunk is some times it leans to hard on this doom and gloom and it makes the dystopia look inevitable. Well not what i expected when i started writhing but if you are going to take anything away from this i would say do not fall for the aesthetics, take the hope of a better future from solarpunk and not its looks, and take the call to action of cyberpunk not its feeling of doom. edit :(sorry dear reader for the confuse text, dyslexia and second language dont mix that well XD)
I think solarpunk is still in the making. It is the hope of a brighter future and this changes over time as you see what becomes a possibility and what not. Green skyscrapers, or rather smaller houses with less people and more green. No cars or rather solar EVs. More untouched nature and denser green cities, or whitespread, green areas used for human comfort. Those are ll possibilities humans might want and unlike cyberpunk, we must ensure that solarpunk remains a possibility to keep inspiring.
¡Thank you wholeheartedly! I needed this, and the last words from Ursula Le Guin, have just opened my soul, heart and imagination. Thank you Ive for your must sincere and honest take on this concept.
@@zazander732 Aaaah yes, trying to fight ignorance by not fighting it, not even trying to enlight others. What an upstanding representative of utopian altruism you are. Keep stacking those Ls.
Someone else mentioned Origin: Spirits of the Past (2006) briefly but I want to mention it again because it’s really good. It’s a story with strong solarpunk energy before the genre had a name. It deals with a clear structural criticism of the past world (our world) and the world the characters in the film live in. It’s post apocalyptic but a very hopeful tale and has a really interesting use of plant-based body horror. It’s a lot less idyllic of a world than some other solarpunk art but it ultimately still upholds the core concepts. It’s pretty obscure, also failed at the box office, but it has a lot to say about the way in which the idealized past will not save anyone, the importance of working to live in harmony with nature, and also a really firm statement on bodily autonomy (in this case altering ones body in a way society deems unacceptable) that borders on allegorical in a particular way🏳️⚧️ also a strong criticism on the idea of normality. One line that sticks with me from an argument between the main characters is the line “The world doesn’t have to go back to normal”
This Video is not only good in it's making, it is touching as well... and the beginning of a rabbit hole or even better, a starting point and resource for the unknowing and untouched. As an artist, I salute you. Thank you.
Always love seeing a good video on solarpunk. It's a wonderful aesthetic and I think broadly helps people envision a better future that we can achieve. You should look into ecomodernism, the capitalist attempt to co-opt the aesthetic and broader goals of the movement. To me it really embodies the risks that come from believing aesthetic alone means anything, and really risks swaying those who do believe we can just consume our way out of equality and climate disasters.
I think the primary issue with solar-punk as it's imagined is the post-scarcity aspect of it. Solarpunk needs to define what it imagines post-scarcity to be for people to be able to latch onto it outside of just "green tech and environmentalism". I don't believe solarpunk will ever get out of it's aesthetic stage if it can't come to terms with how it operates economically, and this has to be figured out along the entire wealth class of humanity, whether they live in cities or rurally. There needs to be consistency.
No, the problem is lack of conflict. Cyberpunk sells because it's brutal and sexy. Solarpunk is comfy, sure, but it's the genre equivalent of a desktop wallpaper you like right now.
@@jingbot1071So what if there is no conflict. Solarpunk is the destination, the conflict is getting there. It is as sexy as the promise of heaven for christians. A hope for a better future. And how ironic to say a certain flavour of Punk "sells", when in it's core it is anti establishment 😂
@@DundG It makes for a cool and cozy feeling setting that contains stories nobody wants to read. That's not what people dig into, at least not when it comes to mass appeal. Solarpunk is, ironically, a genre that works great for one shot disposable media posts but terribly for creating engaging, dramatic media that lasts a long time. This is why there hasn't been (and without creative evolution of the genre, won't be) any blockbuster solarpunk games or movies. It's a juice commercial with a neat aesthetic. Don't get lost in the sauce because the solar panels are pretty. The rare earth metals you need for those ensure the other side of the solarpunk world doesn't and won't ever look that good...
Cyberpunk, relates to Steampunk and dieselpunk. The "punk" part IMO refers to some some form of anachronism (future or past) in a setting. For steampunk it's magic and futuristic tech in victorian times. For dieselpunk it's aircraft with a propeller aesthetic (biplane to WW2) in a magic or future setting ("The Last Exile" for instance). for cyberpunk it's the nihilist/mercenary culture in a near future setting with cyberware.
I think this video has awaken something in me. Amazing work. You really deserve more views and subcribers, but hey...at least you got one more with me 😊
Pastoral science fiction isn't a new genre. It's a very old trope of a post scarcity society returned to an idealised past that never really existed. It is almost ultra capitalist in its idealisation of individual land holdings, family structure, and unneeded government.
And that's not Solarpunk at all. "The future is ancestral" ~Ailton Krenak Krenak is an indigenous philosopher and anthropologist from Brasil. The organization of society in Solarpunk isn't rooted in private property. It's a profound shift: Land is not mine, it is I who am from the Land. I'm owned by the Land, as is everyone else. This is a completely different way of living.
I just see solarpunk as hopefull fantasy. Let's be honest, for a future like that to be possible, this world would have to collapse in almost every way, and who knows what humanity wil do at a so dire reality. And history does not help invision a bright future... The only hope i have left is to be wrong
Holy s%it. Just. Damn. I've long been a fan of Solarpunk (Ever since I first encountered the concept on that very tumblr post you discussed!) but I couldn't put my fingers on why it resonated so hard. I couldn't put to words why it felt so much more revolutionary and important than other 'punk aesthetics' like steampunk or cyberpunk. Your editing, your analysis, your details and suggestions for further reading and just -- I can't say I can remember a time a video left me in tears because of *hope* before. Because hope, hope for a better world, a better future, a better alternative ... that's what the difference is. That's what's been missing. And you nailed it, without even ever once having to utter that word. That word that we so often get chided as being 'foolish' or 'childish' for when we point to fiction as something to aspire for -- hope. This is only the second video I've seen of yours, the first being "The Other Kind Of Horror" that got randomly recced to me... But I'm absolutely subscribing, already. Just, phenomenal.
Yes, yes yes! This is one of the best summaries of Solarpunk I have some across in years. It is a movement of sorts that is still finding its footing but everyday it slowly gets a little more stable and capable. It has been said that the reason why capitalism has lasted so long is because many simply do not have a vision or imagination of any other way. For a total lack of this, we just keep doing the same thing everyday because "there is no other way". Solarpunk is an attempt to provide that vision, a future people would actually want rather than fear. That you mentioned the limited scope of this messaging in mass media is to be expected a little. George Lucas once said that in the 70's he spoke to many film directors in the USSR and found that apart from a few subjects they couldn't touch (critical of the standing government), they were much more free than directors in the US. They didn't have to worry about the entire structure of commercial viability/marketing etc that hollywood has as its backbone. In USSR, they couldn't challenge the political powers. In modern media, you cannot challenge the economic system, for it is the great god of progress and it is looking a little well... fragile... In the face of political tension, ecological blow back, resource depletion - solarpunk is a vision of another way. A word that we shrink into rather than trying to speed out of. To be the essence of Epicurus - 'If thou wilt make a man happy, add not unto his riches but take away from his desires.'
I would like to state that Anno 2070 is a great game that strikes a balance between allowing the player to either go Cyberpunk, High-Tech or Solarpunk. Even though I like Cyberpunk more, because it is far more likely that it will become our future in some shape or form.
At some point, Cyberpunk went from a cautionary tale/horrifying future into the dreams of countless people who can't see meta-narrative and authors' message. This is especially potent in the tech circles of very influential ppl. Like Musk (no examples needed) and Sam Altman/OpenAI/ChatGPT CEO (the scandal with theft of Scarlet Johanson's voice, probably cause of the film "Her")
when you look at every cyberpunk book the overall theme is unchecked ambition where people are just advancing for progress just for progress's sake or someone's need to just be rich and don't give a damn about the things that were broken to get there. There's a middle ground between Cyberpunk and Solarpunk which would be ideal for all but what that looks like isn't known
@@lynallott3404 because utopia comes at a cost just like dystopia does. The cost of a utopia is not allowing anyone in who doesn't agree with the vision presented so a middle ground is best for everyone there has to be choice and people need the freedom to choose what they want to do with their lives
@@RavenStorm332 Mhh, I agree with you, and I do think it applies to solarpunk to an extent, but I don't think that solarpunk is a true utopia, and thus it doesn't have the issue as you propose it. Things are still going to be messy, and broken, and needing fixing in solarpunk, that's part of the point, it's meant to be real, even though it can seem utopian in comparison to where we are now.
@@lynallott3404 I have to read some solarpunk fiction to refine my but just from how solarpunk was explained in the video it does seem utopian. There are cyberpunk stories that aren't completely dystopian though they're not as popular because for some reason people need a bad guy to blame for their problems
@RavenStorm332 is Solarpunk really any more "utopian" than any of the countless promises you heard every day until _at least_ your first one of High school, or are you just that utterly broken?
I have come to the realization that capitalism is a chain link fence of self creation. And mythology or stories are a part of that. If you have stories that reinforce the system, it helps engrain that Into our brains and thus our lives, so we must really focus on all kinds of stories that break out of this cancer. Basically creatives need to start making songs, nursery rhymes, mythology, fictions, games, animations that all go against this tide of unsustainable life.
Made me think of that mall in Tokyo with the park on it that all the tourists think is great but the locals are like, "Yeah but they build a mall on our park This was the compromise."
Apropos of this videos’ conclusion that solarpunk is in a really nascent state, Terra Nil itself as a game is a little bit undecided-as a game-about where the soul of its gameplay and player experience lies. There aren’t many different ways to play Terra Nil (yet), just as we haven’t plumbed the depths of what kind of stories and worldbuilding are possible within solarpunk
IMO Solarpunk is only possible if most materials are mined and refined in space, or if energy is so bountiful as to facilitate energy to matter conversion. There would always be areas on the planet that would look dystopian, to extract, refine, or recycle the materials needed for the tech. Maybe some unknown genetic modification could make animals and plants produce these materials, who knows.
The only major issue I see is that there is no way without some sort of cataclysm that the meager power generation of wind and solar can possibly sustain a technological world. Nuclear would be an option and it would be cool to see nuclear power plants supported by a ecologically friendly network of solar, geothermal, wind, and hydro.
This really reminds me of the last book in Frank Herbert's Dune, "Chapterhouse". Especially in regard to how the Bene Gesserit treat the land and organize their society.
I love this so much! I'm kinda not so young anymore. To me, this is new, it is a new kind of hope or a crystallization of a hope that has been with us for a long time. I'm sitting here thinking about small first steps. They say one should start by building community, local power structures and all that. I will see, in what way I can help to do that. But I guess one good first step is a reevaluation of one's role in the system - to stop thinking about oneself as a consumer and start thinking about oneself as a social animal that needs and thrives on connection.
"succeeding" at what exactly? being a more popular navel-gazing aesthetic? sure, I guess, but to be anything more than that would require controlling the means of production, which none of these people intend to accomplish, so these discussions are as relevant and important as elves.
What exactly do you propose as an alternative? that we keep heading towards the Bladerunner esq future we are in danger of becoming? No one claimed changing our lifestyle and corporate culture to something more sustainable was going to be easy but it's something worth shooting for.
@@dennisduncan7561 we are not "heading towards the Bladerunner-esque future" because we have no control over the means of production, it's the people who control the means of production that are heading toward that future for us: the bourgeoisie. the solution is, and always has been, to seize the means of production from the bourgeoisie and end their dictatorship by abolishing any possibility of them existing. once we have control of the means of production we can direct it to things that are actually useful and not things that just steal surplus value from labor so that miserable sociopaths can not even enjoy the finest things they decorate their lives with, except in the lording it over others.
@@mexicanhalloween tf u yapping bout? Seems you can’t see past behind anything, maybe it’s cause you actually never SUFFERED from capitalism and wants it stay that way to help u enjoy your comforts. Shut up dude.
It reminds me what happen to the 'cultivation' genre, when it met the Western LitRPG genre. I recently saw a video with the critique that the 'cultivation' genre is toxic. For me, it's a yes and no. Cultivation genre came from the Chinese Xianxia genre, basically chinese fantasy, and in it's classical way, it focus on anti-traditionalist, anti-social hierarchy in a setting where magic exist. Then the genre got popular with certain Western writers (who are as most people of our generation, also gamers), and got combine with LitRPG, the worst thing is that they focus on the wrong aspects of the genre and made it into some power-progression fantasy with the murderhobo is the ultimate protagonist, in a world of muderhobos. And example of the subtle difference between the better written and the toxic ones: the better written one have the protagonist reflects on the conversations people are having in a tavern about him. He recognized and laments about the glim of greed he saw in the eyes of *one* of the people. Whereas in a toxic cultivation litRPG... everyone the protagonist met have the tendency to look at what he have with 'greed', everyone is just waiting to commit highway robbery on him, giving the rationale to return the favor. The LitRPG world is just full of greedy murderhobos waiting for the protagonist to dispense "justice", loot them and level up.
I think the first concept I can think of that is solarpunk. Aka cyberpunk technology fused with nature. Flashback 1992 Amiga by Delphine Software International. This have clunky technology with trees and platforms made out of logs an electrical support columns. The first lvl of Flashback.
You aren't getting away with ending that video with one of my favourite authors speaking, accompanied by one of my favourite game osts playing behind. Such an amazing video, really inspired me to think more about the genre and expand my view from thinking it was all about wind turbines and environment sustainability. Thank you
That ending speech from Ursula Le Guin...that was an example of art that inspires hope. The comparison of capitalism with the divine right of kings was jaw-dropping.
So much food for thought, thank you for putting together such a comprehensive and uplifting video essay! Loved the editing as well, looking forward to future content :D
The problem with post-capitalist utopia's in film is that it usually involves small agrarian communities which are separated from each other by large distances. So modern issues like lack of resources or population density aren't a thing. This is where the entire fantasy fails, in my opinion. We have more people alive today than at any point in human history, and the only reason that's possible is because of densly-populated urban centers with heavily-industrialized supply chains. Renewable resources, as they appear in fiction, simply isn't equipped to deal with the overwhelming needs of such a large and densely-packed population.
People in the comments attacking renewable resources, as if we could choose. Non renewable, by definition, eventually run out. There is no escaping that. The only difference is that the more we delay the transition, the worse the world becomes. Why is it so difficult for some people to see that?
Many people are very superficial and short-sighted. And also lifestyle advertising today and don’t think about what will happen next, advertising of unbridled consumption, humiliation of those people who are trying to do at least something to attract attention to the problem. Ideocracy is what it is...
Fun fact, humans at least where we are now wouldn't be able to handle a utopia. It's boring. We need conflict to give us meaning. The architect in the matrix said it best and i paraphrase, humans were given paradise and couldn't handle it. That is why cyberpunk hits the heart of so many far more than solarpunk. The universe is in constant entropy. It is a place of natural conflict and survival. A utopia built by beings meant for survival and geared for conflict isn't possible. Our coming to grips with that fact is depicted in cyberpunk heavily which us why cyberpunk is not just aesthetic but a reflection of ourselves within the greater universe.
Nihilistic drivel. This is exactly the conclusions you draw when you get your worldview from sci-fi action movies. You are right to say that people are geared for survival, but your analysis only provides for _one_ understanding of survival. If people are raised in a world where survival is conditional on greed and individualism of course they will act antisocially and reproduce such a society. This is not because people are averse to cooperation but precisely because we are so _adaptive._ It is the material conditions, the environment, that shape what we prioritize for our survival. The solarpunk aesthetic is based, largely, in the anarchist doctrine, which argues that the construction of a non-hierarchical society based in values of mutual aid and free organization. This is not a denial of the drive to survive but a design purpose-built for it. When people are raised in a society designed around community in which their needs are met and they are incentivized at every level to engage in communal and social behaviors, what do you think the result is? It is still surviving, but not the cruel or greedy survival of the cyberpunk capitalist economy - rather it is a survival of mutual aid, what Peter Kropotkin called one of the most important factors of evolution (in his book of the same name). All people want to survive, the point of solarpunk’s concept is to make survival synonymous with cooperation. There will still be conflict, of course, “true” conflictless utopia is impossible, but the point is to constantly work every day to get there - otherwise you will not even get close. Accepting a dismal program because it reflects “human nature” is not an acceptance of nature but rather of nurture. It is laying down and conceding to your social conditioning, that people must be selfish and cannot coexist. It is not a fact but instead a lie
@malaizze I get my worldview from the life I have lived and things I have seen. Not from fiction. I've seen how the world really operates and the true nature of people and no amount of mental gymnastics can prove otherwise. Does it mean I want this type of reality, no. But I'm a realist. Not an idealist.
@@Heraclatian hope is not idealism and pessimism is not realism. The things you have seen are real, but the analyses you draw from them are flawed. When I look at the horizon the world looks flat, yet it is round.
@malaizze It's not pessimism when you've seen it first hand, its fact. Follow the money also. We can accomplish a lot as humans, to that I know. Ultimately money is what gets anything done and it's those with the money that drive society and it's programming. Change that and you may have a chance but even then, you have to evolve the human condition to a point where it no longer craves or needs conflict, change thebhuman dynamic entirely. That requires as I said evolution, introspection and maturity. Something most just do not have and won't accept. Down with government and corporations sure, then what? A power vacuum waiting to be filled by someone that controls resources. This will never stop unless you change the current human condition. This is reality not pessimisim.
@@Heraclatian you mistake the future I propose for one without government or corporations. It isn’t just _without_ those things, it is _against_ them. A society without hierarchies that doesn’t actively oppose their creation will just end up as a power vacuum, like you said. Opposing the creation of these systems of domination is the whole point. There’s tons of literature on how to organize so as to prevent monopolies of power occurring too. Suggest you read up on it, could do you some good. Maybe not everyone wants to introspect and change, I grant you that, but I think putting down humanity as forever stuck in this condition is blind pessimism. There’s a great analogy I love to use with grasshoppers and locusts: we think of grasshoppers as kind and good and locusts as greedy and destructive, but they’re actually the same species - their behaviors and appearances just change as their material conditions shift. Not everyone can be better on their own, but a change in their conditions that incentivizes working together goes a long way. That’s the kind of future solarpunk politics propose. Anyways, I’m not interested in replying anymore. See you.
Cyberpunk was created by those with visions of what the future may be, our world taken to an extreme. It started with an idea “high tech, low life.” Our world carried to the brink of oblivion by the insatiability of unfettered capitalism and individualism infecting the very fabric of society. Solarpunk feels more like a lecture. I feel as though stories cannot be told within a solarpunk setting, for its “vision of a hopeful future” comes off as a sanctimonious rant instead of a compelling setting, with the only consistent theme seen throughout solarpunk media (most of which is drawings and animations with little to no worldbuilding.) is “x is good” and “y is good.” Not much room for conflict when there is no “bad guy.” Cyberpunk is about what’s possible. Solarpunk is about what isnt. And unlike cyberpunk, solarpunk’s leftist themes come off as ditzy preening with a side of worldbuilding cop-outs that have a lot in common with however the author thinks the world should be run rather than the stern warnings, philosophical meditations, and cautionary tales of man’s hubris and greed that is cyberpunk.
You know I have always loved solar punk, but I’ve always been drawn to fruitiger aero which has a similar vibe. Though I wouldn’t call it punk because it came from commercial in the 2000’s.
I was into looking into some Solarpunk stories and seeing how it can be expressed only to find thousands of explanations and solutions with no plots and only exploring old worlds. I was sad to find that only Strange World was the only story with a plot that's not seeing some old building or society.
As I said in the video, the genre is comparatively young, but you can check out The Monk & The Robot books if you feel like it. These are fully realised stories with a ton of character and great writing
So, where are all the cities in this Solarpunk world? Where will people live? Who builds this world? Who pays for it? When you need a surgeon, where do you find one? How does that surgeon, in turn, live and thrive in this "post-capitalist" world? Does the state mediate all of this? Who is the state? Is there a state? If not, who stops your neighbor from making claim to the property (apparently it's all pastoral/rural, based on this video) that you are presumably using to - what - grow your own food? Make your own clothing? Produce and share your own "technology"? All for a less dystopian vision for the future (cyberpunk is just an expression of these anxieties - a warning, not a prediction), but this wreaks of proto-libertarian nostalgia.
The Punk in cyberpunk doesn't really mean anti-authority, anarchy or freedom. Maybe it did at one time, but that time is past with the wider use of the term. Now its defined just as more of a setting that the previous word describes. Steampunk isny about opposing authority. Dieselpunk isn't about anarchy. Solarpunk isnt about freedom or fighting against tyrant. Atompunk doesn't speak to the downtrodden lower classes. It's just a stand-in for a world setting.
While Haiyou Miyazaki does not openly discuss nor is aware of the sub genre, movies like Castle in the Sky and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind does incorporate Solarpunk elements So does Made in Abyss to some extent. Even much older anime such as Green Legend Ran and Origin: Spirits of the Past harbor Solarpunk-like elements. Lush green scenaries with little to no signs of bygone technology are evident in the aforementioned anime mediums above.
I disagree, cyberpunk didn't failed. The only minus it had was that it was released half made. After they fixed it that was a masterpiece, after the DLC it became one of the top
Seems like it will end the same way brutalism did. Pure idealism and focusing on "concept" over any logical or moral concideration for the working class. Its a project popular in upper middle to upperclass who THINK themselves defendants of the poor while they create inefficient and self serving plans. An ettempt to critique the system ending up only contributing to the problem due to lack of a practical and humane solution. 7:24 this is what seems to be happening with solarpunk itself. Im studying urban planning and the current movement to build postmodernist buildings surrounded by grass has no solutions to either climate change or the housing crisis. Its an attempt to create fake greenery that takes up space that could be more efficiently used and thus make space for real greenery. Due to its inefficient land use these types of urban planning will end up destroying a lot of natural environments to make space for inefficiently build neighbourhoods. If you want to save the climate then stop urban sprawl. 17:30 ok it really does sound like shampagne socialism.
punk is more about culture alternatives and taking up space to be Alternative. That’s why you see so many different punk fiction and music sub genres. I’d argue most cyberpunk shouldn’t even be “punk” since most of it dosent really care about “radical alternative ideas” and care way more about… idk how x scary Asian country is going to take over somehow. There’s plenty of Cyberpunk that gets the “punk” part but by and large the majority of it has become so by the numbers and kinda shillly for mainstream narratives. I’d argue we should be asking why “cyber punk” and not techno thriller for every piece of cyberpunk media.
It's speculative fiction and an utopian dream for a certain type of people. To blame everything on capitalism is to blame human nature for wanting to profit from his resources and abilities. That fundamental nature can't be changed, merely tempered by individual foresight and wisdom. It's not solarpunk in the same sense as cyberpunk, only punk as an aesthetic. It's a solar dream.
Utopian thinking is fundamentally flawed because existing is fundamentally flawed. It has issues and suffering. The best solutions accept that the human condition has nasty elements that can't be fixed, only mitigated through individual virtue and wisdom. Talking about beliefs is pointless. No one changes their mind.
@@kurumikattaMy thoughts exactly, for communism to work, it would have to rely on a constant supply of countless completely benevolent people at every level of society, which is why communism has always fallen into authoritarianism.
@@jonblack3807why when we talk about dismantling capitalism it always defaults to building communism? Don't we have something else? Can't we invent something else?
@@kolyashinkarev7366 Communism is the popular alternative to capitalism, I’ve never interacted with people who intend to dismantle capitalism and replace it with anything that isn’t communism.
I mean, cyberpunk was never meant to be replicated irl. It's a dystopia, a *bad ending* for our world where nature dies and big corpo grows stronger than governments. It's weird to compare cyberpunk to solarpunk.
I honestly have a hard time conflating solarpunk with any left leaning ideology, especially in the light that some of the most obscurantist, repressive and even genocidal systems of governance stemmed from collectivism. Solarpunk creators in my circles tend to lean a bit to the right given that the future we seek to create demand that we personally engage with it, rather than expect group action to rise all ships with the tide.
Thank you for watching! If you like what I'm doing consider supporting this channel on Patreon for more essays on storytelling, art, video games and more: www.patreon.com/TheBookofIve
In my opinion solar punk shouldny be infused in a narrow set of politics, solarpunk should represent a future where technology coexist with nature regardless of the economic system
@@NeostormXLMAX Well, politics and economic system is how you get to that future
Also solar punk doesnt need to be punk after all punk means aesthetic, steampunk isnt punk ether
@@thebookofivewell there are multipleways to get to that future, i find the current “community” of solarpunk hobbyists to be very stringent and narrow about how solarpunk needs to be the ultimate utopia and that no conflict could be present in solarpunk which is absurd, it defeats the entire purpose of the genre.
Also i find the whole genre to be based on ghibli films which do have conflict
If you think about it there are alot of series that could count as solarpunk if you dont purely see it as a utopia genre, for example one can argue pokemon to be the perfect solarpunk setting sure it has its issues but it fits most of the definitions, Iain m banks culture series could too, or post-post cyberpunk series with the dying earth genre as well like with horizon zero dawn or xenoblade
In a cruel world, kindness is punk.
doing my very best o7
I've been thinking about that...like no wonder we are headed towards a dystopian type future, it's because that's all we can visualise (that's in our collective consciousness). If people can't visualise a different way, we will never get there.
Read capitalist realism
I feel like this phrase would work well in so many circumstances right now 😄
Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher? @@0skim0 this correct?
Yup, that's the one
@@thebookofive I'll check it out, thank you!
The one big issue with solarpunk is that unlike cyberpunk, the movement appeared before the actual works that could be part of it. Cyberpunk grew organically as a reaction to an increasingly technology-driven capitalism in the 80s and beyond. Solarpunk is basically an opposing concept to cyberpunk but there is not much besides the manifesto and some short stories that could give the movement depth and nuance which it needs to influence culture in a way cyberpunk did, or at least to engage in the debate with cyberpunk's cynical pessimism about the future. So far it looks like a manufactured movement, very much like internet music genres like vaporwave and such - an aesthetic and vibe above creative substance.
Im not sure thats true, the solar punk vibe has been around for a long time & has much material evidence, its just been maginalised as utopic idealised irrealvence by ....... the powers of commodification. That doesn't mean that its not maturing, gaining momentum or viable.
Apart from tech bros deifying Ayan Rand & thinking Bladerunner was a great suggestion, nobody wants to live in the dark satanic neon mills of Fritz Lang . Despite the issue of aesthetic romanticisation ...in the game of "would u Rather?" cant we all just get along with nature, techoolgy & each other' should win! Rather than be held hostage by a few % of comparative advantage psychopaths claiming that cooincidently that society can only run heirachically & that obviously kniveing your way to the top through corporate force is the best measure of worthyness , cuz thats human natur bro.
A new vision of human nature is needed, me thinks - & - meta modern solar punk offers it
This. Solarpunk is all looks, no substance, and ironically for something called 'punk' its conformist (looking and dressing different means nothing if you all think the same) and trend following. It is, ironically, the sort of shallow non-movement the upper class in a cyberpunk world would follow for social cred.
That said, I enjoy the aesthetic, even if it has zero substance.
It would be nice to know how to "kickstart" it as a movement in a grassroots kind of way. I mean I am absolutely no William Gibson but would like to contribute in my own little way if I can. The aesthetic and the potential is there, as you've said, we just need to fill the rest with intent and some punk attitude.
To add onto this, there's very little to go off of in solarpunk.
In cyberpunk we have a lot of good background detail from just the setup. We know what society is like, who the protagonists are, who the antagonists are likely to be, who the power players are, the types of adversaries and hazards that can be faced, and the types of jobs and adventures that can be set in the setting.
Solarpunk not so much.
It's not hard to come up with all of this in a story or work, but people like to use thematic shorthand when when figuring out what things they like. Why is Fantasy just a rip off of LotR? Because that's what was popular and became a shorthand for fantasy. Solarpunk doesn't have a shorthand like cyberpunk does. Hell, Stonepunk has more of a shorthand than solarpunk.
It's not a bug, it's a feature. I'm part of a musical collective and a participatory artist (i write larps and rpgs), making solarpunk music in Brasil. Solarpunk isn't about taking people's imagination, it isn't about a ready solution, nor is it about some kind of conflict. It is about doing what is Virtuous, and good for everyone. It's about getting involved in the process of creating Reality. Radical Participation requires it to not populate the imaginary and consolidate a structure. It's post structuralist by nature, and that is exactly what makes it absurdly potent. You can't capture something that isn't finished. You get to make the Solarpunk future, with us. You get to make the music, the visual arts, the artisanship, the technology, everything. It's the future you want. No one can deliver it to you in your doorstep.
First one and a half of a minute into the video and as soon as the words "what's so punk about trees?" were spoken I already loved it. A very much needed genre covered by a very much needed type of video essay, thank you for this, this is great work!
Thank you for watching!
its not punk. there is no fighting the system. it just portrays a system that happens to be cheery and upbeat and in touch with nature. all of the "punks" besides cyberpunk are not punk and they just have a level of technology and slap punk onto the name.
@@ZectifinSo, how does cyberpunk fight the system?
@@Zectifin solarpunk is about fighting the current system, focused on exploitation of nature and resources, constant uncontrolled growth and spreading misinformation about climate change. It is replaced by another system, sure, so what? I don't really get what you're trying to say here to be honest. Punk is about defiance, solarpunk shows defiance towards our current toxic relationship with nature
@@Zectifin solarpunk is about fighting the current system, focused on exploitation of nature and its resources, uncontrolled growth and spreading misinformation about climate change that benefits those who profit from it. It is replaced by another system, sure, so what? I'm not sure if I understand the point you're trying to make here to be honest. Punk is about defiance. Solarpunk shows defiance towards our current toxic relationship with nature
To anyone interested in solarpunk I'd recommend reading Murray Bookchin, as many of the views espoused by the genre feel like they're drawn directly from his ecology-centric libertarian socialism.
I'd also add Michael Löwy's book Ecosocialism as well
How socialism and libertarianism even go together?
Can you elaborate it?
@nivaldoschmiedel8245 in the most basic terms it rejects both capitalism and private property as well as state ownership by emphasizing mutual aid, common ownership and self-organisation.
Andrewism's video on the Commons illustrates some parts of that: th-cam.com/video/HG4Y8bgUwQ0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=GUrAfVcytaQr88wn
@@nivaldoschmiedel8245the original European libertarians were anarchists. The previous comment may be talking about non state socialism. Probably better to use anarcho-libertarian. Look into that term and read about bakhunin and go from there.
Ted would be proud.
Hollllyyy shit, that ending speech gave me goosebumps
I will not tolerate cyberpunk slander. Cyberpunk doesn't "fail" in any aspect, and it does exactly what it sets out to do. It's supposed to be a WARNING, a premonition of the tech future we are barreling toward if we don't get our sh#t together. It succeeds at that with flying colors.
> It's supposed to be a WARNING
I cover that aspect in the video
I didn't like when video author said something like "Solarpunk was made up by this, this and that unlike Cyberpunk that was born out of a novel or movie".
I come from watching part 3 from these great Cyberpunk documentary here on YT and a lot more elsewhere and Cyberpunk was assembled in a similar way by different pieces of media here and there, like comics, novels, short stories, games and more. To me it sounds exactly the opposite, Cyberpunk was born organic while Solarpunk was made on purpose, tailored to be a response, a positive punk future. I find it funny, Cyber was analogic and organic while Solar has been digital and manufactured.
Heres what i wrong in my other comment as a counterpoint i dont believe that cyberpunk is possible in the current set of economic system of corporatism especially in the united states, technology would never advance to that level since companies are LAZY they dont innovate when they dont require it, like technofeudalism, only through war imperialism ajd conflict does innovation happen under the current system, for example the usa practically destroyed their own space program when the soviets fell, its only when china built their space station did the usa step up, because technofeudalism is LAZY and will never innovate unless there is conflict cyberpunk future is thus impossible unless challenged by solarpunk or another
@@l1nkryuthe original form of solarpunk had another name i forgot, but most ghibli films were named after this, technically solarpunk always existed but didnt have a definable term, the culture series by banks is solarpunk, foundation by asimov is too technically
I think techno optimism is the name, or any setting where technology coexists with nature
I'm deeply impressed by this video. The amount of work you've put into it is clearly visible and the further reading section only encourages to explore the topic further. You've made wonderful job with this one, I think it's gotta be one of my fave essays (and I watch plenty of those)
I really hope the algorithm will pick it up, this video needs to be watched by much more people
Thank you!
we also need more trainpunk. trains have always been the most efficient form of transportation and should be used as a default mode in a climate- and energy constrained world.
NOT EVERYTHING HAS TO BE PUNK TO BE GOOD
@@stephannahmed7918 yeah BUT, trainpunk sounds cool, let the trains feel punk for a little, they are trying their best
This is an Adam something alt account, it has to be.
For the love of god not everything should be part of the punk genre. It diluted the meaning
I wonder what atomicpunk would look like. Not the Fallout 4 that's retro futuristic, like modern nuclear punk. Maybe it would look very bland and something close to brutalism but white, round shapes everywhere like a nuclear reactor exhaust.
My world changed when I realized the dystopian direction of our society. I just couldn't stop seeing the cracks and stupidity in everything within our system.
First came the rage, then the anxiety and I had to sought help to navigate this ocean of feelings. I grew exhausted of the pessimism and then found a new emotion in me: Raw passion.
This is it. I realized we could build wonders. Change. fucking. everything. We can build Solarpunk.
I had quitted my job a year ago in favor of something climate, and began working on electric batteries (I know, huge issues there). I need the financial stability for a while so decided to take a first step literally a month ago. One experiment. A whatsapp community where every Sunday I curate and share uplifting and Solarpunk stuff, in hopes of switching the pessimism paradigm to something bright.
Super small thing, but I'll give it my best as my first forage into something different. I also know that my career will probably take a huge turn towards regeneration and positive impact.
An idea was coming about, that we could grow our own food (on small scale) on balconies. It's therapeutic, eco-friendly, you know what you used to grow it (pesticides or not), etc.
Though some governments are banning the practice to have us more dependent on them, they can't regulate all.
@@silver1340 exactly.
I like you, I am exactly in your boots. 😎
Realistically, we will have to go through a Cyberpunk world before we can create a Solarpunk world.
I live in china, the population density of my city is 1405 person per km^2. The density and lifestyle shown in most solarpunk media is just impossible. You could build your little island of idyllic sustainability in your high-tech farm, but what about the others?
I know people have good will and put their hearts into their creation, but to me, solarpunk is feels too... corporate to trust.
That's an interesting point! That being said, I think the goal of solarpunk is not to provide a blueprint, but to help people break away from the limits of the "that's the only system we have" mentality. I don't think high density housing will disappear in a post-scarcity world, even if it will probably look a bit different from what we have now.
Thank you for your comment!
I watched your video again. I think the main critique I have with Solarpunk is that it envisions a flavour of utopian future, but the road there is eithervmissing, or a painfully corporate one.
Cyberpunk at least shows you a failed prospect of our world and calls for violence against the machine, but what should we do to reach the solarpunk world that we want? buy yogurt?
"Capitalism is stopping us form reaching this solarpunk future, where is your RAGE?"
This is the message I want to read from future, more mature solarpunk media
@@_furydance8890 that's a fair critique of existing works.
Stepping outside of this paradigm, there already exists a large corpus of anarchist works that tackle this particular topic, as well as real world examples of anarchist projects existing today (i.e. The Zapatistas or AANES aka Rojava). Anark had a great video called "After the Revolution" that tackles this precise problem, you might check it out (th-cam.com/video/sMoTWFZjoYA/w-d-xo.htmlsi=nqMci0p_s06TIn4R), I think Andrewism did some videos about alternative ways of social organisation, I mention the library economy in the video, but he covered broader topics as well
You can also take a look at the Chilean Project Cybersyn as an example of a non-capitalist system of the distribution of resources, though it's important to mention that Allende wasn't an anarchist.
I think many misunderstand cyberpunk. It was not manufactured. It came out of a collection of works by people who correctly looked at where our society was headed and looked at what tech actually has been used for by humans for the last 300 years and it doesn't add up to a utopia.
And I hate to say it but based on the ideas presented here "solar punk" has already been tried and fizzled out. Because as near as I can tell it is basically the 60s hippie communes with some cool future tech and early 2000s Frutiger Aero inspired aesthetics. It also seems to be set far enough in the future that like the utopias of Star Trek it already skips over the hard parts and just fast forwards to utopia. I honestly don't see how that really is going to be more than a fad.
The hippies and tumblrites share the same sentiment. Nothing new under the sun, it seems.
It can’t happen in our lifetime but 100 to 200 years from now it could be a reality. I would imagine several wars, a electrical reset, and governmental reset could propagate this type of society. It would have to be in a world where the population is heavily declined. That is my prediction for the next few hundred years.
Yes, solarpunk is what happens when hippies, punks and hip hop come together to find a solution.
You are waiting to be told a solution, instead of providing one. Solarpunk is to get involved. To go make it happen. It does not need a formula, it needs people who understand we are trash, and are willing to recycle ourselves.
Thinking in this way is almost in a way admitting defeat without even trying.
It already being tried just means the right conditions weren't there.
People tried to apply gender theory in the last century. It failed miserably with sadly some people unaliving themself due to the emotiobal turmoil in being the subject of failed social expediments. Now it seems to at least have a leg to stand on
Nasa tried inflatable space stations in the past, it failed. Now they reconsider thanks to new modern materials.
Religion got critizised onfe by Galileo. He also already did that, guess what, several centuries later people did it again and now the movement is stronger than ever!
So your argument of "people already did that" is pretty weak, when conditions change regurarly.
Solarpunk just needs to have the posibility to apply it which also comes through technology we need to push towards amd social systems beneficial for it to become at least somewhat real.
Bro, your editing is extremely good man. That soft fade out scream from rules of nature was immaculate. Keep up the good work!
I like Solarpunk, it gives me hope, hope for a better future. May sound cliche but Solarpunk just sounds so nice, so calming.
Solarpunk starts with people gradually practicing it, experimenting what works and what doesn't work.
Start living the way you intent on the practices that work and gradually you can structure a system around the practices so the transition becomes smooth and and acceptable instead of enforcing change and see if people like it or not.
Solarpunk will remain a fiction as long as 1% of the population control 90% of the world's wealth. Governments now need corporate wealth to function too which is why COP24 had world leaders consulting with investors and corporate executives. You could get 99% of the worlds population going green and it wouldn't change a thing because they are a minor part of the world's ecological problems.
Cyberpunk succeeds because it feels genuine. It actually addresses what we are doing. There are people everywhere, alongside the industries needed to sustain all of them. It isn't pretty, but we can see ourselves reflected in it.
Solarpunk...I love the concept, but it has some obvious flaws. It just kind of avoids some serious economical and social problems. It doesn't feel like an attempt to a possible future, rather than a "wouldn't that be nice" kind of thing. I think a Solarpunk that looks industrious and densely populated would have far more appeal. Clearly producing solar cells, electric vehicles, recycling, wind turbines and blades...even green technology needs to be produced. Vertical farms seem more realistic than personal vegetable gardens for example. Combine eco-friendly with eco-nomical. How does a green advanced civilization exist? Make it believable. People are far more likely to buy into Eco-friendliness, if it seems like something realistic and feasible.
Don't mean to sound harsh. I really liked your video. I think making the idea as appealing as possible to as many people as possible is super important.
Solarpunk is hopeful, utopistic even, utopias don't leave much space to write tragedies, like what kind of struggle can there be when you have a limitless resource?
Thank you so much for making this amazing video and doing this important topic justice imo!
i love this video essay
Hope - something we could use a bit more of these days. Thank you!
I wanted to express thanks for the warning of flashing lights at the beginning, that was considerate of you. That doesn't go unnoticed.
in the end solarpunk is born from an aesthetic and it still feels like only that an aesthetic
i think dear alice also encapsulates one of my main complains with solarpunk, its used by corporations and techbros to point to change without any real change while having little interaction with the real world.
Cyberpunk despite also suffering from being turned in an aesthetic doesn't fail at its goal as much, its a cautionary tale about were does late stage capitalism leads, this makes cyberpunk offering no solutions more ok, since its not about a solution its about stopping apathy its a cry for action before the future that it shows becomes a reality.
If anything the main falling i see in cyberpunk is some times it leans to hard on this doom and gloom and it makes the dystopia look inevitable.
Well not what i expected when i started writhing but if you are going to take anything away from this i would say do not fall for the aesthetics, take the hope of a better future from solarpunk and not its looks, and take the call to action of cyberpunk not its feeling of doom.
edit :(sorry dear reader for the confuse text, dyslexia and second language dont mix that well XD)
I think solarpunk is still in the making. It is the hope of a brighter future and this changes over time as you see what becomes a possibility and what not. Green skyscrapers, or rather smaller houses with less people and more green. No cars or rather solar EVs. More untouched nature and denser green cities, or whitespread, green areas used for human comfort.
Those are ll possibilities humans might want and unlike cyberpunk, we must ensure that solarpunk remains a possibility to keep inspiring.
¡Thank you wholeheartedly! I needed this, and the last words from Ursula Le Guin, have just opened my soul, heart and imagination. Thank you Ive for your must sincere and honest take on this concept.
The title is so clickbaity. Cyberpunk was never meant to be hope for future like solar punk, something to strive for, it was always a warning
Correct, it's like saying that George Orwell WANTED to live in oceania. 😂😂😂
Wrong. Solarpunk was never "meant" to be anything, it's not a top down phenomenon. Rewire your brain before its too late.
@@zazander732 Maybe those who should rewire their brains should be those who write those clickbaity titles based on comparing apples and oranges.
@@theoutergod8666 cool so ARE not gonna even attempt to adress who wrong you were, no room for you in my Solarpunk Utopia. L.
@@zazander732 Aaaah yes, trying to fight ignorance by not fighting it, not even trying to enlight others. What an upstanding representative of utopian altruism you are. Keep stacking those Ls.
Thank you for your video. I hope algorithm picks up your work, and spreads the good word around.
Success.
Thank you for watching!
Someone else mentioned Origin: Spirits of the Past (2006) briefly but I want to mention it again because it’s really good.
It’s a story with strong solarpunk energy before the genre had a name. It deals with a clear structural criticism of the past world (our world) and the world the characters in the film live in. It’s post apocalyptic but a very hopeful tale and has a really interesting use of plant-based body horror. It’s a lot less idyllic of a world than some other solarpunk art but it ultimately still upholds the core concepts.
It’s pretty obscure, also failed at the box office, but it has a lot to say about the way in which the idealized past will not save anyone, the importance of working to live in harmony with nature, and also a really firm statement on bodily autonomy (in this case altering ones body in a way society deems unacceptable) that borders on allegorical in a particular way🏳️⚧️ also a strong criticism on the idea of normality. One line that sticks with me from an argument between the main characters is the line “The world doesn’t have to go back to normal”
Screw minimalistic cyberpunk dystopia, all my homies live in frutiger aero Solarpunk paradise
This Video is not only good in it's making, it is touching as well... and the beginning of a rabbit hole or even better, a starting point and resource for the unknowing and untouched. As an artist, I salute you. Thank you.
Thank you for watching!
Always love seeing a good video on solarpunk. It's a wonderful aesthetic and I think broadly helps people envision a better future that we can achieve.
You should look into ecomodernism, the capitalist attempt to co-opt the aesthetic and broader goals of the movement. To me it really embodies the risks that come from believing aesthetic alone means anything, and really risks swaying those who do believe we can just consume our way out of equality and climate disasters.
I think the primary issue with solar-punk as it's imagined is the post-scarcity aspect of it. Solarpunk needs to define what it imagines post-scarcity to be for people to be able to latch onto it outside of just "green tech and environmentalism". I don't believe solarpunk will ever get out of it's aesthetic stage if it can't come to terms with how it operates economically, and this has to be figured out along the entire wealth class of humanity, whether they live in cities or rurally. There needs to be consistency.
That's something I definitely plan to tackle in some of the future videos. Thanks for the comment!
Watch Andrewism’s video on solarpunk anarchism. The economic basis has been established by many people already
No, the problem is lack of conflict.
Cyberpunk sells because it's brutal and sexy. Solarpunk is comfy, sure, but it's the genre equivalent of a desktop wallpaper you like right now.
@@jingbot1071So what if there is no conflict. Solarpunk is the destination, the conflict is getting there.
It is as sexy as the promise of heaven for christians. A hope for a better future.
And how ironic to say a certain flavour of Punk "sells", when in it's core it is anti establishment 😂
@@DundG It makes for a cool and cozy feeling setting that contains stories nobody wants to read. That's not what people dig into, at least not when it comes to mass appeal. Solarpunk is, ironically, a genre that works great for one shot disposable media posts but terribly for creating engaging, dramatic media that lasts a long time. This is why there hasn't been (and without creative evolution of the genre, won't be) any blockbuster solarpunk games or movies.
It's a juice commercial with a neat aesthetic. Don't get lost in the sauce because the solar panels are pretty. The rare earth metals you need for those ensure the other side of the solarpunk world doesn't and won't ever look that good...
Thank you so much for this video. It was extremely educational and helped me a lot.
Cyberpunk, relates to Steampunk and dieselpunk. The "punk" part IMO refers to some some form of anachronism (future or past) in a setting. For steampunk it's magic and futuristic tech in victorian times. For dieselpunk it's aircraft with a propeller aesthetic (biplane to WW2) in a magic or future setting ("The Last Exile" for instance). for cyberpunk it's the nihilist/mercenary culture in a near future setting with cyberware.
I think this video has awaken something in me. Amazing work. You really deserve more views and subcribers, but hey...at least you got one more with me 😊
Thank you!
Pastoral science fiction isn't a new genre.
It's a very old trope of a post scarcity society returned to an idealised past that never really existed. It is almost ultra capitalist in its idealisation of individual land holdings, family structure, and unneeded government.
And that's not Solarpunk at all.
"The future is ancestral" ~Ailton Krenak
Krenak is an indigenous philosopher and anthropologist from Brasil.
The organization of society in Solarpunk isn't rooted in private property. It's a profound shift: Land is not mine, it is I who am from the Land. I'm owned by the Land, as is everyone else. This is a completely different way of living.
I prefer to think we are part of the land and it's a part of us. No one is owned.
Solarpunk, reminds me of a nomadic lifestyle like the. Nomads from Cyberpunk 2077.
Unrelated to the topic but when you played Iscarus at 2:15 i just burst into tears
Deus Ex Human Revolution score is legendary 🔥
@@thebookofive wish it wouldn’t be treated like this, so much of a better cyberpunk game than Cyberpunk 2077 😢
Second video I watch from your channel and I really love your stuff.
I just see solarpunk as hopefull fantasy. Let's be honest, for a future like that to be possible, this world would have to collapse in almost every way, and who knows what humanity wil do at a so dire reality. And history does not help invision a bright future... The only hope i have left is to be wrong
Really interesting and hopeful essay. Thank you!
Holy s%it.
Just. Damn. I've long been a fan of Solarpunk (Ever since I first encountered the concept on that very tumblr post you discussed!) but I couldn't put my fingers on why it resonated so hard. I couldn't put to words why it felt so much more revolutionary and important than other 'punk aesthetics' like steampunk or cyberpunk.
Your editing, your analysis, your details and suggestions for further reading and just -- I can't say I can remember a time a video left me in tears because of *hope* before. Because hope, hope for a better world, a better future, a better alternative ... that's what the difference is. That's what's been missing.
And you nailed it, without even ever once having to utter that word. That word that we so often get chided as being 'foolish' or 'childish' for when we point to fiction as something to aspire for -- hope.
This is only the second video I've seen of yours, the first being "The Other Kind Of Horror" that got randomly recced to me... But I'm absolutely subscribing, already. Just, phenomenal.
Most of the EV batteries don't even use Cobalt anymore and are using lithium-iron chemistry.
Lithium still needs to be mined, so I think the original point still stands, but thank you for the clarification
Your accent gives the essay a lot of personality. I love it.
Yes, yes yes! This is one of the best summaries of Solarpunk I have some across in years. It is a movement of sorts that is still finding its footing but everyday it slowly gets a little more stable and capable. It has been said that the reason why capitalism has lasted so long is because many simply do not have a vision or imagination of any other way. For a total lack of this, we just keep doing the same thing everyday because "there is no other way". Solarpunk is an attempt to provide that vision, a future people would actually want rather than fear.
That you mentioned the limited scope of this messaging in mass media is to be expected a little. George Lucas once said that in the 70's he spoke to many film directors in the USSR and found that apart from a few subjects they couldn't touch (critical of the standing government), they were much more free than directors in the US. They didn't have to worry about the entire structure of commercial viability/marketing etc that hollywood has as its backbone. In USSR, they couldn't challenge the political powers. In modern media, you cannot challenge the economic system, for it is the great god of progress and it is looking a little well... fragile...
In the face of political tension, ecological blow back, resource depletion - solarpunk is a vision of another way. A word that we shrink into rather than trying to speed out of. To be the essence of Epicurus - 'If thou wilt make a man happy, add not unto his riches but take away from his desires.'
Your editing style is soooo satisfying
Thank you!
Great video, i really enjoyed the presentation and ideas
This is a pretty good video on solarpunk.
I would like to state that Anno 2070 is a great game that strikes a balance between allowing the player to either go Cyberpunk, High-Tech or Solarpunk.
Even though I like Cyberpunk more, because it is far more likely that it will become our future in some shape or form.
blew my eardrums out @14:00
At some point, Cyberpunk went from a cautionary tale/horrifying future into the dreams of countless people who can't see meta-narrative and authors' message.
This is especially potent in the tech circles of very influential ppl. Like Musk (no examples needed) and Sam Altman/OpenAI/ChatGPT CEO (the scandal with theft of Scarlet Johanson's voice, probably cause of the film "Her")
when you look at every cyberpunk book the overall theme is unchecked ambition where people are just advancing for progress just for progress's sake or someone's need to just be rich and don't give a damn about the things that were broken to get there. There's a middle ground between Cyberpunk and Solarpunk which would be ideal for all but what that looks like isn't known
Why do we need to find a middle ground?
@@lynallott3404 because utopia comes at a cost just like dystopia does. The cost of a utopia is not allowing anyone in who doesn't agree with the vision presented so a middle ground is best for everyone there has to be choice and people need the freedom to choose what they want to do with their lives
@@RavenStorm332 Mhh, I agree with you, and I do think it applies to solarpunk to an extent, but I don't think that solarpunk is a true utopia, and thus it doesn't have the issue as you propose it. Things are still going to be messy, and broken, and needing fixing in solarpunk, that's part of the point, it's meant to be real, even though it can seem utopian in comparison to where we are now.
@@lynallott3404 I have to read some solarpunk fiction to refine my but just from how solarpunk was explained in the video it does seem utopian. There are cyberpunk stories that aren't completely dystopian though they're not as popular because for some reason people need a bad guy to blame for their problems
@RavenStorm332 is Solarpunk really any more "utopian" than any of the countless promises you heard every day until _at least_ your first one of High school, or are you just that utterly broken?
I have come to the realization that capitalism is a chain link fence of self creation. And mythology or stories are a part of that. If you have stories that reinforce the system, it helps engrain that Into our brains and thus our lives, so we must really focus on all kinds of stories that break out of this cancer. Basically creatives need to start making songs, nursery rhymes, mythology, fictions, games, animations that all go against this tide of unsustainable life.
Made me think of that mall in Tokyo with the park on it that all the tourists think is great but the locals are like, "Yeah but they build a mall on our park This was the compromise."
Apropos of this videos’ conclusion that solarpunk is in a really nascent state, Terra Nil itself as a game is a little bit undecided-as a game-about where the soul of its gameplay and player experience lies. There aren’t many different ways to play Terra Nil (yet), just as we haven’t plumbed the depths of what kind of stories and worldbuilding are possible within solarpunk
IMO Solarpunk is only possible if most materials are mined and refined in space, or if energy is so bountiful as to facilitate energy to matter conversion. There would always be areas on the planet that would look dystopian, to extract, refine, or recycle the materials needed for the tech. Maybe some unknown genetic modification could make animals and plants produce these materials, who knows.
The only major issue I see is that there is no way without some sort of cataclysm that the meager power generation of wind and solar can possibly sustain a technological world. Nuclear would be an option and it would be cool to see nuclear power plants supported by a ecologically friendly network of solar, geothermal, wind, and hydro.
I agree in that we need to be wary of any single technology being THE solution to our problems, that is what got us into this mess in the first place.
Uplifting ☺
How bout... more of both!
This really reminds me of the last book in Frank Herbert's Dune, "Chapterhouse". Especially in regard to how the Bene Gesserit treat the land and organize their society.
I love this so much! I'm kinda not so young anymore. To me, this is new, it is a new kind of hope or a crystallization of a hope that has been with us for a long time. I'm sitting here thinking about small first steps. They say one should start by building community, local power structures and all that. I will see, in what way I can help to do that. But I guess one good first step is a reevaluation of one's role in the system - to stop thinking about oneself as a consumer and start thinking about oneself as a social animal that needs and thrives on connection.
I kinda solarpunk better because it’s cyberpunk because it has so much beauty and it’s very relaxing.
good video, commenting for algorithm!
We're becoming more and more unable to separate fiction from reality to the point we're trying to correct fiction.
Baudrillard says hi
oh yeahhh.. solar doesnt sound boring at all, rebel moon can be consider solar punk, a work without foundation, sounds fitting to the genre
Comment for the algorithm, I need more people to see this
"succeeding" at what exactly? being a more popular navel-gazing aesthetic? sure, I guess, but to be anything more than that would require controlling the means of production, which none of these people intend to accomplish, so these discussions are as relevant and important as elves.
What exactly do you propose as an alternative? that we keep heading towards the Bladerunner esq future we are in danger of becoming? No one claimed changing our lifestyle and corporate culture to something more sustainable was going to be easy but it's something worth shooting for.
@@dennisduncan7561 we are not "heading towards the Bladerunner-esque future" because we have no control over the means of production, it's the people who control the means of production that are heading toward that future for us: the bourgeoisie. the solution is, and always has been, to seize the means of production from the bourgeoisie and end their dictatorship by abolishing any possibility of them existing. once we have control of the means of production we can direct it to things that are actually useful and not things that just steal surplus value from labor so that miserable sociopaths can not even enjoy the finest things they decorate their lives with, except in the lording it over others.
@@mexicanhalloween tf u yapping bout? Seems you can’t see past behind anything, maybe it’s cause you actually never SUFFERED from capitalism and wants it stay that way to help u enjoy your comforts. Shut up dude.
It reminds me what happen to the 'cultivation' genre, when it met the Western LitRPG genre. I recently saw a video with the critique that the 'cultivation' genre is toxic. For me, it's a yes and no. Cultivation genre came from the Chinese Xianxia genre, basically chinese fantasy, and in it's classical way, it focus on anti-traditionalist, anti-social hierarchy in a setting where magic exist. Then the genre got popular with certain Western writers (who are as most people of our generation, also gamers), and got combine with LitRPG, the worst thing is that they focus on the wrong aspects of the genre and made it into some power-progression fantasy with the murderhobo is the ultimate protagonist, in a world of muderhobos.
And example of the subtle difference between the better written and the toxic ones: the better written one have the protagonist reflects on the conversations people are having in a tavern about him. He recognized and laments about the glim of greed he saw in the eyes of *one* of the people. Whereas in a toxic cultivation litRPG... everyone the protagonist met have the tendency to look at what he have with 'greed', everyone is just waiting to commit highway robbery on him, giving the rationale to return the favor. The LitRPG world is just full of greedy murderhobos waiting for the protagonist to dispense "justice", loot them and level up.
I think the first concept I can think of that is solarpunk. Aka cyberpunk technology fused with nature.
Flashback 1992 Amiga by
Delphine Software International.
This have clunky technology with trees and platforms made out of logs an electrical support columns.
The first lvl of Flashback.
more people should watch this video.
Solarpunk is the most uninteresting concept I've ever seen.
@@StratumPress maybe that’s why it’s important.
You aren't getting away with ending that video with one of my favourite authors speaking, accompanied by one of my favourite game osts playing behind.
Such an amazing video, really inspired me to think more about the genre and expand my view from thinking it was all about wind turbines and environment sustainability. Thank you
That ending speech from Ursula Le Guin...that was an example of art that inspires hope. The comparison of capitalism with the divine right of kings was jaw-dropping.
So much food for thought, thank you for putting together such a comprehensive and uplifting video essay! Loved the editing as well, looking forward to future content :D
Thank you for watching!
The problem with post-capitalist utopia's in film is that it usually involves small agrarian communities which are separated from each other by large distances. So modern issues like lack of resources or population density aren't a thing. This is where the entire fantasy fails, in my opinion. We have more people alive today than at any point in human history, and the only reason that's possible is because of densly-populated urban centers with heavily-industrialized supply chains. Renewable resources, as they appear in fiction, simply isn't equipped to deal with the overwhelming needs of such a large and densely-packed population.
People in the comments attacking renewable resources, as if we could choose. Non renewable, by definition, eventually run out. There is no escaping that. The only difference is that the more we delay the transition, the worse the world becomes. Why is it so difficult for some people to see that?
Many people are very superficial and short-sighted. And also lifestyle advertising today and don’t think about what will happen next, advertising of unbridled consumption, humiliation of those people who are trying to do at least something to attract attention to the problem. Ideocracy is what it is...
But, once SolarPunk becomes mainstream, what's to rebel against it ?
Very good video, thank you!
Terra nil is so cool!
Fun fact, humans at least where we are now wouldn't be able to handle a utopia. It's boring. We need conflict to give us meaning. The architect in the matrix said it best and i paraphrase, humans were given paradise and couldn't handle it. That is why cyberpunk hits the heart of so many far more than solarpunk. The universe is in constant entropy. It is a place of natural conflict and survival. A utopia built by beings meant for survival and geared for conflict isn't possible. Our coming to grips with that fact is depicted in cyberpunk heavily which us why cyberpunk is not just aesthetic but a reflection of ourselves within the greater universe.
Nihilistic drivel. This is exactly the conclusions you draw when you get your worldview from sci-fi action movies. You are right to say that people are geared for survival, but your analysis only provides for _one_ understanding of survival. If people are raised in a world where survival is conditional on greed and individualism of course they will act antisocially and reproduce such a society. This is not because people are averse to cooperation but precisely because we are so _adaptive._ It is the material conditions, the environment, that shape what we prioritize for our survival. The solarpunk aesthetic is based, largely, in the anarchist doctrine, which argues that the construction of a non-hierarchical society based in values of mutual aid and free organization. This is not a denial of the drive to survive but a design purpose-built for it. When people are raised in a society designed around community in which their needs are met and they are incentivized at every level to engage in communal and social behaviors, what do you think the result is? It is still surviving, but not the cruel or greedy survival of the cyberpunk capitalist economy - rather it is a survival of mutual aid, what Peter Kropotkin called one of the most important factors of evolution (in his book of the same name). All people want to survive, the point of solarpunk’s concept is to make survival synonymous with cooperation. There will still be conflict, of course, “true” conflictless utopia is impossible, but the point is to constantly work every day to get there - otherwise you will not even get close.
Accepting a dismal program because it reflects “human nature” is not an acceptance of nature but rather of nurture. It is laying down and conceding to your social conditioning, that people must be selfish and cannot coexist. It is not a fact but instead a lie
@malaizze I get my worldview from the life I have lived and things I have seen. Not from fiction. I've seen how the world really operates and the true nature of people and no amount of mental gymnastics can prove otherwise. Does it mean I want this type of reality, no. But I'm a realist. Not an idealist.
@@Heraclatian hope is not idealism and pessimism is not realism. The things you have seen are real, but the analyses you draw from them are flawed. When I look at the horizon the world looks flat, yet it is round.
@malaizze It's not pessimism when you've seen it first hand, its fact. Follow the money also. We can accomplish a lot as humans, to that I know. Ultimately money is what gets anything done and it's those with the money that drive society and it's programming. Change that and you may have a chance but even then, you have to evolve the human condition to a point where it no longer craves or needs conflict, change thebhuman dynamic entirely. That requires as I said evolution, introspection and maturity. Something most just do not have and won't accept. Down with government and corporations sure, then what? A power vacuum waiting to be filled by someone that controls resources. This will never stop unless you change the current human condition. This is reality not pessimisim.
@@Heraclatian you mistake the future I propose for one without government or corporations. It isn’t just _without_ those things, it is _against_ them. A society without hierarchies that doesn’t actively oppose their creation will just end up as a power vacuum, like you said. Opposing the creation of these systems of domination is the whole point. There’s tons of literature on how to organize so as to prevent monopolies of power occurring too. Suggest you read up on it, could do you some good.
Maybe not everyone wants to introspect and change, I grant you that, but I think putting down humanity as forever stuck in this condition is blind pessimism. There’s a great analogy I love to use with grasshoppers and locusts: we think of grasshoppers as kind and good and locusts as greedy and destructive, but they’re actually the same species - their behaviors and appearances just change as their material conditions shift. Not everyone can be better on their own, but a change in their conditions that incentivizes working together goes a long way. That’s the kind of future solarpunk politics propose.
Anyways, I’m not interested in replying anymore. See you.
Cyberpunk was created by those with visions of what the future may be, our world taken to an extreme. It started with an idea “high tech, low life.” Our world carried to the brink of oblivion by the insatiability of unfettered capitalism and individualism infecting the very fabric of society.
Solarpunk feels more like a lecture. I feel as though stories cannot be told within a solarpunk setting, for its “vision of a hopeful future” comes off as a sanctimonious rant instead of a compelling setting, with the only consistent theme seen throughout solarpunk media (most of which is drawings and animations with little to no worldbuilding.) is “x is good” and “y is good.” Not much room for conflict when there is no “bad guy.”
Cyberpunk is about what’s possible. Solarpunk is about what isnt. And unlike cyberpunk, solarpunk’s leftist themes come off as ditzy preening with a side of worldbuilding cop-outs that have a lot in common with however the author thinks the world should be run rather than the stern warnings, philosophical meditations, and cautionary tales of man’s hubris and greed that is cyberpunk.
However, I appreciate the effort that went into this video, and if you wish to change my mind I invite you to do so.
>Not much room for conflict when there is no “bad guy.”
This is an extremely limited understanding of what storytelling actually is.
@@thebookofive a tad more effort than a “nuh uh” would be nice
You know I have always loved solar punk, but I’ve always been drawn to fruitiger aero which has a similar vibe. Though I wouldn’t call it punk because it came from commercial in the 2000’s.
I was into looking into some Solarpunk stories and seeing how it can be expressed only to find thousands of explanations and solutions with no plots and only exploring old worlds.
I was sad to find that only Strange World was the only story with a plot that's not seeing some old building or society.
As I said in the video, the genre is comparatively young, but you can check out The Monk & The Robot books if you feel like it. These are fully realised stories with a ton of character and great writing
You could also read Pacific Edge by Kim Stanley Robinson and the anthology of short stories METAtropolis, both have definite plots.
8:25 Solar punk can be a nice package for corporate fascism/capitalism too. Kind of like Brave new world.
I want to make story and shows based on solarpunk and if I’m able to make it would be so cool
So, where are all the cities in this Solarpunk world? Where will people live? Who builds this world? Who pays for it? When you need a surgeon, where do you find one? How does that surgeon, in turn, live and thrive in this "post-capitalist" world? Does the state mediate all of this? Who is the state? Is there a state? If not, who stops your neighbor from making claim to the property (apparently it's all pastoral/rural, based on this video) that you are presumably using to - what - grow your own food? Make your own clothing? Produce and share your own "technology"?
All for a less dystopian vision for the future (cyberpunk is just an expression of these anxieties - a warning, not a prediction), but this wreaks of proto-libertarian nostalgia.
Dude, Kim Stanley Robinson had been writing Solarpunk since the eighties.
Thanks for the recommendation, I'll check him out!
The Punk in cyberpunk doesn't really mean anti-authority, anarchy or freedom. Maybe it did at one time, but that time is past with the wider use of the term. Now its defined just as more of a setting that the previous word describes. Steampunk isny about opposing authority. Dieselpunk isn't about anarchy. Solarpunk isnt about freedom or fighting against tyrant. Atompunk doesn't speak to the downtrodden lower classes. It's just a stand-in for a world setting.
While Haiyou Miyazaki does not openly discuss nor is aware of the sub genre, movies like Castle in the Sky and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind does incorporate Solarpunk elements
So does Made in Abyss to some extent.
Even much older anime such as Green Legend Ran and Origin: Spirits of the Past harbor Solarpunk-like elements.
Lush green scenaries with little to no signs of bygone technology are evident in the aforementioned anime mediums above.
I mean it sounds more like a solar Renaissance than solar punk.
Ok but my life sucks so I like genres without hope
I disagree, cyberpunk didn't failed. The only minus it had was that it was released half made. After they fixed it that was a masterpiece, after the DLC it became one of the top
Everything produced is last 12 years is Solarpunk.
Que buen video por la xuxa ❤
Seems like it will end the same way brutalism did. Pure idealism and focusing on "concept" over any logical or moral concideration for the working class. Its a project popular in upper middle to upperclass who THINK themselves defendants of the poor while they create inefficient and self serving plans.
An ettempt to critique the system ending up only contributing to the problem due to lack of a practical and humane solution.
7:24 this is what seems to be happening with solarpunk itself.
Im studying urban planning and the current movement to build postmodernist buildings surrounded by grass has no solutions to either climate change or the housing crisis. Its an attempt to create fake greenery that takes up space that could be more efficiently used and thus make space for real greenery.
Due to its inefficient land use these types of urban planning will end up destroying a lot of natural environments to make space for inefficiently build neighbourhoods.
If you want to save the climate then stop urban sprawl.
17:30 ok it really does sound like shampagne socialism.
What would really help, both with housing and helping the environment would ether be living in skyscrapers, or underground skyscrapers/cities
punk is more about culture alternatives and taking up space to be Alternative. That’s why you see so many different punk fiction and music sub genres. I’d argue most cyberpunk shouldn’t even be “punk” since most of it dosent really care about “radical alternative ideas” and care way more about… idk how x scary Asian country is going to take over somehow. There’s plenty of Cyberpunk that gets the “punk” part but by and large the majority of it has become so by the numbers and kinda shillly for mainstream narratives. I’d argue we should be asking why “cyber punk” and not techno thriller for every piece of cyberpunk media.
It's speculative fiction and an utopian dream for a certain type of people.
To blame everything on capitalism is to blame human nature for wanting to profit from his resources and abilities. That fundamental nature can't be changed, merely tempered by individual foresight and wisdom.
It's not solarpunk in the same sense as cyberpunk, only punk as an aesthetic. It's a solar dream.
Utopian thinking is fundamentally flawed because existing is fundamentally flawed. It has issues and suffering. The best solutions accept that the human condition has nasty elements that can't be fixed, only mitigated through individual virtue and wisdom.
Talking about beliefs is pointless. No one changes their mind.
You are aware that profit isn't a natural phenomenon right? Also, you don't get the full value of your work under capitalism anyway.
@@kurumikattaMy thoughts exactly, for communism to work, it would have to rely on a constant supply of countless completely benevolent people at every level of society, which is why communism has always fallen into authoritarianism.
@@jonblack3807why when we talk about dismantling capitalism it always defaults to building communism? Don't we have something else? Can't we invent something else?
@@kolyashinkarev7366 Communism is the popular alternative to capitalism, I’ve never interacted with people who intend to dismantle capitalism and replace it with anything that isn’t communism.
Solarpunk has that y2k style too it.😊
I mean, cyberpunk was never meant to be replicated irl. It's a dystopia, a *bad ending* for our world where nature dies and big corpo grows stronger than governments. It's weird to compare cyberpunk to solarpunk.
I honestly have a hard time conflating solarpunk with any left leaning ideology, especially in the light that some of the most obscurantist, repressive and even genocidal systems of governance stemmed from collectivism.
Solarpunk creators in my circles tend to lean a bit to the right given that the future we seek to create demand that we personally engage with it, rather than expect group action to rise all ships with the tide.