I can confirm that left-wing internet circles have thoroughly hammered home the fact that the current system needs rework. By that I mean the capitalist, military-industrial, petro-dollar system. The earth is warming, we’re in the middle of a mass extinction, the food is less nutritious, and there’s microplastic in every cell of our bodies. And instead of addressing these most existential of issues, we’re fighting wars and dismantling coalitions left and right.
But as I’ve said before, you can’t simply subtract a negative; you must add a positive. Warriors alone cannot make a nation; you need farmers and engineers and artists too.
This I think the internet is lacking. There is relatively little effort to imagine the future, to imagine a happy path for humanity. It’s human psychology writ large: one negative thought weighs as much as ten positive thoughts. If it bleeds, it leads.
But there are oases of optimism [1][2]: pockets communities of bright folks working toward a sustainable future. And one corner of the internet I find especially uplifting is Solarpunk.
Solarpunk is a Ghibli-esque aesthetic of peaceful, abundant, photoelectric and photosynthetic modernity [3]. It’s got solar panels and plants everywhere, blimps and sails, wind turbines, and natural materials.
Solarpunk, by its name, seats itself in a lineage of artistic “-punk” genres. There’s Steampunk, a retro-futuristic reimagining of the world under steam power, a hypothetical alternate timeline. And of course, there is Cyberpunk. Cyberpunk instead depicts hypothetical futures, typically dystopian worlds overrun by nihilism, corruption, depravity, corporate greed, rampant addiction, and constant overstimulation. Self-fulfilling or not, Cyberpunk remains eerily prophetic.
Cyberpunk has the unfortunate trait of being so dang cool [4]. Despite humanity being twisted into abominable shapes to accommodate the relentless march of technology, there’s still room to take a big drag of your cigarette and shrug at the world. And built in to cyberpunk is sci-fi and conflict, the ingredients of good stories. For these reasons, humanity is like a moth to Cyberpunk’s flame.
I find it curious that Solarpunk, the confluence of these artistic and ethical, sustainable sensibilities, connects itself to Cyberpunk through its name. Solarpunk is a response to Cyberpunk, an embrace of technology but a rejection of cynicism.
And I fixate on a small community like Solarpunk because these genres have the power of manifestation. If you’re drawing something, you’re thinking it through. A good deal of engineering is just drawing something and fleshing out the details. The inconsistencies present themselves organically to the drafter, who can refine the concept until it makes sense.
This is how I believe the concept of Manifestation works. Developing a clear vision of your goals is the first step to achieving them, and it cannot be skipped. There is nothing magical about it; the clarity of the visual only comes from constant development.
So what if I told you to visualize the future of society? What future would you envision? Be careful, because if you envision a dystopia, you might just manifest it.
Humanity must manifest its future together, and I think that means collectively deciding on the nature of morality, of the good life, and of flourishing. Much to my chagrin, this collective deliberation doesn’t primarily occur in the form of philosophy books and internet blogs. It’s in our art.
The Peripatetic 
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