Long Now Salon Talk — Stephen Heintz & Kim Stanley Robinson — A Logic For The Future
Long Now Foundation
Mar 19th @ 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.The Long Now Foundation presents Stephen Heintz and Kim Stanley Robinson discussing “A Logic For The Future: International Relations in the Age of Turbulence” in the Cowell Theater at Fort Mason Center For Arts & Culture. The talk happens on Wednesday, March 19, 2025, 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. (check-in begins at 6:00 p.m.).
Stephen Heintz and Kim Stanley Robinson discuss polycrisis (when multiple crises overlap and magnify each other), and the swift and holistic reform of global governance institutions that is needed to respond to the urgent transnational and planetary challenges faced by all.
Current times have become an age of exceptional complexity and turbulence. What distinguishes this period in human history is the confluence of forces — political, geo-strategic, economic, social, technological, and environmental, as well as the interactions amongst them. These crises have no regard for borders and are not responsive to solutions devised and implemented by individual nation-states or the existing ecosystem of multilateral institutions.
Throughout history, there are examples of hinge moments when human resilience, imagination, and cooperation spurred change once thought impossible. The present time represents a period of elasticity, a time when there is greater capacity for stretch in conceptions of global relations and thinking about the international system. Humankind must strive to develop an international framework that can guides humanity toward a more peaceful, more humane, and more equitable global society, as well as a thriving planetary ecosystem.
Stephen Heintz is an American nonprofit executive and public policy expert. Since 02001, he has served as president of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF), a family foundation with an endowment of approximately $1.2 billion that advances social change for a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world.
Additionally, Heintz has worked for the state of Connecticut, co-founded and served as president of Dēmos, served as COO of the EastWest Institute working to support Central and Eastern Europe’s burgeoning democracies in the 1990’s and later with RBF helped lay the groundwork for the Iran nuclear deal. Heintz also co-authored the report Our Common Purpose: Reinventing American Democracy For The 21st Century and recently authored On A Logic For The Future: International Relations In The Age Of Turbulence.
Kim Stanley Robinson is an acclaimed American science fiction author known for his exploration of ecological and sociopolitical themes. His works; such as the Mars Trilogy, The Ministry For The Future, and the Green Earth (Science In The Capital) trilogy; often center around climate change and sustainable futures. Robinson’s vision of utopian possibilities has made him a leading voice in the genre of speculative fiction.
Enjoy drinks and small bites with other attendees at Long Now’s pre- and post-show gatherings in the Cowell Theater Lobby.
