How Farmpunk Can Save The Future

Literature has always been the province of wise men and fools. Or, one could say, mad men and fools.

Great literary artists can, at once, be both wise and mad. Often, you'll find they are one or the other at any given moment, able to switch between the Jekyll and Hyde of their literary personas at will. It may not even be done at the conscious level, but it's noticeable to many who themselves may not be beset with literary passions.

Throughout history, #literature has been used to challenge men's minds and souls in a variety of ways. It's been used as a pulpit to preach the author's particular brand of morality. It's been used to challenge the status quo on various political or social issues. It's been used to merely provoke thought on a difficult topic or provide food for thought on a subject with many complexities. At its best, literature can penetrate the depths of readers' consciences and challenge them to be better at being human. At its worst, it can send us into despair, encouraging us to dive headlong into the nihilistic milieu of nothingness.

The Victorians believed literature should strive to instill a sense of morality in readers. The Greeks invented mythologies to help them better understand their place in the world. The science fiction genre has often challenged man's relationship with #technology, in particular when that technology has grand implications for the future of the human race. But what about #farmpunk?

From Pixabay.

What The Devil is Farmpunk?

If you've never heard the term "farmpunk" before, don't sweat it. I'm not a bit surprised. It's a literary genre of my own creation.

I've written exactly two farmpunk stories. I make no claims about their literary merit, nor about their ability to penetrate readers' consciences. I didn't write them for that purpose. I just thought it would be fun to explore the relationship between man's basic nature to live off the land and his drive for innovation. While perusing the many punk literary genres one day (cyberpunk, steampunk, splatterpunk, dieselpunk, etc.), I found a hole in the fabric. There was nothing that juxtaposed the high technology of our current age with the essential production of sustenance itself in such a way that it could fairly be called punk. Call me mad, or a fool, but I felt it necessary to remedy that deficit. That's why I wrote Altland's Gambit. I followed that with Racioppa's Revenge.

I hadn't thought about it until I began discussing with @malkazoid the idea of #writing for NEO. He suggested using farmpunk and speculative fiction in general, to explore how fiction can provide insights into tackling real world issues, either current issues or those likely to lie ahead of our current path.

What Kind of Real World Issues Can Farmpunk Address?

Asking this question can help us understand the farmpunk genre in particular as well as the speculative fiction genres in general. The whole concept of speculative in the genre leaves more to the imagination than is readily apparent. In the horror genres, for instance, the speculative doesn't necessarily have anything to do with solving problems, real world or otherwise. At least, on the surface. The genre is often focused on appealing to man's natural fears in the face of the unknown. That doesn't mean horror can't be used to appeal to man's better senses. I believe it can.

The same can be said of farmpunk where stories do not necessarily have to be set on a farm. They can take place anywhere as long as farm culture is involved.

Add the counter influence of high technology, particularly technology you might not associate with farming, and that can have huge implications on story plot, characterization, and other elements of storytelling. Finally, give it that punk edge that is evident any of the punk genres and it adds to the virtual tension that should exist--and which does exist--in any well-told story from The Epic of Gilgamesh to this year's best seller. But what about man's soul? What about real world issues?

The problem with much of speculative fiction is that the speculative can often overtake the fiction. That can be good, but it often leaves readers with a WTF aftertaste. I have no issues with that, per se, but if we buy the premise that literature should challenge readers to be better tomorrow than they are today, then they should be left with something to chew on.

With farmpunk, that could mean exploring innovative ways to solve hunger issues in parts of the world where technology is a foreign concept. It could mean exploring solutions to disease and lack of medical care in such places where access is a problem, or where the cost of taking medical technology is prohibitive. Like science fiction, farmpunk can have an otherwordly element that shines a light on the problems of this world in a way that honors the genre and its traditions (keeping in mind that the traditions of farmpunk are yet to be developed).

These are just a few examples. Another might be to anticipate challenges that are not yet realized by the technologies that have yet to be developed.

In the real world, blockchains are beginning to be used for tracking specific foods, from the moment of seeding to the customer. But what would happen if an international cartel highjacked a #blockchain and rerouted entire food supplies to a third-world nation where hunger and deprivation are killing millions? Or what if a wealthy nation used its influence to prevent such famine-infested cultures from access to food supplies, leading to a grotesque passive-aggressive genocide?

All of the speculative fiction genres, one of which farmpunk should be considered, typically begin with a "what if" question. The story then focuses on a character, or group of characters, who face the challenge of dealing with that fantasy scenario in such a way that might shed light on real world challenges.

I'd like to offer this special challenge to writers of speculative fiction. It would delight me to no end if a group of innovative fiction writers took up the challenge of addressing the challenges of tomorrow in this new genre called farmpunk, and shared their insights with the world. Great stories get inside our heads, and stay there.

This post originally appeared in Neo at Narrative.

#speculativefiction #sciencefiction

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