Transcription: Kim Stanley Robinson
The reading of tension in sf continues in this chapter, which looks at a number of books by Kim Stanley Robinson, along with two early works by J. G. Ballard. The focus is on the transformations that take place when tension is foregrounded. This tension is seen as something that lies on the surface of things, rather than at any kind of depth. By focusing on the surface, the causal connection between objects and qualities is developed, along with the way that it can lead towards change. The concept of transcription is borrowed from musicology in order to develop a model for such transformation. In the Anthropocene, transcription is seen as essential in order to begin living in the new scales of time and space that are being thrust upon us.