How Our Story Ends (and How to Begin Rewriting It): Richard Powers on Planetary Death and Life as Our Force of Resistance

Reawakening to the rapture and responsibility of “a changing world that by every calculation ought never to have been.”

In a universe governed by randomness and impartial laws, chance has been kind to us — a kindness so immense it feels like a benediction. Here we are, drifting through the austere blackness of pure spacetime on a planet just the right distance from its home star to have an atmosphere and water and warmth for life. And what life! A cornucopia of creatures moving through lushness...