In the following contribution two novels will be presented which contain different views of a future society. First of all, it is the British writer Aldous Huxley whose Brave New World has become a classical long-seller, which was already published in 1932. The second work refers to a trilogy written by the American writer Kim Stanley Robinson which came out about sixty years later, namely from 1993 to 1996. Huxley's vision is usually understood as a prophetic warning against undesirable developments on Earth, whereas Robinson's work deals with the investigation of Mars, which originally was an empty planet without any form of life. In the course of time the first hundred settlers achieved several innovative objectives, concerning for example human co-existence, but also a new democratic constitution, a different position of women as well as an improved medical care including an anti-aging treatment. In this article I'll try to show that Robinson's literary figures on Mars make both a more sensible and responsible use of natural resources than their human counterparts on this planet.

Aldous Huxley's Global World State as Opposed to Kim Stanley Robinson's Future Martian Society Willi Real

Utopian novels have been classified in different ways, and, as a result, different labels have been attached to them. And they take place on different locations on Earth such as Orwell's 1984: this has been categorized as a totalitarian novel where control is omnipresent in the three superpowers of the world and which is still nowadays known by its slogan “Big brother is watching you.” In Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale there is a right-wing take-over on the territory of Massachusetts, i.e. in a Northeastern part of the former United States, and then radical activists found an intolerant theocratic state. As to its location, something similar is true of John Callenbach's Ecotopia, a state which succeeded in seceding from the United States, that is, from the Western states of California, Oregon and Washington, and which established democratic as well as ecological principles. It is Aldous Huxley, however, who, as early as 1932, presented a dystopian novel about a global state which is ironically called Brave New World (BNW). Although a lot of secondary sources have been published on Huxley's longseller, it has never been compared to a utopian novel almost exclusively located on the planet Mars such as Kim Stanley Robinson's The Mars Trilogy (1993-1996). Not only because of their global concepts but also because of their difference in scope (roughly 220 pages versus more than 1900 of them) it is a task both demanding and ambitious to compare Huxley's global world state to Robinson's Martian society. Such a comparative analysis will be the subject of the following article.

It is true that the two works start from completely different assumptions. On the one hand, in BNW life is organized as a state of high technology which has had a checkered history and which has existed for almost 500 years. Huxley's society has now reached a near-perfect stage, a kind of climax from which any possible change would be undesirable. In the first chapter, for example, a group of students are introduced as visitors of the London hatchery in order to learn how, in a very progressive way, the problem of human reproduction is solved: by way of gene technology, that is, babies are produced by artificial fertilization.(2)

On the other hand, Robinson's Mars is completely empty: in the beginning, it is a planet without plants, animals, or any other living creatures. In the second chapter of Red Mars, the first hundred settlers (“the Terrans”, I, 7) are said to arrive at their destination: they form an international expedition mainly American and Russian, whose leaders are the American John Boone and the Russian Maya Toitovna. However, all of them are controlled by Houston (I, 73)(3), and all of them get support from Earth in every respect. Generally speaking, the first settlers are scholars and/or scientists only.

Thus the colonists are well equipped: they have a large spaceship which has its own farm to produce food, and they are also helped by artificial intelligence (AI). Their task is to colonize Mars, to bring it to life, and to establish some form of human co-existence on it. In order to reach their long-term objectives, the settlers first have to secure their own survival. For them it is a question of crucial importance to use the Martian resources in a responsible way. Thus Robinson's trilogy is also closely connected to the present environmental crisis and to global warming.

The first hundred settlers are basically willing to cooperate. As one of them puts it for the first years: "we were a group and we all worked together” (I, 349; cf. also I, 493 and I, 498). However, the writer also states that from the beginning there “was a certain competitive undercurrent” (I, 29). Later on, other spaceships follow in order to bring more and more people to Mars. It goes without saying that in such a difficult and complicated situation, different standpoints, diverging attitudes and also various conflicts arise: while traveling to the Mars, in this international crew, there exist different "rival cliques" (I, 73). The settlers, then, are strangers to each other who do not possess a real team spirit (I, 91). It may be surmised that the development of affairs on Mars will not be one of linear progress. And it is only after overcoming the survival stage that their activity can focus on the political field.

AF 1 is characterized by the invention of the Fordian T-model in 1908: this is a decisive aspect in the history of industrialization because it meant the introduction of the assembly line and the beginning of mass production. Many decades later, that is, in AF 141, the outbreak of the Nine-Years War took place (p. 46). It led to the Great Economic Collapse so that the world had to choose between World Control and destruction (p. 47), which was not a difficult decision. And after the end of that war, it was the first time that science was controlled (p. 197). In AF 150, control became a major principle of global power: now world control was established. However, it was also realized that "force was no good" (p. 49), and therefore violence was completely abolished. At that time all museums were shut down, historical monuments blown up, and all books published before AF 150 were suppressed (p. 50). According to the world controller Mustapha Mond, after the Nine Years' War "people were ready to have even their appetites controlled" (p. 197).

After a considerable period of time, namely in AF 473, the Cyprus experiment was started, in which a state consisting of experts only was founded. In the course of it, a civil war broke out including many conflicts and a great deal of disaster. When 19.000 Alphas out of the original 22.000 were killed (p. 193f), the survivors unanimously asked the World Controllers to resume the government of the island (p. 194). As to the achievements of scientists, Huxley's standpoint is clearly pessimistic. He thinks that a society, which is founded on the activity of experts exclusively, will be doomed to failure because he believes that nobody will be willing to do the works of the lower classes primitive, but necessary (p. 193). This experiment, then, which led to a complete failure, was extremely convincing in Mond's view. From that time the citizens of the world state had to work seven and a half hours of mild, unexhausting labour per day (p. 194).

The subsequent episode, which occurred in AF 482 and which was called the Ireland experiment, was much less drastic: it consisted of an attempt to establish the four-hour day (p. 194). Again the historical development showed it was a failure: people's lives got out of balance since they possessed too much free time. According to Mustapha Mond it was “sheer cruelty to afflict them with excessive leisure” (p. 194). In Ernest Callenbach's Ecotopia a similar decision, namely to reduce working hours, turned out to be very successful.(5) For Robinson, this is no problem either since the inhabitants on Mars possessed a lot of robots in order to get the inferior jobs done: “Martian technology had been highly robotic from the very beginning” (III, 299). In addition to that, the major characters in this trilogy are driven by their search for knowledge rather then by their interest in leisure activities.

Finally in the year AF 631 when Huxley's novel is supposed to occur, world control has existed for about 480 years. AF 631 represents a time in which the world state is ruled by ten world controllers. For a convinced brave new world citizen, life has now achieved a more or less perfect state, which cannot change any longer so that it takes place in present time only. As history means development, it may imply progress and possibly decline as well, which would not be in accordance with official doctrine. As a result, in his lecture on history, Mustapha Mond maintains that pre-modern people “are mad, wicked and miserable” (cf. p. 41), which implies that pre-moderns are considered as underdeveloped compared with the society of the brave new world. Therefore Mustapha Mond, believes in “that beautiful and inspiring saying of Our Ford's: 'History is bunk. History,' he repeated slowly, 'is bunk.'” […] “That's why you 're taught no history” (p. 35). This frequently quoted statement shows one of the limited views of the world state, which is founded on the principle of stability. In Mond's words: “there is no civilization without social stability. And there is no social stability without individual stability” (p. 42). This is its "primal and the ultimate need" (p. 43). Thus every change is a menace to it (p. 195), and every discovery is potentially subversive. Yet it is obvious that culture as well as civilization cannot be prevented from progressing: in the course of time nothing ever remains the same.

Anyway, the starting point in both books could not be more different: in Robinson's work, the people from Earth land on the blue planet in 2026. In the next 35 years, they succeed in colonizing Mars although there occur a series of grave conflicts: in 2061 a revolution takes place which results in anarchy, which costs many lives. In a second war which is narrated in Green Mars and which occurs in 2127, the settlers eventually secede from our planet in order to achieve independence. Ultimately, Earth is said to be so hopelessly overpopulated (22 billion people; cf. III, 634) that it is dominated by total chaos. The problem is that our planet has been exploited too long and too much.(6) Due to the outbreak of a volcano in the western Antarctic, Robinson tells his readers, there is a rise of the sea levels of about seven metres. On the other hand, Mars is a much more convenient place which is still able to accept human immigrants. The reader may wonder whether life on Mars will follow the decline of civilization on Earth. This question will be discussed below.

In Huxley's novel, then, the first year of the new global world is marked by mass production, since Ford's T-model is the first car of the world which could be afforded by a large number of people. And it is part of Huxley's irony and satire that in the year 631 AF, the production of human babies has become a case for mass production as well. Apparently no elementary problems exist in this world state any more.

In Robinson's trilogy, among the scholars, there are conflicting standpoints as to their activities on Mars. Many of them are of the opinion that men are allowed to research into the nature of Mars in order to make a living on it or out of it, which would imply many changes of its nature. This approach is called terraforming, and it is advocated by the major expert on it, namely Saxifrage Russell, usually called Sax for short. In his view, science is part of a larger human enterprise: it is creative (I, 178): “Changing it [the planet Mars] would not destroy it” (I, 178). He insists that “it can be Mars and ours at the same time” (I, 178). Sax thinks that the beauty of Mars does not exist in itself. Rather than that, he believes it exists in the human mind only (I, 177). This corresponds to the basic principle of philosophical idealism which came into being at the beginning of the 18th century and which may be summarized by the formula: esse est percipi.(7)

A major character who represents a standpoint different from Sax Russell and the majority of the first hundred Martian settlers is the leading geologist to the name of Ann Clayborne. For her, research on Mars has to follow certain rules. She maintains that not everything that is possible should be done (I, 177), whereas leader John Boone agrees with Sax Russell by stating that “anything that can be imagined can be executed” (I, 323). Ann repeatedly pleads for a research on Mars for its own sake. She is an advocate of science as an end in itself, as a potential of insights without practical consequences. Since men are not the lords of the universe (I, 179), they should respect the nature and beauty of Mars without detracting from its quality. Ann's consciousness, then, is determined by clear ethical standards in order to achieve a preservation of God's creation. For her, terraforming would be both unscientific and immoral (I, 170). Concerning this standpoint Anne is supported by her partner Simon Frazier, however, she never finds a majority for it. According to Ann, Sax overestimates human consciousness (cf. I, 179). The differences between Sax's and Ann's standpoints, then, are clearly irreconcilable (cf. also I, 249).

Moreover, there is a classification of the embryos into five classes, from Alphas to Epsilons. Thus mass production in biology, social categorization and conditioning are tools for founding a caste society.(8) The greatest problem of practical procedure refers to the reduction of oxygen supply: the less oxygen, the greater the loss of intelligence. The Epsilons have least of it, and as a consequence, they are the people with the lowest intelligence. On the other hand, there should not be not too much intelligence in a person either, since this will function as an obstacle to happiness. In other words: in BNW human embryos are produced and nourished in bottles until they are finally “decanted”, that is, they are allowed to enter our world.

However, in The Mars Trilogy, there are hints at artificial insemination, too, which is used by the Japanese biologist Hiroko and her collaborators. She is said to provide herself with male sperms, which she combines with her own ova in order to get many human beings of whom she will be the mother (cf. the first mention of this episode on I, 72). Later the problem is alluded to in a dialogue between Ann and Hiroko:

This is altogether different in The Mars Trilogy. The reader does not learn much about education, which, rather than being handled by the state, is basically the duty and the right of the individual parents. Thus on Mars, there are neither any types of manipulation nor hypnopaedia nor any brainwashing techniques applied. There is one principle, however, which is not negotiable for the Martians, namely their personal liberty (cf. the written agreement achieved at the south-pole city Dorsa Brevia, which will be commented on below). Social identity and dictatorship in Huxley's world state, then, are in a sharp contrast with Robinson's concept of self-determination. In other words, according to the American writer, each person has an individual rather than a group or a class identity. This implies that people on Mars are also free to choose their sexual partners. Very often they remain faithful to each other for their entire lives, and if they happen to have different lovers, they only love one at a time.(11)

Consumption is the twin brother of mass production. It is necessary as it keeps factories busy. The conscription of consumption, then, is justified in the name of stability. Again the portrayal of both mass production and mass consumption is satirical, the same is true of the prescription of promiscuity. All these factors are meant to aim at maintaining the equilibrium and the social order of the utopian world (p. 43). Stability, then, is the key concept of Huxley's vision of the global state.

In The Mars Trilogy, Robinson writes about different religious groups and denominations, yet there is no explicit analysis of their basic principles. Hiroko and her followers are said to celebrate a religious feat, namely the so-called “aerophany”, which is regarded as a form of landscape religion (I, 229f), by which they feel influenced in person. Sometimes Hiroko is even deified when, for example, she is called a “mother goddess” (II, 6; cf. also II, 312 and II, 330). Besides, Robinson speaks of the Sufis who represent different branches of Islam. And by classifying them as pantheists (I, 311), he also emphasizes their close connection with Nature. Moreover, among the first 100 settlers there are also about a dozen Christians who celebrate Easter (I, 51).
This information is followed by a dispute between John Boone, the leader of the American settlers, who declares himself to be a confirmed Lutheran (I, 51), and Phyllis Boyle (I, 52-53). He believes, on the one hand, that Jesus Christ is a political construct, a kind of literary figure (I, 52f), who, then, would no longer be regarded as the savior of mankind but become a product of human imagination. John's standpoint, then, invloves a basic deviation from Christianity.(14) And it may be criticized that, in the context of patriarchal societies, any concept of God is male. On the other hand, for Phyllis it is the person of Jesus Christ himself that matters: she believes in God's creation of the universe, and in the superiority of faith over science (I, 53). But Robinson never tells us which standpoint he would prefer or which is more convincing for him.(15)
Elsewhere he compares Christianity and Judaism to Islam (I, 412): concerning Islam it is criticized that the position of women is hardly any better than that of slaves. But the Islam movement needs no original sin and no saviour: according to Robinson, this may be regarded as a correction of history (I, 412). Again the writer shows a wide knowledge of the different monotheistic religions existing, yet none of them is ascribed a sole claim to truth or to true representation: Robinson proves to be merely too intelligent to have recourse to overall negative value judgements. In his trilogy, there may be conflicting opinions concerning Christianity, yet religion never becomes the target of a satirical and ironical portrayal: there is no tendency to ridicule or to replace it by any kind of substitute. On the contrary, religious and cultural freedom belong to the basic principles of the Martian community, which can be seen from the Dorsa Brevia document, article 3, which is quoted below.(16)

But it is John Boone who is most openly critical of the Christian religion. Elsewhere he is thought to be anti-Arab (I, 260), since he is responsible for stopping the construction of a mosque, which may be the reason for his assassination (I, 384). Later on, Frank Chalmers admits to be John Boone's murderer, yet it may be the case that Chalmers caused the Arabs to kill his former friend. Later on, Sax Russell confesses to having witnessed the murder of Frank Chalmers. Yet he was too shocked to have helped him (III, 676).

In The Mars Trilogy, the problem of aging is dealt with quite differently. After several generations of settlers on Mars, their life expectancy has considerably been increased: this is achieved by the so-called longevity treatment, which is also described as a gerontological treatment (I, 290). The most comprehensive definition of it in the text runs:

In Robinson's vision, the advantage of this device in structural terms, is that several members of the First Hundred Martians can witness the entire development of events on this planet. In other words, the amount of time ascribed to their lives is longer than acting time. Besides, the reader has to bear in mind that the years on Mars are much longer than those on Earth, because each season lasts six months rather than four (I, 120, cf. the diagram enclosed before the beginning of the text in Blue Mars) ). All this seems to mean an enormous enrichment of human potentialities.

For minor medical problems everybody may get so-called „feel-good drugs“ (cf. the first mention of them on I, 239), which are reminiscent of Aldous Huxley's soma in the first place. These are able to remove any kind of trouble a person may be exposed to. In BNW, soma serves as a way of escape from physical as well as from emotional problems.(17) On Mars, medical care, in general, has a rather high standard: not only do the hospitals have expensive equipment such as heart-lung machines (III, 644), but they also posess special rooms for the application of the anti-aging program.

In BNW, before the establishment of the world state, there existed several dangerous situations implying serious conflicts. Yet in the global state in the year 631 A.F., there are no wars any more. During the first decades, the Martian immigrants have neither a constitution nor a set of laws, neither ideas concerning their administration nor concerning their co-existence. In the course of time, they learn how to defy Earth's authority. In 2061, there occurs a first unsuccessful revolution, which leads to upheaval, riots and chaos. About 66 Martian years later (at the end of the second volume), there is another war of secession from Earth. Now for the inhabitants of Mars the idea of cooperation has become so important that it occurs in the text over and over again (II, 483, II, 532, II, 537 and II, 543). In this way, they succeed in achieving their independence. In the end, another confrontation between Earth and Mars is stopped so that a further war can be avoided (cf. below).

This passage calls for several comments. The statement concerning culture and religion makes clear that neither the individual nor society as a whole may play a dominant role: rather than that, both of them possess equal rights, which means, it becomes the foundation for tolerance. The collocation “inalienable rights” is reminiscent of the American Declaration of Independence, which is the first and most important of all American documents for the establishment of democracy. This statement on irrevocable human rights implies that primary needs of men (like eating, drinking, sleeping, medical care ...) have to be fulfilled so that people's dignity is never disrespected. Besides, in sharp contrast to BNW, it is the right and the duty of parents to educate their children. And it is explicitly stated that in a court of justice every citizen is treated equally: a famous literary example of this is provided by Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), which is still a very popular novel at American High Schools.
The Martian economic system is said to be superior to that of Earth, which is determined by exploitation and chaos. On Mars, it is based on ecology and aims at sustainability, which is a topical and omnipresent problem in our time and calls for radical reforms to save our planet. The plea for reverence of Mars is reminiscent of Ann Clayborne's standpoint as an outsider, who wanted to do research on Mars for its own sake, which would make it an activity respecting the planet. If this plan is realized as a whole, it may serve as a model for conquering other planets in the universe as well: it may be used as precedents for further habitation of the solar system (II, 390). The prospect of "humanity spreading through the galaxy" is classified in emotional and optimistic terms as an awesome idea (III, 634).

Taken together, these principles pave the way for the Martian people to work out a new constitution: in Blue Mars, people rather early speak of an attempt at formulating a working draft of a constitution (III, 79). A short time later “more and more people ... were proposing that they hold a constitutional congress. Write an at least a provisional constitution, hold a vote on it, then establish the government described.” (cf. III, 91) In Blue Mars, the work of such a congress is described in some detail (cf. III, 111-158), which means that all the activities of different groups, camps, towns, and sanctuaries from the underground are now joined in order to achieve some progress for civilization.

The work of this constitutional congress again lasts several weeks on end. Its daily discussions often refer to the Dorsa Brevia declaration which came about twelve Martian years ago. The new document contains a long list of human rights, including the earlier “social” rights like housing, health care, education, employment (III, 129). The final version also respects the traditional separation of powers, namely the legislative, judicial and executive powers (III, 125). The government is to be formed by an executive council of seven members who are chosen by two-house legislature and whose task it is to elect someone as president (III, 154).

The judicial branch becomes very powerful, including different environmental courts to rule on disputes concerning terraforming and other environmental changes (III, 154f and III, 300). The entire land of Mars is given to all citizens, and “stewardship” is recommended, that is, the reasonable management and responsible use of its resources. Hiroko's son Nirgal for example chooses to become a so-called "ecopoet" (III, 387), whose task it is to steward land. One has to conclude from this that “the days of unconstrained terraforming were over” (III, p. 300). All in all, these endeavors lead to a first version which becomes a binding document when it is accepted by a formal vote on each paragraph (Blue Mars, III, 157). It is supplemented by a huge collection of materials in the process which are called Working Notes and Commentary and which are intended as a help for the courts to interpret the main document (III. 155). The constitution, then, is to be revised permanently in order to strive for possible improvements. This attitude is evidence for the democratic awareness of the majority of Martian people.

As to the anti-aging treatment, it is no Martian invention, it is also applied on Earth (II, 219f), but it is repeatedly emphasized that its distribution is unequal there (cf. II, 220, II, 228, and II, 430). On Mars the anti-aging treatment is something that theoretically everyone should get when they are old (cf. II, 27), whereas most of the world's population is "untreated and desperate" (II, 510). Its characterization and analysis, however, as a rule, focuses on Mars (cf. II, 228 and II, 234).

What first at least to some people and the media seems to mean progress only (cf. I, 408), in the long run, turns out also to cast its shadows on human existence: the treatment creates different kinds of problems (III, 173). First of all, the costs for a longevity treatment are very high, which means that only privileged people may afford it. As a result, on Mars, too, not everybody is treated in this way so that there are class differences: a caste society of “Us” and “Them” arises, that is, there is inequality between rich people and poor people: in short, the privileged people will lead a long life, and the poor people will die early (I, 429, III, 145). In any case, the unavoidable hierarchy must be considered as unjust. As it is stated in the text elsewhere, “all social hierarchy is a kind of slavery” (II, 370). In order to overcome this unfortunate state of affairs, however, on Mars, there is a demand that it be "made a basic human right" (I, 324 and III, 146). As a consequence, it is at least a distant hope and goal to make the longevity treatment accessible to everybody in order to overcome inequality in this respect eventually. Thus a political problem is realized, but its solution is transferred to the future.

Another political disadvantage is that the gerontological treatment of people may lead to an overpopulation of the planet. This is an urgent problem on Earth, where the longevity treatments lead to a population explosion (III, 190) so that the attitude towards this problem is a controversial issue between the populations of Mars and Earth until the end of the trilogy. And it is responsible for the fact that there is a very narrow escape from a third revolution referring to the two planets (cf. III, 745). This leads to an optimistic outcome of Robinson's trilogy: “Nowhere on this world were people killing each other, nowhere were they desperate for shelter and food, nowhere were they scared for their kids” (III, 761).

Moreover, this medical program has an intrinsic disadvantage, for the power of memorizing remains the same, that is, its capacity is not increased in the same way as people's lives: "The gerontological treatments could not seem to help people's memories on to their ever-lengthening pasts" (III, 625). The treatment, then, is not perfect after all, as it “might not be penetrating the brain quite as fully as they [the gerontological problems] needed them to” (II, 480). Thus the investigation of the memory becomes a part of the longevity project (III, 670). What is more: "longevity itself is even pointless without memory" (III, 670). If there are gaps in people's memories, these will mean obstacles to further learning, since memorization is the last stage in successful learning so that internalization may take place and learning results will permanently be available.
Memory, then, is "the retention of learning" (II, 257 and III, 660), which fulfills a very important function: “Memory equaled life. So that with memory gone, life was gone” (III, 666). Peopole are convinced ot the fact that "we have to understand something to remember it " (III, 713). In other words: “they had to remember to be truly alive.”(III, 666)(18) The progress, then, achieved by the anti-aging program is very ambiguous: it is a partial success at most. Its defiance of death is temporary rather than permanent. It shows that life on Mars is imperfect, too.

In BNW, then, events have reached a state of well-near perfection: in Huxley's society there is no hunger, no unemployment, no illness, no fear of death, no war ... Its development focuses on a few essential episodes, which are summarized, i. e. they are told rather than shown. Its plot concentrates on events in the year A.F. 631. In The Mars Trilogy, the events are shown at some length: they cover about 200 years and consist of more than 1900 pages. They start by the portrayal of an expedition of 100 individual scholars, who are free researchers. In the first volume, the development of their experiences from 2026 until 2061 is described. And there are new settlers who come in ever increasing numbers from all over the world so that the planet Mars in the last two volumes undergoes a process of successful globalization. As psychiatrist Michel puts it: “Right here on Mars we have seen both patriarchy and property brought to an end. It's one of the greatest achievements in human history” (III, 426). After the Martians' secession from Earth, they also work out a democratic constitution (III, 157-158).

In the course of time, that is, in the year 2181, the planet Mars serves as the starting point for founding new outer-solar-system colonies (III, 488; cf. III, 634). Does this imply that men after exploiting the planet Earth, have ruined the planet Mars as well? Do people from Mars have to have recourse to flight? Or does it mean that they are looking for another frontier, which is based on the conviction that the human mind will never give up promoting research in the universe?

Robinson obviously tends to prefer the second possibility. When people start on their further journey through our galaxy, they do not leave a ruined planet behind them. On the contrary, in Green Mars for example it is maintained that (with reference to the most important city of Mars, namely Sheffield) almost everything is recycled (II, 101). And people have been practising an ecological and sustainable way of using the resources of Mars. It even seems that they are willing to help human beings on Earth, where an environmental crisis is taking place (II, 590). On Mars people plead that “the world is something we all steward together” (III, 144, 146 and 155). This crucial principle, which was already mentioned above, is expected to be valid in the future as well: “Point three of Dorsa Brevia states that the land, air, and water of Mars belong to no one, that we are the stewards of it for all the future generations” (III, 146; cf. also III, 155). In this agreement several ecological principles are listed: The Martian economic system for example has to balance “self-interest with the interests of society at large.” Its economics is based on ecological science whose goal is a sustainable prosperity for its entire biosphere” (II, 389). Besides, environmental courts of justice take care of the problem that the natural surroundings are taken care of rather than being exploited (III, 300).(19) Nowadays stewardship has become a key term in the current fight against the climate crisis and the loss of biodiversity in our world: it is a term which even has come to stay in everyday language.(20).

Ernest Callenbach, Ecotopia, 1975.
Marge Piercy, Woman on the Edge of Time, 1976.
Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale, 1985.
Paul Auster, In the Country of Last Things, 1987.
Kim Stanley Robinson, Red Mars (1993), Green Mars (1994) and Blue Mars (1996). In the following article, for brevity's sake these three novels are sometimes referred to as The Mars Trilogy.

(2) Brave New World (1932), (Stuttgart: Klett, 2007), p. 7f. Page references to this edition will be given in the text in (...).

(3) Red Mars (New York: Bantam Books, 1993), p. 73. Page references to this edition will be given in the text in (…). The first volume of the trilogy, Red Mars, is marked by the Roman figure I, the next two, Green Mars (1994) and Blue Mars (1996), are referred to by the figures II and III and supplemented by the page numbers in (...).

(4) Robert S. Baker, Brave New World. History, Science and Dsytopia (Boston: Twayne, 1990), chapter 3.

(5) Cf. Ernest Callenbach, Ecotopia. The Notebook and Reports of William Weston, (Stuttgart 1975), p. 45 and 97.

(6) Men should react in a responsible way towards Nature; otherwise exploitation, destruction of the economic balance, and climate change will have most serious consequences for mankind. This problem is described by Huxley in his novel Ape and Essence rather than in BNW, where attention may be drawn to his familiar metaphor of the parasite “feeding on its host organism.” For a comment upon this idea, cf. Willi Real, "Aldous Huxley's Ecological Ideas in Ape and Essence."
It is wrong, then, to believe as many people seem to do that economic progress may be permanent or unlimited. The famous Club of Rome warned of this idea almost fifty years ago: - https://www.klimareporter.de/gesellschaft/wachsen-wenn-das-klimabudget-aufgebraucht-ist

(7) Cf. George Berkeley, The Principles of Human Knowledge, 1710.

(8) In Robinson's The Martian Trilogy members of lower classes are not mentioned at all.

(9) The term "decanting" is first used in Huxley's Brave New World, for example on p. 20 and p. 193; but it also occurs in Green Mars, II, 18, where it is applied to Nirgal and other “ectogenes;” it refers to human beings produced by artificial insemination and bred in a bottle for example. Correspondingly, “ectogenesis” means the development of an organism outside the body in which it naturally grows. The same concept of birth may also be found in Marge Piercy's utopian novel Woman on the Edge of Time (New York: Random House, 1976), p. 317.

(10) Cf. the dispute between Bernard and Lenina; chapter 6, p. 83: The outsider Bernard opposes this principle.

(11) Nevertheless, the First Hundred were "polygamous" (II, 170). This behavioural pattern is confirmed by Hiroko's daughter Jackie (II, 527). In the course of the novel, she instrumentalizes several men for her political ambition (II, 56). Generally speaking, the Martian people are not prudish. On one occasion, a pattern of hot group sex is described which aims at particularly long orgasms which are intended to last up to 30 minutes; cf. III, 507.

(12) In one of the final passages of the trilogy the reader is told: “On Earth men had abused women; on Mars, never” (III, 722). If, nevertheless, violence against women occurs on Mars, there exist several very severe punishments for it (III, 55).
Robinson's concept of superior women is reminiscent of Maggie Gee's dystopian novel The Ice People (1998), where it is the female characters who are at the top of the state and who have more rights than their male counterparts. The same is true of Ernest Callenbach's Ecotopia (1975), which has become the classical example of female emancipation in the history of utopian literature.

(13) Examples of female Betas are provided by Linda, Lenina and Fanny.

(14) The American leader Frank Chalmers and terraforming expert Sax Russell support Phyllis Boyle's standpoint; cf. I, 53.

(15) In The Mars Trilogy, however, there are many allusions to the Bible from the very beginning, which shows that Robinson has a wide biblical knowwledge.
At least one miracle from the New Testament is alluded to (I, 5): Christ giving food to his followers: his wonderful bread multiplication is mentioned in all four gospels.
Judgement Day is alluded to as well (I, 19) which is described in St. Matthew, 12:36-37.
“God gave us this planet” (I, 171): this thesis may be found in Genesis, 1, 26-30.
“In the beginning was the word” (I, 494), which is the first sentence in the gospel by St. John (1:1).
“On this rock I will build ... [my church]” (III, 276), which may be traced in St. Matthew, 16:18;
The following is a reference to the transformation of Saul to Paul: “a road-to-Damascus conversion (III, 728), which is described in the Acts of the Apostles, 9:1ff
There is an allusion to Lot's wife (III, 372), who is mentioned in Genesis, 19:15-26.
"Moses outside Israel" (cf. III, 728): Moses is not allowed to enter the Promised Land; this is explained in Deutoronomy, 32:51-52.
But there are also references at other religions. In Green Mars for example, the Sufis and tariqat are mentioned: the term tariqat is of Muslim origin: meaning on its way to Allah, or metaphorically speaking being on one's way to reality, i.e. to freedom and independence; cf. II, 234.

(16) “Freedom of religion and cultural practice must be guaranteed”: cf. II, 296.

(17) Such drugs are also similar to Margaret Atwood's superbliss-pills as they were described in her trilogy Maddaddam (2003-2013). As these pills had been poisoned, ironically enough, they almost led to the extermination of mankind.

(18) In the course of the trilogy, several characters are presented who undergo the anti-aging program in order to have their lives prolonged. The first (female) President of Mars, Maya, is said to become more than 221 years old as a consequence of this treatment (III, 627).
The geologist Ann is exposed to it several times, and becomes at least 226 years of age, and some people are said to have reached even their 250ies (III, 627). Theoretically speaking, people may even become a thousand years old.
Yet almost the same people have memory problems resulting from the treatment. They are first mentioned with reference to Sax Russell (II, 184). First his short-term memory is said to be damaged (III, 681 and 690). Later on, he has problems both with his short-time and his long-time memory (III, 692). Ultimately, his investigation of memory is an attempt at finding his own self.
Memory problems are also mentioned with reference to Maya (II, 322 and II, 323). The fact that she is suffering from memory gaps is thus commented on by the psychiatrist Michel: “memory problems are pretty common at our age” (II, 437): Her memory failure is mentioned at least twice: cf. III, 644 and III, 655.
Ann has memory problems which exercise a negative influence on herself: they have psychological consequences. As she speaks of herself as Anne, of a Counter-Anne and even of a third Ann who is different from the first two (III, 693; cf. III, 754), it becomes obvious that she has a split personality which forms a heavy psychological burden for her. It is not too much to state that as a consequence of the difficulties in memorization, identity problems will arise.

(19) Such a view is not surprising in the context of the fact that Robinson as a writer has warned mankind against the serious consequences of global warming and climate change. Cf. his comprehensive novel Green Earth, 2004-2007.

(20) Cf. for example, Megan Clinch, “Environmental Stewardship in austere times: nurturing sustainable socio-ecological relations”, Critical Public Health 31 (2021), pp. 245-254.