The Novel that Keeps Predicting the Future

“This was not a book about prophecy; this was an if-this-goes-on story. This was a cautionary tale, although people have told me it was prophecy. All I have to say to that is ‘I certainly hope not.’"

- Octavia E. Butler

Since we seem to be living in Butler’s future, here is some background on who she was and the world she crafted.

Butler’s fictitious yet familiar world is the setting for her Earthseed series. Lauren Olamina comes of age in a dystopian near-future (now present) where climate change, income inequality, and corporate greed have left the country in shambles. Economic disasters (including an eerily predictive outbreak of uncontrollable wildfires in 2025) have caused mass destruction, people have fallen prey to drugs and violence, and the few safe havens are company towns privately owned by foreign businesses. 

Lauren lives with her father, stepmother, and three half-brothers in the community of Robledo, twenty miles outside LA. A gated and precariously safe community, Robledo is held together by Lauren’s father, a Baptist minister, who cares for his community through mutual aid and the careful allocation of resources. Still, food and water are scarce and the community often makes bread from acorns. 

Lauren also suffers from a condition called “hyper-empathy,” which she contracted as a result of her late mother’s drug use during pregnancy. This allows Lauren to physically feel the emotions of those around her, which is a liability more than an asset in her increasingly dangerous surroundings. 

Despite the efforts of her father, Lauren is pessimistic about her future. Parable of the Sower is told through a series of journal entries in which Lauren begins to question her religious upbringing and develops a new worldview on the principle that the only consistent force in this world is change. She calls this faith Earthseed and writes: “God is change. This is the literal truth. God cannot be resisted or stopped, but can be shaped and focused.” Lauren comes to see God not as an omnipotent being to be prayed to, but a force to be shaped in order to help humanity help themselves.

Despite the horrors Lauren experiences in Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents–including slavery enforced by shock collars, sexual assault, and the loss of her friends and family–the novels contain a remarkably poignant and optimistic message. Despite near-constant setbacks, Lauren strives to build community, share her beliefs, and connect with others. Through Lauren and Earthseed, Butler posits that the only hope for our future is ourselves, not individually, but as a collective. 

Ultimately, Butler tells us that utopia is not a golden kingdom on a hill, but a community guided by a culture of empathy, mutual aid, and a continuous struggle to do what is right, not only for ourselves but for the people around us. Change may be constant, Butler says, but the practice of being in community can be as well. 

If you feel called to act on that principle, you can donate to help displaced Black families affected by the LA wildfires here.

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For more information check out…

McMenamin, Lex, “The LA Fires Aren’t a Surprise If You Study History and Climate Change. So Now What?” Teen Vogue, January 10 2025.

Miles, Tiya, “How Octavia Butler Told the Future,” The Atlantic, January 12, 2024.