Name of a futuristic nomad story?

September 11, 2020 10:08 PM

Within the last year, I heard a story about a future world in which everyone is a nomad. Because of climate change, people cannot stay in the same place longer than three days, nor can they hang out with the same people more than three days; robots grow the crops, and all this is to prevent nationalism, and to help resources from becoming used up. This scenario keeps popping up in my head, but now I cannot find the original source. Anybody remember this? It might have been a podcast.

I feel like the author was a woman

posted by olopua to Media & Arts (3 answers total)

Teju Cole wrote this short story. The main character is a woman but the author is not. Otherwise it sounds like the story you described.
posted by coevals at 12:26 AM on September 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

You might also be thinking of Hold Back the Stars by Katie Khan, although there it's every three years that people have to move on, not every three days.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 3:40 AM on September 12, 2020

Best answer: Your description reminded me of this talk by Monica Byrne: Our Age of Emergency: 2019-2100. She talks a bit about the premise behind the novel she's writing - everyone is perpetually travelling, staying nowhere and with no one for more than 9 days. It was posted to the blue here: "To steer safely, we need new narratives."
posted by Law of Demeter at 4:19 AM on September 12, 2020 [4 favorites]