Reflection

I have always been fascinated with utopias and dystopia. Over my junior year summer, I began following the bread crumbs going through Animal Farm and 1984 by Orwell and from there going on to look at science fiction dystopias/utopias like the world of Manna in which AI causes humanity to relegate its unneeded members to taking this class. From this class I have come to the conclusion that utopia itself does not actually exist outside of fantasy - a fantasy that is a projection of the dreamer.

In my other blog post for this weak, I decided to group the concepts of utopia and dystopia together and previously explored how societal values are promoted and tie communities together. From this I came to the conclusion, every utopia is only for the subset of humans who hold certain beliefs. However with such exclusions, indoctrination must be examined - utopias try to promote their values beyond all else. The element of indoctrination fueled my belief that utopias are a form of dystopia requiring people to conform to a certain belief. Utopias that work smoothly and appear perfect to someone will always be appealing to an idealistic fantasy on an individual level which if true would be horror on an existential level. To have a society built of one's self seems appealing but at the same time appalling knowing individualism would die. All utopian dreams that are require utopia to be perfect are an idealist's fantasy. No such thing as utopia can ever exist nor will it - people are too individual, no community speaks to all of human kind.

My definition of utopia hasn't really changed and I don't protest the existence of the communities that call themselves utopia. It is just that I recognize the idealist's fantasy of utopia as impossible. If we decide to view utopia on a less general level of a perfect society it becomes possible to construct a functional community but at that point utopia has lost the wonder of being an amazing dream.

Utopia is Unachievable

I have learned that utopia is not achievable.  Every person has a different version of the perfect world and most visions refute each other.  For example, in Berlin’s Pursuit of the Ideal the author states that there are many different types of an ideal society.  He states that a rational man can have many different ambitions.  What I learned from the Zoar and Shaker societies is that a lack of zeal can be the bane of an intentional community striving to be a utopia.  The Zoar society did not require much belief in the communal society and people did not feel an obligation to stay within the community.  The Shakers, however, needed a large commitment to be a successful society.  Most people were not willing to make the commitment, which has led to the demise of the Shaker society.  In Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift shows that a utopia is possible, but not with humans.  Only the unfeeling Houyhnhnms were able to live in an arguably utopia like society.  However, the Amish live in a life that is nearly a utopia.  Unfortunately, the outside world prevents them to live a completely utopian life.  The Amish have to debate about technology that outsiders are introducing.  Sometimes, outsiders improve the lives of the Amish.  Non-Amish have improved healthcare that the Amish are willing to use.  Without outsiders, the Amish would not be as close to a utopia in healthcare.  Until healthcare improves enough that the Amish can disconnect themselves completely, they will never even have a chance at a utopia. 

Utopia is Dystopia

Dystopia and Utopia are two very familiar concepts to us now. Linguistically, they are conjured to describe polar opposites. The former being used to describe a word of absolute badness, the latter being used to describe a world of absolute comfort. However, the two go hand in hand in an ironic twist of reality: Dystopia facilitates Utopia.

The most surprising fact of dystopian literature is that the universes these stories take place in are usually utopian worlds to most residents of the story. The characters in 1984 are all brainwashed into accepting the world, the characters in Brave New World operate in a "utopian" society. Utopia itself often becomes dystopia in more than just stories however. It is believable that the world of the Amish, the world of the Shakers, and other real utopian worlds could be conceived as dystopian worlds to some people. All utopias are ultimately predicated off of idolizing certain beliefs and promoting certain societal beliefs as the most important thing in life. Rather than necessarily point to these worlds as dystopian, I am merely making the argument that utopian worlds require indoctrination of sorts and when taken to the polar opposite of our own beliefs in society take on the look of dystopias. All utopias are ultimately dystopias. The reverse is not necessarily true since dystopias can have unhappy citizens who disagree fundamentally with the state.

This argument on face value seems very extreme so I will do my best to qualify this argument. When we talk traditionally of dystopia we talk from our societal views, a view difficult to pinpoint and as a result hard to define dystopia. Objectively, dystopias do not exist, as some people are content with the miserable. However, for the purposes of definition, I will default simply to a basic argument of autonomy and happiness as the two sacrifices a society makes to become a dystopia. In the various utopian societies, free thought must be sacrificed. The idolizing of societal beliefs all work against the autonomy of free thought. We are quick to pawn this off as them accepting this and thus legitimizing their utopia but in instances like Brave New World and 1984, we are quick to condemn. If we accept the literary worlds as dystopias for their beliefs, we must also apply similar standards to the various utopian societies. From a simple autonomy perspective, they miss this.

The primary argument I find against my above construction is that people have the option to leave. However, leaving symbolizes it as a self imposed dystopia. Even if people were given the option to leave the 1984 world, that doesn't fundamentally change the nature of dystopia. People would often still remain having been brainwashed into it. Even if people accept the conditions of the dystopia and thus label it as a utopia, basic facts do not change. Utopia and Dystopia are just two sides of the same coin.

What I Have Learned

            Throughout this intensive, I have been given the opportunity to ponder over the idea of utopia and of humans striving for utopia. On the very first day, we were asked to jot down what our opinion was of utopia. That day, I paid credence to the notion that utopia is impossible, for I knew that everyone has a different idea of what perfect is. Still, however, my idea that utopia is a dream that cannot be realized seemed a bit like an impulse. I felt that I didn’t have enough reason behind what I believed. As the intensive unfolded, I have been able to expand on my initial beliefs and provide reason for my initial impulse feeling.
            Through my reading of Berlin’s “The Pursuit of the Ideal”, it has been pointed out to me that societies always have problems. If we initiate a change to our societies in an attempt to make them more like the utopias we imagine, we will run into new unpredicted problems and can even encounter dystopias. We cannot predict the future, therefore, we will never be able to decipher the consequences of our actions. The changes we implement may do more bad than good.
            Reflecting back on all our class discussions and nightly readings, I have also been able to understand that utopia is not attainable by humans because in order for utopia to exist, many of the innate characteristics of our humanity cannot exist. It is natural for us, as humans, to compete with one another, surpass limitations, challenge others, and strive to be one’s best self. Since it is impossible to suppress these human tendencies, it is impossible to create a world without them.
            Rules and legislations cannot inch us closer to utopia. The only way for us humans to reach happiness is to create it in our minds. Were we to view our world in a more positive light, happiness would be spread. Pessimism is the enemy and our minds are our weapons. Although our world has several flaws, we cannot waste our time droning on them. What we can do is look out for one another like the Amish. What we can do is avoid criticizing and judging one another. What we can do is come together and solve our problems as a team.

Newt War never ending cycle

War With the Newts is very compelling to me because it’s basically a cycle of two different species fighting against each other. Captain Van Toch is mildly obsessed with these lizards at the beginning of the story. He uses the lizards to get clams that he can take the pearls out of. He makes a big production out of it. After he dies the newts become a bigger production. There are then millions of newts and everyone knows about them. By being around the humans and basically being abused by them they are able to catch onto the ways humans live. They pick up on many important things especially how to rule. For example: when the newts fight against the British on Coco’s island. The British respond by fighting back firing their gunships. As the humans abuse them they fight back and destroy most of the human race. Ultimately they start to rule and make humans basically their slaves. If this situation is considered and well thought out it comes to the conclusion that the newts will not be able to rule forever. Eventually the newt production will slow down since they gained power and the humans will begin to fight back with the newts. As the humans fight back they will eventually catch up and rule once again. This is an ongoing cycle. As said by the author in the last chapter, the situation just explained may not happen but it was just an idea. It’s very reasonable though.  

Utopia: Then and Now

           In this class, we learned about utopias, intentional communities that were seen as utopias, and finally dystopia. When we learned about utopia, we debated if utopias are possible and if they can prosper in any manner.

            Now, three weeks later, my opinion on utopia has not changed. Utopia is a figment of the imagination, which people create to show what THEY believe is the perfect society. Utopia differs for everyone and no two people will have the same idea for their utopia. The main concept that tends to be shared though is the idea of total equality. In Thomas More’s “Utopia” and Plato’s early writing on utopia, they wrote of total equality in which all people have the same rights, the same economic benefits, and live the same lives. No matter the society, while utopias differ, they have the tendency to be characterized by total equality.

            Most utopian societies are created because there is something the writer believes needs changed in society which is contrasted with the idea of something not being able to be fixed in a dystopia. In this class I learned that while dystopia and utopia are contrasting ideas of perfection, they both have the characteristic of total equality. The big difference is that one has total equality where people gain things, while in dystopia, when someone has more than another person, they get there advantage taken away as seen in “Harrison Bergeron”.

            In conclusion, my idea of utopia has not changed over the course of this intensive; I still believe that utopia is an imaginary idea that would not be possible in the real world. Also, in this class I have learned that although utopia has no singular definition and dystopia contrasts this idea, there is a similar quality of total equality present in both types of societies.

Utopias are Dystopias

After learning about utopias and dystopias my thoughts on a Utopia changed. What is a Utopia? Prior to this class I thought a Utopia was a perfect society with very few to no issues since it already had the name Utopia to it. After reading about different societies I came to conclusion that there’s no such thing as a Utopia and that all “Utopias” are actually Dystopias. As I said on the first day of class it is hard for there to be a Utopia because it is perfection. The main issue is that everyone has their own definition of a Utopia. This makes it impossible for everyone in one society to agree on rules and guidelines. If no one agrees on these guidelines there is ought to be tension with creates issues. A Utopia is not possible to accomplish. Everyone would have to be of the same or at least very similar opinion, personality, and temperament which everyone knows is not even close to possible unless everyone was a programmed robot. If everyone was the same we would have already made the world a perfect place and as we can see it is far from perfect. I think that the less we strive for a Utopia the more of a Utopia it is going to be. I say this since perfection has a lot to do with happiness. Most people live happy or happier when they live by their way of life as opposed to living by other guidelines that set and given to them. Happy people is more Utopian than people being forced to live by certain rules.