What is Utopia?

Looking back at the titles of my previous posts, I realize that my stream of consciousness progressed from blogging in the Millennium, to reality shows, to nomadic devices, to freedom, to will, to bullies, to finally utopia. Back to the future. A little twisted stream but that's the nature of digression. Looking at the last post, which I confess is rather dark and heavy, I could follow the darkness and get into the history of Nazi Germany, how an advanced society can return to savagery, or I could reiterate the injustice of apathy concerning bullies, or I could dive into a religious study of Solzhenitsyn's comment on good and evil, the nature of repentence being an opportunity to cross that fine line every time we make a decision. So many topics to choose from, and so many words in my mind. I think it would be best if I stick to looking at the future through mirrored glasses, so that I can see what has been, but also, and more importantly, where I am heading, hopefully. Reflections that are meaningful to the future are always better than reflections that are merely for the purpose of self-edification. So, what is utopia and how can we get there?

There have been many attempts to define utopia, from Plato's autocratic republic, to Rousseau's social contract, the communists' attempt of totalitarianism, and Christian's kingdom of heaven on earth. One can fairly say that three millenniums of history has been a grand attempt in social experiment in search of utopia.

I think the closest we have come to real utopia is, ironically, in television, specifically, in Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek. I don't mean the original adventurous Wagon Train to the Star's concept. I mean the eventually evolved universe of United Federation of Planets, with its Prime Directive of non-interference with other cultures, and freedom and liberty for all. Of course, it is not real, and could never become real, unless energy is cheap, gravity is artificial, and matter can be beamed off the planet. Nevertheless, this utopia in the Star Trek universe is no less real than Plato's republic, or the communist's planned economy. The only difference lies in what we accept as possible, and what we accept as impossible. There lies the rub, our own assumptions of how the universe operates. The communist losts the Cold War not because they thought they could planned the lives of millions of people better than those people themselves. The same with Plato and his republic, and the committees during the Frech Revolution. Men have always wanted to dominate others, and thought themselves, by virtue or vice of having more power over others, are better qualified to run their lives. The highest virtue of all is the wisdom to be humble, to know enough about the world to know that each man knows far too little in the real universe. Newton said that if he saw further than others, it was because he stood on the shoulders of giants. There are always giants where we don't see them, our blind spots, who will remind us of what we don't know. It is this wisdom of humility that prompted Gene Roddenberry to create the Prime Directive in his universe, to remind us that we don't know enough to decide for other cultures what is best for them. The Fords and Rockefellers of yesteryears, thought they were great philantropists by giving medicine and saving lives in poorer countries. Yet, without a truely loving spirit to follow through with the lives of the people they saved, the result is far worse today, with more poverty and misery than ever. Life doesn't respond to simple fixes. That's what the Prime Directive says. The utopia in the Star Trek universe is one that practices "Live and let live." Life is hard enough without having more hardship created by conflicts or ignorance or misunderstanding. As Scott Peck said in his book, "Road Less Traveled", life is difficult. In utopia, life is not less difficult, just that people have learned, by standing on the shoulders of giants, the tools and techniques necessary to make life easier to bear. How can lions lie down with lambs? Only when they have been fed, and feel content. Can lions be vegans? In a Star Trek universe of replicators and cheap bountiful energy, why not? I hear soy steaks are fairly tasty.

So how can we get there from here? Can we invent the holodeck? What is possible to implement today from the Star Trek universe? In fact, most of the communication technology, except the subspace portion, already is common place today. Even most of the computing technology is technically feasible, except Data's positronic matrix (but that's really from Asimov's universe, and that's another story). The really challenging, ahem, impossible technology is the energy conversion stuff. From warp, to gravity, not to mention shields and phasers, none of it can be created today, given the laws of physics as we understand them. But who knows...

What about the social structure of utopia? Instead of the autocratic rules of the republic, we can postulate that the UFP is a liberal democracy of some sort, although no mention of it can be found in any of the episodes or movies. And one can assume vertical mobility as well as meritocracy of some sort. With endless energy and money being of little worth, work is whatever one finds interesting. It is at this point, that I think the Star Trek universe breaks down. In the same way that communism broke apart under the weight of misguided human psychology, a society cannot function with its member doing whatever it pleases without some kind of reward and motivation. Perhaps we move up the ladder of self-actualization, and the reward for good work comes in the form of recognition, instead of food and shelter, etc.

Indeed, we already have a nascent economy in this form. It is called the open source community, where people do not work for monetary rewards, but for a sense of satisfaction. Will this trend continue and become the major economic force of a future utopia?

There are still issues of energy and resources to consider. Even in the Star Trek universe where energy is cheap, in the form of dilithium crystals, they still have to be mined. The trend towards a sustainable economy, with the three R's: Reduce, Re-use, and Recycle, must be a pillar of our utopia. It would be impossible otherwise. Solar and wind energy already gained ground since the energy crisis of the '70s. Nuclear power still has problems with disposing waste, but that is being worked on while greenhouse gases and acid rain are reduced. Alternative fuel and hybrid technology, in combination with new lighter and stronger material, and construction techniques will reduce our dependence on petroleum. The ultimate test of utopia will be our ability to create a sustainable community in space, or underwater, with limited resources, or at least, self-sufficient resources.

It seems to me that we are standing at the edge of new possibilities, as long as we don't drop the ball and allow our own pride and prejudices to propagate conflicts and destruction; utopia will be within our grasp, if not ours, than our children's or grandchildren's. Every age probably has the same feeling, from the days of explorers, and pioneers, all to the first community with fire, or horses, or the first harvest. Yet, with each new technology, unless human hearts also find a higher place, our dream of utopia is but a dream; and when our willful disregard for others fill the whole world, Armaggedon becomes the final nightmare. A fine line runs through every human heart, separating utopia from Armaggedon, a thin line at a time.

Together, we can weave a tapestry of heavenly beauty, or of hellish ugliness. We contribute to our collective destiny, one thread at a time.