Utopia, a poll (with other completely unconnected question)

[andrewducker]

"The Culture" in this case refers to the space-faring civilisation in Iain Banks' awesome series of novels.

[Poll #1792224]

Comments

[interactiveleaf.livejournal.com]

No idea who the weirdos are who think that Brave New World is a dystopia

I'm with you on that. I've been baffled by it for a long time.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Brave New World is only utopian if you think the conditions really do approach "perfect"

[andrewducker]

Pretty much everyone is happy, pretty much all of the time. Short of wiring everyone up to wires connected to their happy centres, it's as close to a utopia as I think you can get.

It is, however, only a utopia for the people that were brought up in it. Clearly people from outside of it would find it stifling and uncomfortable. I think that's true of any society though.

[bart-calendar.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I think creating a genetically engineered caste system where people are simply born to be either idiots or genius rulers is anyone's idea of utopia. Being told from the time you are born that you are an alpha, a beta or a gama and that's it you have no chance at all to change that sounds pretty dystopian for me.

[andrewducker]

Well it would for you - being told your place would drive you crazy.

For the people living _in_ the utopia it makes them happy and content.

[bart-calendar.livejournal.com]

Well, by that standard we could simply flood the public water supply with opium and create utopia, because that too would keep them happy and content.

[andrewducker]

If that would work, then yes. But I think you'd also need social change to go along with it. People get bored of opiates, and try to wean themselves off of them. Also, after a while nobody would be left to run the system and it would break down, leaving people starving to death and without opiates any more.

I remember the discussion in BNW of how they tried having less work in the week, but people got bored and were less happy. People need contrasts :->

[pennski.livejournal.com]

For me it's the lack of books that makes it a dystopia. A pretty shallow response I know.

[interactiveleaf.livejournal.com]

Approach? Yes. There's no such thing as perfection between people, but I think they have achieved the greatest good for the greatest number.

Regardless of whether it is utopian or not, though, it's definitely not dystopian. There's an excluded middle.