If one mans utopia is another mans dystopia, then we should stop trying to create utopias. Doesn't mean we will get a perfect society, just one that is the least bad and most fair considering the circumstances.
Of course! This is actually something I've been thinking about a lot lately (avoiding dystopias instead of creating utopias), hence why I posted my answer :)
I think uptopia would be where everyone is kind to each other.
There is no currency in which to trade with, everyone works and everyone gets food.
There is enough for everyone.
I know, that is socialism. But socialism has never worked.
If there was a perfect system, it might. Without people being greedy.
First of all, food and water would be abundant and distributed evenly. People would have complete rights to the land that they work to improve and live on. If this could be accomplished, I believe much of the fighting and greed would be eliminated already. Hoarding food and property would not be permitted - basically use it or lose it.
A strong sense of community would be needed to help people find purpose. If people were taken care of and didn’t use currency to trade, my hope is that they would be busy in what they are passionate about and what best serves their community.
I think spirituality would be very important to reinforce (not dictate!) this system. There would need to be strong spiritual leaders to guide the community into seeing that they are all one working towards a common goal. And to help those who are lost to find their purpose.
To me it is simple, Utopia is a time and place where the least respected, most down-trodden in the society or community have legal and fair treatment under the law.
Everyone has augmented reality vision. And I don’t mean digital images superimposed on the real world. I mean people have augmented political reality vision. They can see if the person/organisation they are interacting with is corrupt or not and how closely they are entangled with other corrupt individuals/organisations.
With this vision, it is hoped that, people will engage primarily with non-corrupt actors so that corruption and broken incentives are, in the fullness of time, edged out.
Highly unrealistic, of course but utopian, as requested.
Mine is a world where society has reached a consensus in condemning the state, in the same way that we generally condemn conventional slavery.
People are free to pursue their versions of happiness, without arbitrary third-party constraints.
The only paths to prosperity come from doing things that are valued by others.
If I can get a little greedy, I would also like people to attempt to live up to their professed moral commitments. I like that there are many different visions of what an ethical life is, but I find virtue signaling very tedious.
It might sound basic but a place that people are healthy and able to do what they want to live. I’m not talking about people who just want to sit on the couch you have to do something productive for society but whatever it is is something you actually enjoy.
Health I think gets over looked but as someone whose life took a hard left turn after my health took a nose dive that is something important to me. I hope for a future where chronic illnesses are a thing of the past cause boy does having comorbid chronic illnesses suck!
Utopia to me is an ideal state of mind where I have the ability to dream as well as the resources to make my dreams come true. I’m deliberately focusing on the individual because imperfection exists anyway, so we should focus on cultivating the self. I have what it takes to get what I want.
Imagine doing what you do on a regular Saturday every day of the week. Maybe you want to travel the world, maybe you want to do your trad homestead, maybe you find a niche hobby to do fulltime.
The best thing about this is that I might actually get a glimpse at this world in old age. I don't think I will live long enough to see it quiet unfold. But I might get a glimpse at it.
The open source community created something magical that I don't think had existed before.
People all around the world helping each other to create better things, for free, just because they can and want to.
Utopia would be something like that in my mind. Required jobs would be automated completely, things like cleaning, delivery, and other services like police, fire fighters, etc. All of that would be taken care of by machines and software at a minimum costs, which is covered by the running costs of the city, which would be small.
Each person gets allocated a minimum amount of money that provides them with shelter and basic food. Basically a large majority of people would simply exist in this reality. They simply live their lives with all their basic needs covered.
A small minority will be free to to whatever they want. This will allow them to create multiple things and share them with the world. Discoveries, new science, new advances in services, anything really. Think about how open source has dramatically changed the world, and think how adding much more people to that philosophy would give us as a species.
There are a few people that do the vast majority of things, the utopia would amplify this effect freeing talented people from their mundane jobs they have to do now to be able to have a roof over their head and some food to eat.
For the sake of this bounty and for I owe you one reply with a post. I've just gathered my little efforts into words for answering this thought provoking question.
Utopia...mean no place. My honest feeling of a best possible world would be one with swift and aesthetic justice. A place where conflict only occur between individuals. No nations no borders. Perhaps a true religion where morals are common and nobody rules anyone else. Also excellent pizza and other food.
I think a utopia would be a society of RULES not RULERS. “Currency” would be decentralized (like bitcoin) and would ultimately be controlled by the people as a whole; a barter system can also be implemented for trading resources for value to value (depending on needs or wants). Education should be THE CENTRAL point and free to all for it will teach future generations to be self sufficient, self reliant, and cultivate self thought.
This is just a few things I would like, but I’m not nearly smart nor wise enough to know what an ACTUAL utopia would even be.
The one thing I can say is that fundamentally I’m an anarchist and I don’t believe we have to be “ruled”, however we must follow “rules” that are morally good to the human condition.
what the world would look like as these laws unfold i could not say, and it certainly would not be classified as a utopia for all.
What about reaching this world without murder, violence, theft WITHOUT changing the laws? We just become richer economically.
I honestly think that a lot of crime is just rooted in poverty or any reason that is 2 steps removed from the underlying reason of poverty. Ever seen a rich person steal makeup from Walmart? I doubt. That wouldn't solve all crime, sure. But we'd be a lot closer to your utopia.
crime has more to do with inequality and poor law enforcement than anything else
Let's take this thought to the extreme: Everybody is rich. Everybody has a mansion in the countryside and a NYC skyscraper apartment and a dozen cars etc but the world is still unequal: Jeff Bezos has a Yacht and a private island and a personal spacestation.
You think there would still be theft? Why should anyone break into another house if they live comfortable anyways. Why should anyone waste their time patrolling the streets against home break ins or robberies?
I asked for the most thoughtful response - I think because you came back to clarify your original comment means that you were questioning yourself and came back with more thoughts on what you believe to be your utopia and that is why I paid the bounty to you :)