Is an Utopian society totally imposible?

[stalin006]

i was watching teh matrix yesterday and in one part, agent smith said that once the matrix was created as a perfect world, and had failed completely, that human kind needs disasters, death, and perhaps evil and decadence.
i ask myelf, is an utopian society posible?
wait, what about religious heaven? it is said that place is perfect, ull live a happy life for teh rest of eternity..........but have u asked urself.....what would u do? i mean....i dont think u can do anything a bit immoral.....no fights, no action movies? how can u work? if u do work? why work, is perfect anyways. so u would live in a society where tehres no violence lies etc....... how can u live it?
u dont have to work.
u cant see movies or do stuff w/ even a small realated violence, sex etc.


is an Utopian society a human unreacheble dream?
and how would heaven be? really, an average day in eternal utopia, heaven.

 

[Kentonio]

Fraid so, we are far to machiavallian to get a buzz out of perfection. Also humans are so different in nature as to ask the question 'What is a utopian society?'. To many people a perfect society would contain many of the things that you ruled out in your example.

 

[andrewgprv]

I personally believe a Utopian Society is impossable, I believe strife and trials help keep us healthy.

But I still will continue to work for an ideal society.

It's all part of the process.

 

[smalltalk]

Originally posted by stalin006
is an Utopian society a human unreacheble dream?
and how would heaven be? really, an average day in eternal utopia, heaven. [/B]

It all depends if we ever develop an intelligent self-reproductive system, that is intelligent and willing enough to do our work, yet dumb enough not to demand any salary, except for Alternating Currency.

Then the robots will do the work, and we may go on dole right after birth.

If this is not to be achieved, then I only see the possibilty stated by Thomas Moore as soon as 1518 in his book UTOPIA: if we restrict ourselves to only produce the things really necessary, we would have to work no more than for four hours a day. And he didn't even know of the steam engine!

But well, I guess the term utopian has still a mild connotation as like 'being impossible' ...

 

[test_specimen]

Perhaps it is because it was planned and unknown to the people. Socialist utopias that were well planned also have not worked out in the past. I think of Oskar Niemayers Brasilia, Le Corbusier's planned cities and HML (habitation moyen loyer = middle rent appartments) as well as government concepts (communism) and communal living of the 60s and 70s. If only the rules were given and the development within those rules was free it worked. This would mean that a "dirty" matrix would not have worked as well, which it did not (if it had worked Neo and Morpheus would not exist). It is just more difficult to recognise it.

I think a Utopia can only exist if it evolves, not if it is planned. But the planning and executing of those utopias that don't work is also important, because they show where human deficiencies obstruct a perfect society. If we had no longer the need to work against this system, because it satisfies our needs, then it will work. But it has to grow organically.

 

[gael]

A utopian society?
Its sounds pretty boring to me.

 

[Greadius]

Imagine describing our society to someone who lived 2000 years ago.

It'd probably sound like a utopia.

 

[gael]

I suppose the 'utopian society' is an unachievable goal that humanity will keep chasing for as long as we are around.

 

[ComradeDavo]

Originally posted by Greadius
Imagine describing our society to someone who lived 2000 years ago.

It'd probably sound like a utopia.

Indeed.

 

[Aphex_Twin]

Well, the reason they call them Utopias is pretty clear. THEY ARE IMPOSSIBLE (utopia comes from the Greek "u" = "not" and "topos" = space, land, place).

An utopia is like an ideal, which though never achieveable, is worth striding for...

 

[Archer 007]

I give Aphex_Twin my nod.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

An utopia is certainly possible, but not by us humans... We're too demanding.

Still a lofty goal for the future though.

 

[Immortal]

Kd, what couls possibly have the ability to create a utopia? Off hand I cant think of anything on this planet.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Originally posted by Immortal
Kd, what couls possibly have the ability to create a utopia? Off hand I cant think of anything on this planet.

Ants...

On the galactic scale, probably some alien intelligent species too...

 

[Aphex_Twin]

Yeah, well, we should try to think of something on a different planet. Utopia?

 

[nixon]

Impossible for reasons already mentioned. But we human species could appropriately set up an experiment on the Moon, and see what happens. The volunteers should be willing to lose their lives in the name of the experiment. If everything screws, we'll just nuke the Moon, and forget about what happened. How about that?

 

[WillJ]

All humans have a different idea of what would be perfect, so (assuming it stays like that), a Utopian society would be impossible. For example, some people like pornography, and a perfect world would include getting as much porn as possible. Others hate porn. You can't have a world where there's both no porn and lots of porn.

 

[luiz]

Like Aphex_Twin said, Utopia means a place that doesnt exists.
How can a place that doesnt exists exist?
An utopian society is and always will be impossible. We can heve a better society.

 

[Yoda Power]

possible, maybe in 10000 years, but i dont really care about that.

 

[Kinniken]

Originally posted by Greadius
Imagine describing our society to someone who lived 2000 years ago.

It'd probably sound like a utopia.

Possibly. Thought when you get to nazism, nuclear weapons and war devastating whole continents, he might get a more balanced picture.