The hope and hype of utopia

Jay Li Staff Writer

The term “utopia” was first coined in 1516 by Thomas More in his novel of the same name, meaning “good place” or “no place” in Greek—already alluding to the ambiguous nature of utopian societies and thinking. The novel is centered around a single question: Can such an ideal world ever be achieved? Centuries later, this question has maintained its grip on the human imagination.

Often when one thinks of a utopian world, the image of a technologically advanced society where all violence, disease and hatred has been replaced with social equality and abundance comes to mind—a seemingly unattainable paradise in stark contrast to the world we live in.

While a true utopia has never existed, utopian stories are often found in literature—a trend that was started by More’s “Utopia”—and the prevalence of utopian thinking can reveal much about modern society. In contrast to More’s more hypothetical interpretation of a utopia, H.G. Wells’s “A Modern Utopia” promotes the idea that a perfect society is assuredly attainable through human effort, political reform and technology.

On the other side of the spectrum, many authors utilize utopian stories to criticize existing conditions rather than offer solutions. George Orwell’s “1984” depicts a totalitarian government that controls every aspect of its citizens’ lives—including thoughts and emotions—under the guise of creating a perfect society. Orwell argues that a utopian society is fundamentally impossible to achieve as its actualization requires suppressing individual rights and the use of violence to uphold state power.

“Governments and policymakers should shy away from utopian thought and stick to a more rational, moderate form of thinking. Instead of aiming for extreme perfection, policymakers should instead work for incremental improvement, as unrealistic goals can often be unproductive and often come with massive material costs,” Senior Amy Wang said.

The prevalence and popularity of utopian stories in literature and media suggests an intrinsic desire for a better world and dissatisfaction with current sociopolitical conditions, which could include disillusionment with capitalism and consumerism or a general feeling of disconnect from one’s community. Utopian stories promise a vision of a more equitable and harmonious society, appealing to people’s desire for change.

Technology exists at the core of most if not all utopias, as innovations in science and technology often act as a catalyst toward bringing about utopian conditions. Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence have demonstrated their ability to automate jobs and potentially eliminate the need for human labor. In medicine, biotechnology has already made significant contributions by developing vaccines, gene therapies and diagnostic tools. For example, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats—more commonly known as CRISPR gene-editing—has begun to vastly transform the field by editing human DNA to prevent genetic conditions such as sickle cell disease, HIV or cancer.

“A true utopian world can never be fully realized—even when considering rapid advances in technology. Tangible issues such as climate change or disease can be remedied through innovation and political reform, but more abstract issues like racism or violence are much more difficult to eliminate as they are deeply rooted in our population’s ideology,” Sophomore Nick Shojaei said.

However, the concept of utopia is not limited to the realm of fiction, as several political figures have pursued it. Utopian political ideologies such as communism have inspired leaders like Mao and Lenin to pursue a communist state—an idealized world free of all social inequality based on the assumption that humans are innately altruistic and willing to sacrifice personal wants to work towards a common goal. While communism led to tyranny in the Soviet Union, utopian thinking has also inspired more well-meaning political initiatives. This can include universal basic income and universal health coverage—which are often seen as policies that move society closer to a utopia and have been promoted by various utopian thinkers including H. G. Wells. While utopian thinking and impulse has spurred innovation and inspired political initiatives, it is certainly not without its critics. Many argue that fixation on unattainable and unrealistic paradise is both irrational and enables the government to infringe on basic democratic rights under the guise of working towards “a perfect society” that was impossible to achieve in the first place. In a world where hopelessness is not uncommon, even the existence of utopian ideals can serve as a reminder that humanity can strive for a better tomorrow—or risk descending into utopia’s darker counterpart—dystopia.

Poll: a utopian society achievable?

Yes: 34% No: 66%

Dystopia: A bleak future ahead

Kyan Wang Staff Writer

A cruel, all-seeing government. A future on the brink of extinction. A world devoid of meaning. Dystopias—defined by the Oxford Dictionary as an imagined state or society in which there is great suffering or injustice—have taken many of these forms in literature and philosophy, but at its core, dystopias are a representation of the loss of selfagency at the hands of an oppressive force. Dystopian societies are most often characterized by scarcity, oppression and fear. Scarcity is portrayed by a lack of necessities, such as the scramble for food and shelter in a radioactive wasteland. Oppression is often shown as an authoritarian regime where the individual is crushed under the boot of the state and fear is commonly represented by an all-seeing government that watches for every transgression.

Dystopian media has found its place among the post-apocalypse, alternate history, science-fiction and fantasy worlds. The poster-child for the modern dystopia—Suzanne Collins’ “The Hunger Games”—has spanned both a book and film series, showing the immense impact dystopian fiction has had on popular culture. The series portrays a totalitarian government ruling over a post-apocalyptic America; after climate disasters wreak havoc across the world, citizens starve while working backbreaking jobs for the tyrannical ruling class—a textbook example of the genre.

Although dystopias are defined as imaginary, many of their characteristics are present in real world societies. The totalitarian state of North Korea checks several of the boxes ascribed to a dystopia: Its government silences dissent, and conformity to the regime is rigorously enforced through an extensive network of informants. North Korea’s Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-Un, as with his predecessors, has groomed a cult of personality based on Juche, the state ideology of the country that emphasizes self-reliance. Because of the isolationism Juche fosters, the country cannot even meet its citizens’ basic food demands. CNN states South Korea has claimed that starvation deaths are occurring as North Korea enters its largest food crisis since the 1994 famine, which killed hundreds of thousands to millions of people.

“When the government begins to levy unfair taxes on the populace for selfish reasons, a foundation for a dystopian state is born. A government that works against its people will gradually worsen and could result in a country like North Korea, where 60% of the country lives in poverty,” Junior Matthew Namba said.

A striking parallel can be drawn with George Orwell’s famous dystopian novel “1984,” in which an all-seeing “Big Brother” figure rules supreme. “1984” reflects the fictional ideology of English Socialism, or Ingsoc, a political system that distorts information with deceitful intent. By perpetually lying to its citizens, Oceania—the setting of 1984—keeps its population subjugated and clueless to the country’s poverty and suffering.

Most dystopias begin with the rise of an authoritarian government, often as a result of societal collapse, which itself stems from political or environmental catastrophes. In the power vacuum left after a governmental collapse, a scramble for control over the remaining citizenry ensues, and the most manipulative—and often most cruel—become the new rulers. The literary magazine The Paris Review explains that tyrants often use totalitarian methods such as mass surveillance to instill fear and complacency in the population in an attempt to stabilize their newly acquired positions. After the successful establishment of an effectively repressive system, the average person has little agency in escaping their poor conditions.

“A dystopian society would be nearly impossible for its citizens to overthrow, as its systems of oppression force its citizens to primarily focus on basic survival. In such a society, opposition to the government would be very weak, as the poor would not have the skills or social awareness to effectively organize and resist their oppressors,” Sophomore Ian Marshall said. The modern world has stood steadfast amidst many tests and survived countless events that could have resulted in a global dystopia, such as those during World War II and the Cold War. Dystopian media and literature are cautionary tales that illuminate existing, real world elements that have the potential to precipitate widespread calamity. Society could fall victim to the same traps explored in these works if it fails to recognize and address systemic issues before it is too late.

Suvia Li