Loved your thoughts on utopias and dystopias. Especially for the last one, I also think that they act as cautionary tales. 1984, Brave New World and Dune depict futures in which we don’t want to live. And to avoid those futures we need to mold human nature and shape it into a vision of a world where we can all live in peace and harmony with each other and with nature. Even utopias are tainted by the dark shadows of dystopia. Because there will always be greed, hunger for power and domination. Shining a light on those shadows is the best way to keep them at bay.
Enjoyed this piece a great deal. Your ideal world is one I often dream of too. I find the movie, Idiocracy, to be one of the most realistic dystopias. It feels like the current societal leadership is actively pushing to increase mindless consumption and demonizing differences and intelligence. The values feel all wrong. I would love to rely more on community and creativity.
Aug 3, 2023·edited Aug 3, 2023Liked by Chevanne Scordinsky
Thanks for this thoughtful meditation. I’m curious, as a point of departure for a dialogue, how you reconcile your well-defined (and argued) humanism with the challenge of allowing others to pursue their own purpose i.e.
“we are free in our imaginations to build what we want to see, put the vision to work, and forge forward to realize that vision.”
A lot of people who “build what we want to see” genuinely believe they’re doing good and are in fact good people in constructing societies or even narratives that end up marginalizing and/or oppressing a whole lot of people ... this is the great bone in my optimistic throat. We all agree that respect and dialogue and mutual understanding are theoretically valuable, but generally speaking, a few internet trolls toss us back into the soup of moralistic stances and ideological evangelism--ESPECIALLY when we feel it’s for a worthy and essential cause (Americans, for example, often talk about “freedom” as a baseline virtue without actually agreeing on its definition).
I find dystopias far more entertaining than utopias. Utopias are way too predictable. We need plot twists and canon events to spur debates and conflicts and growth even if they are hazardous to our mental and physical health.
Loved your thoughts on utopias and dystopias. Especially for the last one, I also think that they act as cautionary tales. 1984, Brave New World and Dune depict futures in which we don’t want to live. And to avoid those futures we need to mold human nature and shape it into a vision of a world where we can all live in peace and harmony with each other and with nature. Even utopias are tainted by the dark shadows of dystopia. Because there will always be greed, hunger for power and domination. Shining a light on those shadows is the best way to keep them at bay.
Enjoyed this piece a great deal. Your ideal world is one I often dream of too. I find the movie, Idiocracy, to be one of the most realistic dystopias. It feels like the current societal leadership is actively pushing to increase mindless consumption and demonizing differences and intelligence. The values feel all wrong. I would love to rely more on community and creativity.
I'm with you, Chiv.
Nice
This is so so powerful!!! I especially love this quote: I want what is possible, not what currently exists.
There is so much more that is possible to us that we aren’t even pursuing because we think it’s not.
This is so so powerful!!! I especially love this quote: I want what is possible, not what currently exists.
There is so much more that is possible to us that we aren’t even pursuing because we think it’s not.
Thanks for this thoughtful meditation. I’m curious, as a point of departure for a dialogue, how you reconcile your well-defined (and argued) humanism with the challenge of allowing others to pursue their own purpose i.e.
“we are free in our imaginations to build what we want to see, put the vision to work, and forge forward to realize that vision.”
A lot of people who “build what we want to see” genuinely believe they’re doing good and are in fact good people in constructing societies or even narratives that end up marginalizing and/or oppressing a whole lot of people ... this is the great bone in my optimistic throat. We all agree that respect and dialogue and mutual understanding are theoretically valuable, but generally speaking, a few internet trolls toss us back into the soup of moralistic stances and ideological evangelism--ESPECIALLY when we feel it’s for a worthy and essential cause (Americans, for example, often talk about “freedom” as a baseline virtue without actually agreeing on its definition).
I find dystopias far more entertaining than utopias. Utopias are way too predictable. We need plot twists and canon events to spur debates and conflicts and growth even if they are hazardous to our mental and physical health.