Everyone acting in good faith all the time. Yeah, itβs impossible.
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I would assert that most problems are caused by ignorance, not malice.
Star Trek
All people guaranteed a baseline lifestyle. Housing, food, clean water, healthcare, electricity, internet. Everyone contributes to maintaining infrastructure in some way, would probably require 10-20 hours a week. Beyond that, people free to do what they want. Garden, make art, invent new things, whatever.
It is an egalitarian society where we all work for one another's benefit. I can really dream can't I. I like the idea of anarcho-communism in the style that was very much common in Native American societies prior to the racist/bigoted European settlers. This kind of society everyone was important and everyone played a key role in the success of the society. A leader acted more as a facilitator and less as an authority figure.
I'm deeply skeptical of any and all utopian ideas. They have this mysterious tendency to wander down paths to authoritarianism because we, as a species, are more defined by our ideas of who and what we are than by anything else in our existence.
When an idea becomes an ideal, people become willing to kill or die in attempts to bring that ideal to fruition, no matter how vain.
In fact, this is how I self-edit my own beliefs about the world and myself. "If the cards were all really on the table, would I be willing to proudly die in defense of this idea?" If the answer is yes, then I cling to that as an ideal that I strive toward.
All human lives matter equally.
It is important to lift up those who have less than I do.
Any small effort to alleviate the suffering of my fellow humans is meaningful.
There is always hope.
That is the utopia I choose to live in deliberately every day, and what I appreciate most is that it is resilient to the whims and chaos of this world that I can't control.
To add to some that the others said: A world federation.
After the European Union eventually grew together to the European federation, many nations pushed to cooperate against worldwide problems. This eventually resulted in the continuous strengthening of the United Nations. Over time, nationality became more and more meaningless until eventually the point was reached that any of us only consider themselves part of the United Nations of earth. At last, humanity united.
A world where all humans are autistic.
It wouldn't solve everything, but at least there wouldn't be room for chronic reification, useless charismatic narcissists, Cartesian dualism, etc to become big issues like they are in our world.
Networked, autonomous local communities.
Pretty much just Australia if it perfected itself to its potential, equalised out a bit better and stopped trying to be a mini America. Maybe a few less spiders.
Mine consides with yours, except it's a bit more techy. We'd still need someone to grow food for everyone on the planet, and that's where robots come in... and for everything else that is just tedious or repetitive to do. We'd also need central coordination regarding things like solar panel control, or nuclear power plant control, so a central AI will most probably dominate on all devices.
There is no currency, we have an advanced socialist society. We don't have polititians, we have "shamans" (people that guide the rest and keep the social piece, as well as uphold the values of the society). These people are not chosen by elections, they're groomed from youngsters to be leaders and embedded with the values this society upholds the most. Of course, they're carefully screened and chosen, based on certain tests that all children have to take, and scored on that (compassion and other highly valued human traits that are considered weaknesses in today's society, leadership skills, etc.).
Meditation, study, gardening, self improvement are paid jobs. We've given freedom to those who are able to use it in a responsible manner. Hard labor is a 4 to 5 hour gig that we take turns doing, not because we are forced to, but because we understand the necessity and value of the work. Work is not seen as something we must do to have a house and food, but it is seen as participating in our society.
Compassion, tolerance, and freedom are primal virtues.
Personally I love work, I love the feeling of charity, I love learning how to better myself.
Where the billionaires pay their fair share in taxes
There just aren't any billionaires.
My ideal world is one where the population of humanity exceeds 10trillion, but the population of earth is <100,000 permanent residents with yearly visitation from tourism etc exceeds 100million thanks to the series of space elevators that have been built. The majority of humanity are living in space at various Lagrange points in O'Neill cylinders and at least a quarter of humanity are in living in generation ships traveling to distant stars many that are >10pc away.
The Asteroid Belt has been mostly mined out though that isn't much of a problem as fission/fusion generation supplementing the solar dyson ring has transformed us firmly into a type 1 civilization.
I like all this and I'll add that for those who choose to participate, there is more than enough. For those who opt out, there is no lack.
But numbing oneself isn't a passtime.
And all are treated with respect and freedom for all is a primary principle.
In essence: this and the other post that includes no scarcity and the end of capitalism.
Empathy and kindness all over, no countries,borders or nations exist, just humans. People and corps no longer powered by greed as much as these days, and general thinking of how to keep growing and do better as a species.
Fully automated luxury communism. Basically a post-scarcity egalitarian society. Fueled by fusion power, if possible.
Came here to post this too. Post-scarcity, nothing to go to war over, everyone's comfortable.
We are finally living in accord with nature without having to forsake our innate desire for knowledge and progress.
Everything changed when the fire nation attacked
My ideal world is always communism where everyone has a role and those roles only export is prosperity and happiness. Something like the Rajneesh movement. It is deeply flawed and will never work globally but its a nice thought.
If you would have asked people 100 years ago they would be saying what we are living in today is the utopia. So this is always going to be a moving goalpost.
I'd take things a bit further than just communism. I'd imagine a world where farm and factory are all largely automated and publicly owned.
Anyone who wants a role has one, but no one is punished for not. Housing and food are guaranteed to all, as are most small luxuries.
Want to make the world a better place? Do it. Science and Tech would be fully funded. Want to sit around and just sort of live? Sure, you get UBI.
The only work places not owned by the workers would be the ones owned by government. If it's an essential service, it's government owned and government operated. If it's for fun, then sure, let some people get together and work toward making something fun.
Another change; copyright and patent law would be maxed at 14 years. That number has actually been shown to be when 97% of the profit is made on most copyrighted work. This one change would open up so much potential for public domain creativity.
I'd allow for continuing trademark of character, if they were in continuing use. i.e. a sort of serialization exemption to the copyright limits. If the author keeps putting out new material, they get to keep a form of control over their works, but if they stop, then it's all public domain.
I may have put a lot of thought into this over the years, and parts would still likely need to be adjusted during implementation.
Everyone has easy access to everything they need.
Realistically? Something a lot like what we currently have, but with everyone having access to prompt healthcare, living in comfort. A focus on community and cooperation being more dominant in the culture, rather than competition and comparison.
No humans. Not even their skeletons... Even the history of humanity complete wiped out like they never existed.
Eh. Somebody else is going to evolve intelligence then. And honestly being a wild animal sucks pretty hard too.
When subscribing to already outlined worlds, Iβd think living in the Culture (Ian Banks) sounds quite desirable.
The culture is run by extremely competent AI space ships, the Minds, all scarcity problems are solved, and the Minds not only make sure that all humans have a good place to live, but also animals, each according to their needs and desires.
I'd like to see a world in which the manufacturer of a product is responsible for its entire life cycle. So many problems we have today stem from our disposable culture. If say you package your product in plastic, that plastic should eventually come back to you for reuse/recycling, or at least you should foot the bill for processing it. Everything is barcoded these days, so it shouldn't be impossible to sort it by manufacturer. Could be a killer app for AI?
One where the rich pay more tax then they currently do now. Also slap a carbon tax on these fuckers and use the cash to fund climate mitigation / adaptation.
My vision of an ideal world is a hard one to answer but does have a few key aspects to it.
Where getting sick or hurt doesn't financially ruin someone.
Where people can seek mental health care without destroying their lives.
Where homelessness is a thing of the past.
Where no one goes hungry.
Where seeking to improve yourself via higher education doesn't cost money.
Where school funding is based on needs rather than location.
Where people are judged by the value of their character rather than the color of their skin, who they love, or the money in their bank account.
My ideal world isn't some far off fantasy, my ideal world is something that we can achieve in our lifetimes if we try.
I want to live in that world.
Well, we could all move into a matrix-like universe where we're gods, I guess. Then all we'd need for civilisation is server farms and the infrastructure to maintain them.
More near-term, if I was dictator for a day I'd impose a wealth cap between at maybe 10 or 15 million CAD and a guaranteed income you can live a very basic but comfortable life on. I feel like that would solve most problems. This could be applied globally too (with some ramp-up time) if we're assuming world government. Climate change could be addressed with a carbon tax high enough to fund the offsetting of the pollution's social cost.
I'm a wonk and I could go on, but those are the biggest things.
Saving this thread for writing inspiration.
I've always dreamed of being the last human on earth. There are signs of civilization yet it is all overgrown and in the process of being taken in by nature. The climate and ecosystem has rebalanced itself from what man did. There's no else to annoy or judge me, and i can do whatever i please without caring for how i am perceived. I can finally be my true self. Eventually i, too, die, and nature simply forgets as mankind's influence fades.
Iain M. Banks' Culture
It looks like the bridge of the Enterprise from Star Trek: The Next Generation. I want Earth to be like that. Instead, though, we seem to be stuck in William Gibson's Neuromancer universe.
Wall-E. I get to be the robot