Utopias Are Impossible

Everyone dreams of the perfect society. Not just politicians and philosophers, but everyone. We all think we have the solution to how to make the world perfect. And if you are a writer you have the chance to put your theories into practice, albeit with a fictional population of your own creation. But if you read fiction about Utopic societies there is usually some dark secret that nullifies any sense of perfection you may feel from the society. Perfection it would seem comes with a price. “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” or in a more modern sense “You can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.” And thus becomes the problem of any utopia. In order to create a society that eliminates so many of our modern problems, it usually has to create a whole new set of problems. How we behave, both the good and the bad is what make us so human.

What inspired this whole blog entry was the movie The Purge. Now I have not seen this film but from the trailers I seem to think the gyst is that America has become this perfect peaceful society. Unemployment is at an all time low. Crime is at all time low. There are no major problems in America. All because one night a year all crime is 100% legal. All the pent up aggression an anger people feel for the majority of the year can be released with no fear of punishment so long as you do it in the twelve hour period. Doesn’t make much sense to me, but for the sake of argument lets say it works. That’s still a horrible premise for a utopian society. For one night you can kill and murder, rape and pillage, whatever you can think of and it’s okay. That seems like a very high price for any sort of peace.

Of course I can’t talk about failed utopian societies without bringing up that classic science fiction film, Logan’s Run. Logan’s Run portrays a society where everyone lives in a euphoric party like state. The only catch is that when you turn thirty years old, indicated by a flashing light on your palm, you have to voluntarily sacrifice yourself. If you don’t then you will be hunted down and shot. Supposedly this population control is enforced in order to ration the resources for this small society. If only so many people have to share the resources then there is more to go around for everyone. Crime and discord usually arises from a need and want. If everyone’s needs and wants are met then people have no reason to rebel. The problem is, unbeknownst to the citizens of this society, there is a perfectly viable world outside the dome and they do not need to live a life of human sacrifice. So the price for Utopia is death and it isn’t even a real utopia.

Even Star Trek, which is the go to answer for any fan about what a perfect society is, has some downsides to it. There is an episode of the Next Generation (Time’s Arrow Part 2) where Mark Twain is transported to the 24^th century aboard the Enterprise. While the crew shows him all the wonders aboard the ship he is dismayed that he cannot get a cigar (no smoking in the future apparently). When it is explained to him that the human race has eliminated poverty, disease and most human suffering, Twain remarks that “maybe that’s worth giving up cigars after all.” But having been a long time fan of the series I have to say that statement is rather false. There is still plenty of suffering, disease and even poverty in the 24^th century. First of all, there is still crime in the future. We have encountered Federation run prisons several times (in Voyager, Tom Paris is serving time in a prison when Captain Janeway recruits him; Michael Eddington, a former officer is in prison in an episode of Deep Space Nine; The Orion Syndicate is a crime organization that operates throughout the Federation). So the elimination of poverty and suffering seems to be a bit of an exaggeration. Now the disease thing, that’s just a flat out lie. In the brilliant 2009 reboot of Star Trek, the character of Bones gives a long list of horrific disease you can catch while operating in Starfleet. There are multiple episodes of all five the Star Trek TV series that revolve around some disease or another spreading among the crew. So while life in the Federation certainly seems like it could have its benefits, it is still not a perfect society.

In truth, there never will be a perfect society. Too many people with too many differing opinions will prevent any true consensus from ever existing and creating a world where the problems that plague humanity are solved. Most of us can’t even agree what problems actually exist. Science and facts have now been put up for debate. In a world where even the truth is a matter of opinion, how can a utopia exist?