I said I wanted to discuss the impossible, and immediately I feel compelled to write about just why and how this is not easily done. Mostly, I think, people in our day and age have come to appreciate just how difficult it is to create lasting change. Whether it's the legacy of our Civil Rights Movement, or criticisms for how foreign aid has actually hurt Africa, or the shrinking of the middle class, or the difficulty in coordinating international efforts to stop environmental destruction, we seem to live in a time where we are forcibly reminded of our limits.
I think that's part of why dystopia appeals. That, and we have a really hard time imagining any 'perfect' world that doesn't sound boring. Like in the movie The Matrix, when Agent Smith says the attempt to create a happy matrix was a disaster...people didn't accept it. Or the old joke about how when someone dies they want to go to heaven for the climate and hell for the company.
Besides which, there's a long historical legacy of failed attempts to create a utopia - like New Harmony, Indiana (an economic failure after two years), or the Oneida Community (not sure it counts as an attempt at utopia, the wikipedia site says it was a Perfectionist religious communal society) that eventually turned into a silverware company.
There seems something intrinsic to the human condition that defies attempts to build a lasting utopia. To create perfection.
So why bother? Well, here's the thing. We can't always predict the consequences of change, and we're terrible at predicting what changes will make us happy...but change IS inevitable. And the people who shape that change, who help direct that change in certain directions, are the ones who help dictate what the future holds.
Mistaken at times, sometimes idealistic, all too often wrong - the future is shaped by those who dream of something better. Different, at least. Since some dreams are only 'better' for that particular person.
And the ideas that spur development can pay off in ways you don't predict. I'm not talking about big utopian goals here, more the fascinating interplay between science fiction and technological development. Like the classic example of Star Trek's medical tricorder, which is coming closer and closer to an actual reality.
Change is inevitable, and envisioning the possibilities can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I think that's part of why dystopia appeals. That, and we have a really hard time imagining any 'perfect' world that doesn't sound boring. Like in the movie The Matrix, when Agent Smith says the attempt to create a happy matrix was a disaster...people didn't accept it. Or the old joke about how when someone dies they want to go to heaven for the climate and hell for the company.
Besides which, there's a long historical legacy of failed attempts to create a utopia - like New Harmony, Indiana (an economic failure after two years), or the Oneida Community (not sure it counts as an attempt at utopia, the wikipedia site says it was a Perfectionist religious communal society) that eventually turned into a silverware company.
There seems something intrinsic to the human condition that defies attempts to build a lasting utopia. To create perfection.
So why bother? Well, here's the thing. We can't always predict the consequences of change, and we're terrible at predicting what changes will make us happy...but change IS inevitable. And the people who shape that change, who help direct that change in certain directions, are the ones who help dictate what the future holds.
Mistaken at times, sometimes idealistic, all too often wrong - the future is shaped by those who dream of something better. Different, at least. Since some dreams are only 'better' for that particular person.
And the ideas that spur development can pay off in ways you don't predict. I'm not talking about big utopian goals here, more the fascinating interplay between science fiction and technological development. Like the classic example of Star Trek's medical tricorder, which is coming closer and closer to an actual reality.
Change is inevitable, and envisioning the possibilities can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
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