From the very moment of the creation of the first state, people were obsessed with the idea of creating an ideal society. A state in which there is no poverty, disease and inequality is such an old dream of enlightened mankind that it is difficult to say when it first appeared. For this kind of fantasies and projects at the end of the Middle Ages, a special term appeared - "utopia". It was taken from the work of the same name by Thomas More - "The Golden Book, as useful as it is funny about the best structure of the state and about the new island of Utopia", in which "Utopia" is only the name of the island. For the first time. in the meaning of "model of an ideal society" this word is found in the book of travels of the English priest Samuel Purches "Pilgrimage" (Pilgrimage, 1613). The adjective “utopian” is also used there for the first time. This became the specificity of the models of the ideal world - when creating a utopia, real conditions and historical background were not taken into account. It is all the more interesting today to look at the projects of the past, which demonstrate the hopes of the most enlightened people of the past.
In most cultures and religions, the myth of a distant past, in which humanity lives in a primitive and simple state, but at the same time in a state of perfect happiness and satisfaction, is strong. The earliest written references to utopias are recorded in the ancient heritage, for example, in the treatise "The Golden Age" by the ancient Greek poet Hesiod, written in the 8th century BC. In the poetic treatise, the poet suggests that before the present era there were other, more perfect ones, the very first of which was the Golden Age - a time of harmony and universal brotherhood.
Religions and utopias
Another of the most persistent and oldest utopias on earth is the dream of an afterlife and the ideal of paradise. Judaism, Christianity and Islam have a clear idea of how things are "on the other side" and usually paradise is just an ideal society. The Garden of Eden has all the signs of a utopia, including the fact that time has stopped there and no changes have occurred over thousands of years.
spring peach flower
The Spring Peach Blossom is a fable written in 421 AD by the Chinese poet Tao Yuanming, which describes an ideal society in which people lead an ideal existence in harmony with nature without establishing any external contact.
New harmony and utopian experiments
With the advances of the Industrial Revolution, the prospect of achieving a utopia seemed real, especially in countries like the US. The number of utopian communities increased dramatically in the late 1800s. Usually they were created on the basis of certain religious or ideological ideas. One such community was called "New Harmony" and was founded by the Welsh industrialist Robert Owen. The community grew into a whole city, which in 1825 became a real center of achievements in the field of education and scientific research, but, in the end, the wrong economic approach destroyed a promising undertaking.
Utopian technologies
The scientific and technological utopias that flourished in the early 19th century gave rise to many fantasies about the amazing technology of the future. These utopian flying machines were featured on a French postcard issued in the 1890s.
Ville Radiuse
Ville Radieuse is an unrealized project designed by the French-Swiss architect Le Corbusier in 1924. Le Corbusier idealized the very idea of the city, filling it with high-rise residential buildings and an abundance of green spaces.
Broadcree City
In 1932, American architect Frank Lloyd Wright saw the plans for Ville Radieuse and conceived his own utopia, with agrarians and open spaces. In his utopia, he exploited the idea of mixing urban and agricultural spaces. Lloyd Wright's city was designed to accommodate 10,000 people and used only those resources that it produced itself. Broadacre was never built, but used the forward-looking principles of local food production and is an inspiration to architects to this day.
Speer's Nazi Utopia
The architect Albert Speer was one of Adolf Hitler's closest friends and, as "the first architect of the Third Reich," was involved in the development of the reconstruction of Berlin in a very futuristic way. The capital of Germany was to become a huge metropolis with a mass of skyscrapers, huge avenues and gigantic stadiums. The defeat of the Nazis in 1945 put an end to Speer's endeavors.
Buckminster Fuller's vision of a floating city
Buckminster Fuller, an inventor and architect, designed a number of futuristic city designs throughout his career. The most notable of these was the concept of a city that would be located on giant floating platforms in the ocean.
Seward's success
In 1968, oil was discovered in Pradhoe Bay, Alaska. This caused a real construction explosion in the northern state. "Seward's Success" was the working title of the domed city that was supposed to be built near the field. The city's design included office space, retail areas, residential areas, sports facilities, and a monorail system for the movement of residents.
“There is a decree that none of the cases relating to the Republic should be carried out unless it was discussed in the Senate three days before the decision. It is considered a criminal offense to decide on public affairs other than the senate or popular assembly,” wrote Thomas More in his 16th-century monarchy.
Utopia. A place that doesn't exist. More precisely, it is not on the world map, but it is in the minds of people. First, the utopia virus infects some talented madman. Then the epidemic begins. And often naive dreams turn into reality.
In 1897, at the Zionist congress in Basel, Theodor Herzl called on the Jews to create their own country with their own laws, language and customs. It seemed then as naive as the dreams of More or Campanella. Herzl himself understood this. “'I created a Jewish state' - if I said it out loud, I would be ridiculed. But, perhaps, in five years, and certainly in fifty, everyone will see it for themselves, ”he wrote in his diary. And exactly half a century later, the by no means imaginary state of Israel appeared on the world map. Utopia is overgrown with tank troops and satellite-guided missiles.
But for more than half a century, the world has been strenuously trying to abandon the dream. Horror stories like Brave New World! Huxley, Zamyatin's "We" or Orwell's "1984" still smell pleasantly of fresh printing ink. After the experience of building totalitarian societies, dreaming of an ideal future has become indecent and very dangerous.
Now it is believed that social dreams are the lot of past centuries. It was our naive ancestors who all rushed about with all sorts of "isms". Only acute paranoia could push people into prisons or barricades for the sake of some constructions of an ideal future. You can just live normally, get a salary, take consumer loans, and if you really want to improve the world - donate a couple of hundred to some children's fund or Greenpeace ... Is it possible? Or not?
“A man without a utopia is more terrible than a man without a nose,” said Chesterton. The development of society is impossible without some kind of landmark, a bright spot looming ahead. We get into a car with an automatic transmission, fill it with excellent gasoline, and suddenly we realize that we have nowhere to go. Without ideas about the end point of the route, a car is not needed. And utopia is not so much a goal as a movement towards this goal.
We want to look at utopias not as a genre of science fiction, but as a fully realizable future. It's not that easy. You can scold the existing order of things for a long time, but as soon as you offer an alternative, it seems naive and absurd. It seems that our world is arranged in the most reasonable way.
But try to look at our civilization from the point of view of some advanced alien. He is unlikely to be able to understand what military sergeants, financial brokers, mid-level officials or marketing managers are needed for. Our wars, our politics, our cities, our television - is that any less absurd than any of the utopias? “You don't live on the inside of a ball. You live on the outer surface of the ball. And there are still many such balls in the world, on some they live much worse than you, and on some - much better than you. But nowhere do they live more stupidly ... Don't you believe? Well, to hell with you, ”Maxim from the Inhabited Island diagnosed.
What seemed absurd in the past becomes normal in the future. And vice versa. Imagine that you are a peasant living in the time of Thomas More. And you are told: “Every day you will go underground and enter a shaking iron box. In addition to you, there are a hundred more people in it, standing tightly clinging to each other ... "Most likely, the peasant will fall to his knees in horror and will beg for mercy:" Why do you want to subject me to such a terrible torture?!" But we are talking about the banal subway.
When you start telling someone another version of a utopia, skepticism immediately arises: they say that people are used to a certain way of life and you can force them to change only with the help of totalitarian violence. But let's take a simple example - slavery. A few centuries ago, it seemed to be the norm. In the same "Utopia" by Thomas More, it was easily reported: "Slaves are not only constantly busy with work, but also chained ..." The comfortable life of a noble person was not possible without slaves, serfs, or at least servants. And we get by quite well. And we even manage to fry scrambled eggs in the morning without the participation of the cook.
The question of utopia is a question of social norm and social values. In every society there is a majority - "normal people" - and there are different groups of people who "wanted the strange", or, more roughly, the marginalized. Utopia turns some of the variants of "strange" into normal, and yesterday's "normal", on the contrary, becomes exotic. Utopias are not needed in order to immediately begin to put them into practice, destroying those who disagree and spending all the resources of mankind on this. Utopias give value, meaning and direction to our world, which will never be perfect.
But where will utopias come from if they are all thrown off the steamer of modernity and exposed by gloomy dystopias? Maybe there will be ideas that we are not even aware of now. But it is possible that those utopias that still live and are even realized as a local experience of individuals and communities will attract attention. We offer 10 utopian ideas, each of which is based on values that may someday be shared by millions.
Psychological utopia
In response to what was born. Mass neuroses, numerous tragedies, wars, crimes that result from the mental illness of individuals and masses.
Great goal. Psychological health of a person and society.
Forerunners. Behaviorist classic Burres Skinner. The author of the method of sociometry and the technique of psychodrama is Jacob Moreno. Abraham Maslow, founder of humanistic psychology.
Economy. It is understood that “psychological capital” is no less important than financial capital. The main incentive is not money, but psychological health, comfort, wisdom.
Control. Psychologists take part in almost all significant decisions related to politics, finance, and the army. Social conflicts are overcome as psychological ones. Politics is the art of curing mass neuroses.
Technology. Intensive development and technologization of psychological practices. The natural sciences also benefit from revealing the personal qualities and abilities of scientists, getting rid of unnecessary conflicts in the academic environment.
Lifestyle. Relations between people imply openness, frankness, mutual support, direct expression of any emotions. It is normal to radically change the way of life, work, place of residence. What we today consider downshifting (for example, changing the position of director to work as a gardener) has become commonplace. Education has ceased to be the privilege of children and continues throughout life.
“In general, we don’t have dissidents. There are people who are very strongly attached to their neuroses and manias and even call psychologists "fuhrers" and "evil manipulators", and everyone else - "happy idiots". We don't get offended."
From the newspaper Pravda Utopii.“The Ministry of Personal Development has vetoed the draft state budget. According to representatives of the ministry, this document is certainly well developed from the point of view of the needs of industry and defense, but the psychological component leaves much to be desired.”
Where exists now. Psychotherapeutic groups of various types and schools, communities with a psychological bias (following the example of Western communities for the treatment of drug addicts).
Situations of free choice are not favorable for all adults, but only for healthy people. The neurotic is not capable of making the right choice, he most often does not know what he wants, and if he does, he does not have the courage to make the right choice ... I often plunge into dreams of a psychological utopia - about the state, all citizens who are in excellent mental health. I even came up with a name for it - Eupsychea ... I am convinced that it will be an anarchist society (anarchist in the philosophical sense of the word), it will be committed to a Taoist culture, a culture based on love, giving people much more freedom of choice than our culture gives us. Abraham Maslow. From the book "Motivation and Personality"
neoliberalism
In response to what he was born. The low efficiency of the state bureaucracy and the excessive influence of state institutions on literally all spheres of society.
Great goal. True freedom, natural self-organization and prosperity based on free enterprise and individualism.
Forerunners. Milton Friedman, Friedrich von Hayek, Chicago School of Economics.
Economy. The market economy is becoming total, all barriers to trade have been removed.
Control. The world government only oversees the observance of the rules of the game and has little social obligation to the poor and incapacitated.
Technology. The question of what technologies to develop is decided only by a market governed by commercial interest and strict copyright laws.
Lifestyle."There is no such thing as society" - this is how Margaret Thatcher formulated the creed of neoliberalism. The competition for the best place in the sun is between people organized in enterprises, in free market competition. Multiculturalism has become the norm of life: everyone knows several languages and freely plays with quotes, musical phrases and philosophical maxims of different cultures, without falling into dependence on the dogmas of any of them. People are free from any and all gender, ethnic, religious differences. There are no more nation-states. Thanks to the fact that market expediency is a common language for all spheres of life, relations between people have finally become clear and transparent, and most importantly, less hostile. Nothing causes hatred - not different identities, not sexual infidelity.
“In some places dense fundamentalism is still preserved - nationalism, religious intolerance. But all this is gradually fading away. So I'm personally concerned about groups that think we need to drastically increase taxes on non-profit spending - from 1% to 1.2% - to help the weak, the disabled, animals. I myself make contributions to a charitable foundation and I think that such a decision would be an infringement of my rights.
From the newspaper Pravda Utopii.“The claims that verbal emotional support should be valued at a higher rate than tactile support are simply ridiculous. We adhere to the point of view that such actions should be evaluated by the result, and the volume of payments should be stipulated in contracts, as is done today in all developed regions of the world.”
Where exists now. In its most striking manifestations, the neoliberal utopia was partially realized in Great Britain and some countries of Western Europe.
The ultimate (and unattainable) goal of neoliberalism is a universe where every action of any being is a market transaction carried out in competition with another being, influencing all other transactions, carried out in an infinitely short period of time and repeated at an infinitely high speed. Paul Trenor, Dutch political scientist. From the article "Neoliberalism: Origins, Theory, Definition"
Pedagogical utopia
In response to what was born. The imperfection of education, and most importantly - the upbringing of children.
Great goal. The upbringing of a humane, creative, comprehensively developed person, the harmonious development of mankind.
Forerunners. The Strugatsky brothers with their "Theory of Education", JK Rowling and her professor Dumbledore, Makarenko, Janusz Korczak, modern innovative teachers.
Economy. Education and upbringing is a key area for investment.
Control. The teacher has a status close to the level of a top manager. The Council of Educators has the right to veto any policy decision.
Technology. Advanced learning tools such as "social simulators" based on virtual reality technologies.
Lifestyle. Children from an early age are placed in special boarding schools. At the same time, parents and children can see each other whenever they want. Parents have a lot of free time, which they can devote to sports, art, charity or education.
From the newspaper Pravda Utopii.““I have already passed all tests, trials and interviews, the commission recognized me as fit to work as an educator. I confess: it was not easy, I am proud that everything worked out. It seems to me that I was a successful leader and earned the right to work in a boarding school,” the director of a furniture manufacturing company, who plans to change his specialty in the coming months, told our correspondent. Recall that the competition for the places of educators appearing in connection with the growth of the population reaches ten thousand people per place.
“When I was young, there were still backward parents who refused to send their children to boarding schools. Now there are practically none of them, since the growth opportunities for those who have fallen out of the System are extremely limited. But, of course, I categorically disagree with the Makarenko group, who demand that parents should be banned from communicating with children under the age of 18.”
Where can you see it now."Advanced" Russian schools (including boarding schools, such as the Moscow "Intellectual"), summer educational camps.
Our whole "Theory of Education" was based on two main principles. First, the upbringing of children should be done by professionals, not amateurs (which parents usually are). Secondly, the main task of the teacher is to discover and develop in the child his Main Talent, what he can do better than many. It is understood that the child spends most of the time of study in a boarding school. At the same time, he is by no means cut off from the world and from his family - his parents can come to his boarding school at any time, and he himself regularly travels home. No secrecy, no closeness, but maximum privacy. Arkady Strugatsky, writer. From answers to questions from readers
Information utopia
In response to what was born. The inability of the human brain to evaluate the correctness of a decision, including one on which the fate of mankind depends.
Great goal. The liberation of people from the routine, all uncreative work should be done by machines.
Forerunners. Ideas about the reorganization of society based on information technology are put forward by a variety of people - from rebel programmers in rumpled T-shirts to respectable analysts from consulting agencies.
Economy. Completely open and largely virtual. Thanks to this, all economic actions bring a cumulative effect, increasing the well-being of the entire population.
Control. The transfer of legislative power into the hands of the entire population. Any important decision is made on the basis of almost instantaneous universal voting on the Web. Administrative functions are reduced to a minimum. The development of the technology of the people's will is carried out by artificial intelligence.
Technology. First of all information. One hundred percent computerization of the world. The global network is brought to every inhabitant of the planet. Creation of artificial intelligence.
Lifestyle. Almost all the information that exists in the world is available, and at the same time there are powerful algorithms for its search and processing. This applies to everything - from business to sex. Marriages are not made in heaven, but due to the exact calculation of the compatibility of the future couple. Computer diagnostics made it possible to identify diseases at an early stage, which dramatically increased the life expectancy of the population.
Residents of Utopia - about dissident marginals.“They say that in Africa and South America there are still entire tribes that refuse to use the capabilities of artificial intelligence and connect to the Web. Recently, ultras have been of great concern - they believe that all decisions, including those related to their lives, should be made by artificial intelligence, since its decisions are more accurate.
From the newspaper Pravda Utopii:“Yesterday, 85 referendums were held on the planet. Of these, planetary in nature was the vote on the budget for the development of the Earth. Recall that the main subject of discussion was the financing of the project “Artificial Intelligence in every home”. The program was again rejected by 49% of the vote against 38%. Thirteen percent of the citizens abstained. Recall that a year ago more than half of the voters voted against this project.”
In the next ten to twenty years, today's Homo sapiens will turn into eNOMO - a new species that will not have time to noticeably change biologically, but will qualitatively differ more and more from us due to symbiosis with the new IT environment ... Virtuality invades the world of touch and smell, in the realm of emotions. In the future, at any distance, the most direct contact with a loved one will become possible. Or its imitation… The entire market economy will become transparent, it will turn into a tournament of computer programs, in which the leaders will fall into the balance of a stalemate balance of power. Alexander Narignani, General Director of the Research Institute of Artificial Intelligence. From the article “The New Man of the Near Future “eHOMO””
National-religious utopia
In response to what was born. A dead end and moral decline, which many countries have entered, abandoning their own tradition for the sake of wealth.
Great goal. If not heaven on earth, then Holy Russia, righteous Iran or a modernized, but enlightened India.
Forerunners. Leaders of the Islamic revolution in Iran, supporters of religious justifications for building the state of Israel, leaders of the Vatican, Mahatma Gandhi, numerous leaders of Protestant sects in the United States, Russian religious philosophers of the early 20th century, and many others.
Economy. Development through conservative modernization, that is, the use of tradition in the construction of market and social institutions - living or revived. Example: Islamic banking (loaning money at interest is forbidden by the Quran).
Control. Institutions and all major decisions are consistent with the national cultural tradition, in complex issues decisions are not for the secular leader and not for the referendum, but for the righteous-charismatics.
Technology. Humanitarian and pedagogical technologies are enriched with mystical tradition, techniques of prayer, yoga, and rituals.
Lifestyle. Every minute of life is filled with meaning, prayer. Whatever you do, programming or banking, is not just work, but obedience that elevates the soul. A strong work ethic leads to prosperity; Of course, each country has its own rules and traditions, but all people are believers, and in all countries they understand each other well, and therefore they are religiously tolerant.
Residents of Utopia - about dissident marginals.“There are still atheists, but for them we organized an atheistic church - so that they would not be infringed on their rights. Much more dangerous are those groups that believe that their religion should become the only one, even if by military means. They do not understand that they are contrary to the will of God: if He wanted it, there would be only one religion in the world.”
From the newspaper Pravda Utopii.“Another dispute between Shiites and Sunnis took place in Medina. According to sociologists, more than half a billion viewers watched the discussion on TV, and more than ten thousand people gathered in Medina itself, who came from all over the world. No less interesting is the discussion between the Jews and representatives of the Vatican, which will take place next Wednesday in Jerusalem. Already today there are no free places not only in the hotels of the Holy City, but also in almost all of Israel and Palestine.
Where exists now. In religious communities, in some families that combine patriarchal values with inclusion in modern society.
Our first steps: Establish faith as a source of moral standards. And on this basis to bind everyone and everyone with close social ties. Collect and bring into the system Russian public samples. And on this basis to create a powerful Russian public language. Borrow the world state culture. And on this basis to create a high Russian state culture. Restore the broken connection of times from the democrats to the Kyiv princes. And on this basis to end the centuries-old hot and cold civil war. Each of these steps requires the utmost effort of all the forces of our country. Vitaly Naishul. From the "Program of the Institute of the National Model of the Economy"
"New Age"
In response to what he was born. Churches and politicians hide from the people not only the truth, but also the path to spiritual perfection, enlightenment, turning people into stupid slaves, puppets incapable of knowing the mystical reality.
Great goal. Mystical experience, sexual pleasures, new emotions should be available to every person.
Forerunners. American beatniks, Russian theosophists (Gurdjieff, Blavatsky), Carlos Castaneda, founders of syncretic churches such as Bahaism, mystics and gurus of all stripes, hippies.
Economy. Free and fair exchange without money. Take what you like and do as you please, unless it harms another; no copyrights and property accumulation.
Control. Key positions in society are occupied by spiritual teachers. Each school builds its own hierarchy. At the head are gurus, further advanced followers, beginners at the very bottom, etc. But in fact, all these diverse teachings form a worldwide, albeit heterogeneous, mystical church.
Technology. Scientists and engineers are also sectarians, and their work is a recognized form of spiritual practice.
Lifestyle. People are united in groups, communities, etc., each of which chooses its own set of spiritual practices, made up of fragments of ancient mystical teachings, religions and philosophies. All kinds of healing options are replacing academic medicine, but if anyone wants, there are also pills. Sexual relations are entirely dependent on the teachings of which the members of the group are adherents - from free love and sexual perversions to total abstinence. The fundamental principles of life are non-violence and love for all living things. Vegetarianism, various gymnastics, and the absence of bad habits are in fashion (soft drugs and psychedelics do not count).
A resident of Utopia about dissident marginals."Pacific, you understand? Some people don't get it that everyone around is sisters and brothers. They do not understand that I threw myself and I have enlightenment. And they: come on, meditate! They would have offered to dig… And they will never treat you with grass.”
From the newspaper Pravda Utopii.“... Teacher John Jin Kuznetsov opened a new path for brothers and sisters to receive complete and final enlightenment in just five years. In the near future, the average age of a full Zi-old man may be 33 years old.
Where exists now. Hippie communes, mystical communities from Baikal to Mexico.
Although I have been seriously practicing hatha yoga for almost two decades, it so happened that over the years I did not pay attention to yoga at all, I did not read yoga magazines. But about nine months ago, I opened a new “Yoga Journal” that was left on my desk. I was stunned, as if I had fallen asleep and when I woke up I found myself on another planet, in another dimension. It was a world where everyone was beautiful and everyone was rich. In this world, there was a trend called "spirituality" in which everyone had a personal relationship with their creator, and it seemed that the most important thing was to have a beautiful body and be happy. Andrew Cohen, founder and editor-in-chief of What is Enlightenment? From the introductory article
transhumanism
In response to what he was born. The limitations of the human body, in particular disease, aging and death.
Great goal. The transition from Homo sapiens to a "post-human" - a creature with more advanced physical and mental abilities.
Forerunners. Philosophers Nick Bostrom, David Pierce and FM-2030 (real name - Fereydun Esfendiari), as well as science fiction writers.
Economy. Utopia can be realized both under a market system and under a socialist one. But in any case, the main investments go to science, technology and medicine.
Control. One of the main tasks of the authorities is to control the fair distribution of new technological opportunities.
Technology. The rapid growth of developments related to medicine and pharmaceuticals. Technology to improve the human body. All organs are subject to replacement (except for the anterior lobes of the cerebral cortex, and even that is not a fact).
Lifestyle. A new body implies a new way of life and customs. Diseases do not exist, people (more precisely, their personality) become practically immortal. Emotions and mood can be regulated by direct brain stimulation - almost everyone has a mood switch in their pocket. Drugs and electronic chips help you think faster and remember more.
Residents of Utopia - about dissident marginals.“There are still rare settlements in which people refuse to change their bodies, in general, to use the achievements of the latest technologies. But they get sick a lot, are aggressive and quickly disappear from the face of the earth. Recently, an ultras movement has been born that calls for a complete replacement of the human body. They say out loud radical and indecent things, such as that Homo sapiens are an inferior race.”
From the newspaper Pravda Utopii.“On the agenda of the World Summit is the question of the elimination of internal armies. The initiators of this project believe that ethical norms have changed a lot over the past decades: the absence of natural death makes the concepts of murder and war completely immoral ... "
Where exists now. Advanced scientific experiments.
We can use technological methods to improve ourselves, the human body, and eventually even go beyond what most consider human ... Molecular nanotechnology has the potential to create an abundance of resources for each person and give us complete control over the biochemical processes in our bodies allowing us to get rid of diseases. Through rewiring or pharmacological stimulation of the pleasure centers in the brain, we will be able to experience a greater range of emotions, endless happiness, and joyful experiences of unlimited intensity every day. From the documents of the Russian Transhumanist Movement
Ecological utopia
In response to what was born. The danger of an ecological catastrophe, the depletion of resources, the separation of man from his natural habitat.
Great goal. Live in harmony with nature, preserve humanity, wildlife, the entire planet in its diversity and beauty.
Forerunners. Various green movements, philosophers like Andre Gortz, Murray Bookchin or Nikita Moiseev, partly the Club of Rome.
Economy. Industrial growth is severely limited. The tax system is designed in such a way that it is unprofitable to produce products that somehow pollute the environment. Liberal incentives for production and consumption are severely limited.
Control. At the top is a democratic world government. Below - self-government of communities, towns and other small communities.
Technology. Development of alternative energy - from solar panels to thermonuclear reactors. A sharp increase in the recycling rate of secondary materials. Completely new means of communication. Creation of new environmentally friendly means of transport that do not require roads.
Lifestyle. It is fashionable to combine agricultural work with intellectual work. Broken things are usually not thrown away, but repaired. Many items are used collectively, for example, instead of hundreds of television sets in each family, there are several community cinemas. The use of pet labor is considered immoral.
Residents of Utopia - about dissident marginals.“Sometimes ecovillages degenerate into corporations with a rigid hierarchy and inequality in consumption, sometimes petty leaders go so far as to start eating animal food and revive half-forgotten harmful technologies. On the other hand, there are some settlements in which they are sure that any impact is harmful to nature - they even refuse artificial breeding of plants and eat only what grows by itself.
From the newspaper Pravda Utopii.“It may seem strange to many, but thirty years ago, eating the meat of living beings was considered completely normal.”
Where exists now. At the most local level - all kinds of ecovillages. At the most global level - the fight against climate warming and the destruction of the ozone layer.
A rich life is not only fully compatible with the production of fewer consumer goods, but, on the contrary, requires it. There is no argument, other than, of course, the logic of capitalism, that does not allow us to produce and make available to all the same adequate housing, clothing, home furnishings and vehicles that are energy efficient, durable and easy to operate and repair, while increasing the amount of free time. From the book "Ecology and Freedom" by the French philosopher Andre Gortz
space utopia
In response to what was born. The impossibility of the development of man as a species without the exploration of outer space.
Great goal. Mankind's exit beyond the Earth, unlimited possibilities of knowing the world.
Forerunners. Historically: from Copernicus to Tsiolkovsky. Today there are thousands of scientists from different countries. Well, specific projects can be found in the tables of NASA and Roscosmos engineers.
Economy. mobilization type. Lack of competition. The main investments are in science and space technologies.
Control. Mobilization. Any political action is evaluated on the basis of its usefulness and necessity for the exploration of outer space. In fact, the world is controlled by a group of scientists - leaders of the space project.
Technology. Breakthroughs in a number of natural sciences: astronomy, physics, materials science, chemistry, etc.
Lifestyle. Most citizens feel themselves involved in the global colonization project - the development of other planets or even other star systems. In a sense, the god from the hearts goes back to heaven. There are many people who do not have a specific citizenship and consider themselves "citizens of space." The concept of "nationality" is blurred.
From the newspaper Pravda Utopii.“There, in the big space, there is a lot of work going on. The assemblers of the space center have already begun to dock the elements of the first space city, capable of accommodating more than 50,000 inhabitants. Its first inhabitants will be scientists from the research center. Tsiolkovsky - it is here that the front line of the fight against gravity is now taking place.
A resident of Utopia about dissident marginals.“There are still ordinary people among us who believe that their petty interests are higher than the interests of mankind. They complain about shortcomings in the domestic sphere. However, for the most part, these are people of the past, and it’s even a pity for them. It is good that the Council did not go along with the extremists who demanded that those who do not work for the project be transferred to limited consumption. Let them live as they wish."
Where can you see it now. International space station. Mars Exploration Projects.
I don't think humanity can survive the next millennium unless it breaks out into space. Too many misfortunes threaten life concentrated on one planet. When we go into space and establish independent colonies, our future will be secure. There are no conditions similar to those on Earth within the solar system, so you have to get to another star. Stephen Hawking, British astrophysicist. From an interview with the Western press
Alterglobalist utopia
In response to what was born. The injustice of neoliberal globalization. Inequality between the countries of the rich North and the poor South. Imperial ambitions of rich countries in foreign policy and racism in domestic.
Great goal. World cooperation, economic justice, harmony with the environment, the triumph of human rights and cultural diversity.
Forerunners. Leaders of socialism like Marx or Bakunin. Former Red Brigades mastermind Tony Negri, linguist Noam Chomsky, economist and publicist Susan George.
Economy. Serial mass production is being replaced by craftsmanship with an emphasis on the uniqueness of the product. Financial transactions are subject to the "Tobin tax" (0.1-0.25%). Land speculation is prohibited. There is no private ownership of resources and copyright.
Control. Power is delegated from the bottom up: from "strong" cooperatives, self-governing communities and towns to a "weak" democratic world government.
Technology. A harmonious combination of high technology and craftsmanship, manual and automated work. No two cars are the same.
Lifestyle. The world is divided into many relatively small communities and communes. Each of them has its own style. Somewhere the norm is vegetarianism and free love, and somewhere - patriarchal traditions. The world is one, but diverse. Communities cooperate on a horizontal level. Today, a Norwegian fishing commune makes an alliance with Sami reindeer herders and Japanese musicians, and then this commune changes mood and they enter into an alliance with some African cooperative. The same is true for the individual. Each community is free to enter and exit.
A resident of Utopia - about dissident marginals."In my opinion, the main threat is the world government, last year they already tried to resubordinate the Joint Law Enforcement Force, but the council of cooperatives, fortunately, was on the alert."
From the newspaper Pravda Utopii.“Can a person at seventy-three learn to play the kobyz? Maybe - and this was proved by a well-known theoretical physicist, a former member of the "Union of Scientists" commune. On the day of his seventieth birthday, he moved to the “Group of Kazakh Musicians”, and this year he already soloed at a concert organized by the “Asian Folk Center” in Edinburgh.”
Where exists now. Cooperatives of Brazilian peasants after they seized land from wealthy landowners. Communes in Western Europe.
Rule number 1. Everything belongs to everyone. All the results and resources of creative activity in this network are free and open for use by everyone (including non-citizens of New Castalia) ... Patents in New Castalia canceled ... Rule number 2. Everyone is open for dialogue with everyone. All networks are open, and their members independently choose the circle of those with whom they are interested<…>conduct a dialogue… Rule number 3. Education and upbringing, healthcare and culture are publicly available… Rule number 4. A citizen of New Castalia does not voluntarily use his potential for commercial and/or government purposes… Alexander Buzgalin, professor at Moscow State University. From the article "New Castalia"
From the very moment of the creation of the first state, people were obsessed with the idea of creating an ideal society. A state in which there is no poverty, disease and inequality is such an old dream of enlightened mankind that it is difficult to say when it first appeared. For such fantasies and projects at the end of the Middle Ages, a special term appeared - "utopia". It was taken from the work of the same name by Thomas More - "A golden little book, as useful as it is funny about the best structure of the state and about the new island of Utopia", in which "Utopia" is only the name of the island. For the first time. in the meaning of "model of an ideal society" this word is found in the book of travels of the English priest Samuel Purches "Pilgrimage" (Pilgrimage, 1613). The adjective “utopian” is also used there for the first time. This became the specificity of the models of the ideal world - when creating a utopia, real conditions and historical prerequisites were not taken into account. It is all the more interesting today to look at the projects of the past, which demonstrate the hopes of the most enlightened people of the past.
The birth of utopia
In most cultures and religions, the myth of a distant past, in which humanity lives in a primitive and simple state, but at the same time in a state of perfect happiness and satisfaction, is strong. The earliest written references to utopias are recorded in the ancient heritage, for example, in the treatise "The Golden Age" by the ancient Greek poet Hesiod, written in the 8th century BC. In the poetic treatise, the poet suggests that before the present era there were other, more perfect ones, the very first of which was the Golden Age - a time of harmony and universal brotherhood.
Religions and utopias
Another of the most persistent and oldest utopias on earth is the dream of an afterlife and the ideal of paradise. Judaism, Christianity and Islam have a clear idea of how things are "on the other side" and usually paradise is just an ideal society. The Garden of Eden has all the signs of a utopia, including the fact that time has stopped there and no changes have occurred over thousands of years.
spring peach flower
The Spring Peach Blossom is a fable written in 421 AD by the Chinese poet Tao Yuanming, which describes an ideal society in which people lead an ideal existence in harmony with nature without establishing any external contact.
New harmony and utopian experiments
With the advances of the Industrial Revolution, the prospect of achieving a utopia seemed real, especially in countries like the US. The number of utopian communities increased dramatically in the late 1800s. Usually they were created on the basis of certain religious or ideological ideas. One such community was called "New Harmony" and was founded by the Welsh industrialist Robert Owen. The community grew into a whole city, which in 1825 became a real center of achievements in the field of education and scientific research, but, in the end, the wrong economic approach destroyed a promising undertaking.
Utopian technologies
The scientific and technological utopias that flourished in the early 19th century gave rise to many fantasies about the amazing technology of the future. These utopian flying machines were featured on a French postcard issued in the 1890s.
Ville Radiuse
Ville Radieuse is an unrealized project designed by the French-Swiss architect Le Corbusier in 1924. Le Corbusier idealized the very idea of the city, filling it with high-rise residential buildings and an abundance of green spaces.
Broadcree City
In 1932, American architect Frank Lloyd Wright saw the plans for Ville Radieuse and conceived his own utopia, with agrarians and open spaces. In his utopia, he exploited the idea of mixing urban and agricultural spaces. Lloyd Wright's city was designed to accommodate 10,000 people and used only those resources that it produced itself. Broadacre was never built, but used the forward-looking principles of local food production and is an inspiration to architects to this day.
Speer's Nazi Utopia
The architect Albert Speer was one of Adolf Hitler's closest friends and, as "the first architect of the Third Reich," was involved in the development of the reconstruction of Berlin in a very futuristic way. The capital of Germany was to become a huge metropolis with a mass of skyscrapers, huge avenues and gigantic stadiums. The defeat of the Nazis in 1945 put an end to Speer's endeavors.
Buckminster Fuller's vision of a floating city
Buckminster Fuller, an inventor and architect, designed a number of futuristic city designs throughout his career. The most notable of these was the concept of a city that would be located on giant floating platforms in the ocean.
Seward's success
In 1968, oil was discovered in Pradhoe Bay, Alaska. This caused a real construction explosion in the northern state. "Seward's Success" was the working name of the domed city that was supposed to be built near the field. The city's design included office space, retail areas, residential areas, sports facilities, and a monorail system for the movement of residents.
A fragment of the Freedom in the World 2019 map. Non-free states are marked in blue.© CC0 Public Domain
On February 5, the human rights group Agora released the report "Internet Freedom 2018: Delegating Repression". It is dedicated to an overview of restrictions on Internet freedom in Russia and was the result of monitoring the situation over the past year. The materials tell about massive violations by the Russian authorities of the freedom of Internet users.
During 2018, Agora's lawyers registered 662,842 separate instances of restrictions on Internet freedom in Russia (versus 115,706 a year earlier). The lion's share - 488609 and 161171 - is associated with access restrictions (blocks) and the prohibition of information on various grounds, respectively (the number of pages recognized as prohibited by decisions of state bodies).
In 2018, at least 19 VKontakte users were sentenced to real life imprisonment (76% of known cases), YouTube and Telegram users 2 each, and Facebook and Odnoklassniki 1 each (there is a link to a specific service in 25 sentence reports).
In 2018, sometimes the mobile Internet was turned off immediately over a wide area. For example, the operators of the "Big Three" during the mass protests in Ingushetia against the change of the administrative border with Chechnya. Local residents claim that this has been happening regularly over the past decade.
Agora made a map of the Russian regions where users and companies faced the largest number of facts of restrictions on Internet freedom last year. Simply put, this is a map of the "rigidity" of censorship of the Russian segment of the Web.
According to Freedom on the Net 2018: The Rise of Digital Authoritarianism, an annual report prepared by the non-governmental organization Freedom House, Russia, with a score of 67 out of 100, remains in the group of 19 countries with non-free internet for the fourth year in a row along with China, Ethiopia, Iran and Syria.
On the same day, February 5, the American human rights organization Freedom House published its regular annual report "Freedom in the world-2019" (Freedom in the world), where it classified Russia as a non-free country. The level of freedom in Russia is rated at 20 points out of 100 (where 0 is the least free countries).
Freedom House divides the world into "free" (green), "partially free" (yellow), and "not free" (blue). Among the latter there is also a category of "worst of the worst".
50 countries are named not free, including Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, China, Egypt and many other states of Asia and Africa, as well as Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua.
And immediately three post-Soviet republics were on the list of 13 "worst of the worst" - countries where the level of freedom in points is the lowest. Turkmenistan received only 2 points and an “oil kleptocracy” rating, Tajikistan (“family kleptocracy”) and Uzbekistan (hermetic police state) received 9 points each. Syria came last with a score of 0, followed by Eritrea, South Sudan, North Korea, Equatorial Guinea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, and the Central African Republic.