Farewell to Utopia?

So what’s changed? Most importantly, our knowledge and perspective have increased enormously. In the past, we were blissfully naïve about the dangers of waste and pollution. We believed that we could always pour it in the river, bury it in the ground, build on top of it, or burn it. Now that the global population has grown and we live in such close proximity to each other we have realised that it’s not so easy to get rid of the unwanted detritus that our industrialised technological societies spit out.

The problem is not just technology, however. There are too many of us to simply go back to nature. Wistful sentiments about returning to a more ‘natural’ existence should be examined carefully. The first law to attempt to combat urban pollution in London, UK was made by King Edward the first in 1272.  He banned the burning of sea coal in the city.

It seems that the most utopian visions of the future both imagined or ignored the fact that the scenarios they portrayed required vast and inexhaustible sources of non-polluting energy which would be available to any number of human beings. It no longer seems possible, likely or even responsible to imagine a future of this kind.

However, because our most far-flung fantasies of a techno-utopia are unrealistic and potentially more than a bit juvenile does not necessarily mean that we’re doomed. Nor does it necessarily mean that we have to discard all hopes of a future utopia.

We are well aware of the issues which face our future: declining fossil fuel supplies, problems with the production and transportation of food, diseases, poverty and over-population, biodiversity and so on.

Science and technology will of course continue to move forward. However, we should progress in a manner which is environmentally conscious, sustainable and capable of providing the greatest good for the greatest number of us.

The idea of utopia, of course, continues to exist, although perhaps in what may be a slightly more grown up form - not one in which every urge and whim is fulfilled – but in which all people may be able to live with adequate food, shelter, education and healthcare.

If we all decide to give up our dreams of jetpacks and robot servants, we just might gain a utopia.

For more information

Global Security
http://www.globalsecurity.org

Ray Kurzweil - How to predict the future
http://www.inc.com/magazine/20070201/column-guest.html