Alright, in line with the college course idea I mentioned in the comment to strip #530, let's make some utopias.
Let us suppose that you are writing a sci-fi story/TV show/movie/game/whatever, under the assumption that it's going to be culture-shifting megahit, and you're going to make it a Utopia to inspire future generations. (Think Star Trek, for example.) For right now, don't worry too much about interesting characters, or exciting storylines - focus on the utopian culture you're presenting to the audience. Imagine fanboys cosplaying as your characters, making little clubs based on your ideas, using concepts you create as mental shorthand they use to interpret real-world events.
What world do you create?
1) When and where is your Utopia set?
2) What major events in the past helped shape this world?
3) What major technological advances have changed human capabilities?
4) What major problems have been solved, and how?
5) What aspects of human nature have been changed?
6) What ideas and virtues are you attempting to popularize?
Once I get three in this thread, I'll reveal the answers for Lily's Florenovia, and we can compare and contrast.
MAKE YOUR OWN UTOPIA
Re: MAKE YOUR OWN UTOPIA
1) When and where is your Utopia set?
Our own universe, five hundred years into the future.
2) What major events in the past helped shape this world?
Within a few decades of our own time, revolution/evolution of the Russian/Chinese nations into stable democracies with respect for human rights akin to most Western nations brings an end to most geopolitical jockeying and competition with all major powers respecting each others borders and the United Nation's no longer fractious security council allows for more rapid isolation and toppling of third rate dictators elsewhere. The resources freed from the military are redirected into development that alleviates poverty and science that solves many intransigent problems in terms of disease, sustainability, and science.
3) What major technological advances have changed human capabilities?
4) What major problems have been solved, and how?
Medical nanites allow for bladeless surgery, bacterial and parasitical elimination, in-body stroke, heart attack treatment, and bleed-out mitigation buying time until paramedics arrive. Vaccines are developed for HIV, Hepatitis, and a universal one for all influenza strains. These diseases as well as those for which we already have vaccines are eliminated within two centuries. Separately, the need for sleep is eliminated improvements in both quality of life and productivity, allowing parents to once again raise their children and consequently reducing social dysfunction.
Then comes the big one. The ability to rewire space. Scientists discover how connect two points in space that otherwise would not be. This simultaneously solves all energy problems by allowing humanity to easily tap the power of the stars directly, and, given the ubiquity of planets, gives humanity virtually unlimited resources and space. Against all odds, sentient aliens are never discovered, the universe is a sandbox for the children of earth alone.
This comes just in time as biological aging is conquered, allowing for an effectively immortal existence, barring accidents.
5) What aspects of human nature have been changed?
An immortal humanity pours out into space as everyone is free to pursue whatever goals they want, with need to compete with one another or worry about staking claims. Ones only enemy is boredom, and with a universe at one's fingertips and countless diverse cultures and civilizations springing up it is easy to combat it by rotating every few centuries.
6) What ideas and virtues are you attempting to popularize?
Individuality, creativity, tolerance, peace. An end to suffering and strife. Freedom from the current constraints of reality on our imagination, and the annoyance of want.
Our own universe, five hundred years into the future.
2) What major events in the past helped shape this world?
Within a few decades of our own time, revolution/evolution of the Russian/Chinese nations into stable democracies with respect for human rights akin to most Western nations brings an end to most geopolitical jockeying and competition with all major powers respecting each others borders and the United Nation's no longer fractious security council allows for more rapid isolation and toppling of third rate dictators elsewhere. The resources freed from the military are redirected into development that alleviates poverty and science that solves many intransigent problems in terms of disease, sustainability, and science.
3) What major technological advances have changed human capabilities?
4) What major problems have been solved, and how?
Medical nanites allow for bladeless surgery, bacterial and parasitical elimination, in-body stroke, heart attack treatment, and bleed-out mitigation buying time until paramedics arrive. Vaccines are developed for HIV, Hepatitis, and a universal one for all influenza strains. These diseases as well as those for which we already have vaccines are eliminated within two centuries. Separately, the need for sleep is eliminated improvements in both quality of life and productivity, allowing parents to once again raise their children and consequently reducing social dysfunction.
Then comes the big one. The ability to rewire space. Scientists discover how connect two points in space that otherwise would not be. This simultaneously solves all energy problems by allowing humanity to easily tap the power of the stars directly, and, given the ubiquity of planets, gives humanity virtually unlimited resources and space. Against all odds, sentient aliens are never discovered, the universe is a sandbox for the children of earth alone.
This comes just in time as biological aging is conquered, allowing for an effectively immortal existence, barring accidents.
5) What aspects of human nature have been changed?
An immortal humanity pours out into space as everyone is free to pursue whatever goals they want, with need to compete with one another or worry about staking claims. Ones only enemy is boredom, and with a universe at one's fingertips and countless diverse cultures and civilizations springing up it is easy to combat it by rotating every few centuries.
6) What ideas and virtues are you attempting to popularize?
Individuality, creativity, tolerance, peace. An end to suffering and strife. Freedom from the current constraints of reality on our imagination, and the annoyance of want.
Re: MAKE YOUR OWN UTOPIA
Okay, I'm not really good at building utopias, but I'll give it a try, because I really want to see what Lily did with those questions.
1) 2030 should suffice for the first effects to show. It's set in Germany.
2) see 3
3) A scientist discovers a substance that enhances common sense in human beings. Let's call it commonsensium. After self-testing she decides that it needs further research, looks for voluntary study participants and makes some more commonsensium. However, her laboratory is robbed by some not very bright criminals who mistake the commonsensium for a very dangerous poison that she also invented but stores in a safer place. They try to blackmail the soft drink industry (or some major companies), are not taken seriously, but succeed in "poisoning" not only individual drinks but the water supply used in the production. The commonsensium cannot be detected with the usual testing methods, and so, next to everyone gets to drink some of it.
4) Now, that a large percentage of the population has common sense, democracy finally works. This solves most environmental problems, as money is now invested in doing that instead of funding nuclear power plants or other means that just help rich people get richer. Poverty is no longer a problem because poor people are the majority of the population, and are now sensible enough to vote for parties who want to help them. Likewise, misogyny is now treated as a serious crime - after all, women make up more than 50% of the population - the media have to change a lot because of that, and since men are no longer encouraged to be violent, crime rates go down. (Also, since wealth is distributed more equally, there is less motivation for theft.)
People will also be healthier, because health is connected to wealth and poverty has been solved. Everyone will be sensible enough to vote for parties that want to ban things which cause cancer. People fund medical research instead of buying new cars, and so on and so forth.
Birth rates increase slightly, as everyone finally understands that many women do not want to do unpaid work and thereafter, never having "earned" the right to get a pension, spend their old age in poverty just so that people who never did a day of unpaid work in their life can get their pensions paid for by a new generation.
More sensible decisions may not solve problems like cancer and the mortality of the human race, but they would solve a lot of problems.
5) See above - almost everyone has slightly more common sense.
6) Well, you can see that I believe in democracy and really want it to work. I also believe that people are heavily influenced by media and that changing those influences for the better would change everything for the better. As for virtues, well, I think a bit of common sense would solve all remaining problems, but of course, the solution can only be achieved because there already are a lot of clever people (who could bring about the solutions if properly funded) and a lot of altruistic people (even with all women being sensible, a number of honourable men are needed to get a majority for outlawing all kinds of misogyny - and since there are many people rich or educated enough to just move to a different country if Germany is destroyed by radioactive contamination, poisoned water or similar environmental issues).
1) 2030 should suffice for the first effects to show. It's set in Germany.
2) see 3
3) A scientist discovers a substance that enhances common sense in human beings. Let's call it commonsensium. After self-testing she decides that it needs further research, looks for voluntary study participants and makes some more commonsensium. However, her laboratory is robbed by some not very bright criminals who mistake the commonsensium for a very dangerous poison that she also invented but stores in a safer place. They try to blackmail the soft drink industry (or some major companies), are not taken seriously, but succeed in "poisoning" not only individual drinks but the water supply used in the production. The commonsensium cannot be detected with the usual testing methods, and so, next to everyone gets to drink some of it.
4) Now, that a large percentage of the population has common sense, democracy finally works. This solves most environmental problems, as money is now invested in doing that instead of funding nuclear power plants or other means that just help rich people get richer. Poverty is no longer a problem because poor people are the majority of the population, and are now sensible enough to vote for parties who want to help them. Likewise, misogyny is now treated as a serious crime - after all, women make up more than 50% of the population - the media have to change a lot because of that, and since men are no longer encouraged to be violent, crime rates go down. (Also, since wealth is distributed more equally, there is less motivation for theft.)
People will also be healthier, because health is connected to wealth and poverty has been solved. Everyone will be sensible enough to vote for parties that want to ban things which cause cancer. People fund medical research instead of buying new cars, and so on and so forth.
Birth rates increase slightly, as everyone finally understands that many women do not want to do unpaid work and thereafter, never having "earned" the right to get a pension, spend their old age in poverty just so that people who never did a day of unpaid work in their life can get their pensions paid for by a new generation.
More sensible decisions may not solve problems like cancer and the mortality of the human race, but they would solve a lot of problems.
5) See above - almost everyone has slightly more common sense.
6) Well, you can see that I believe in democracy and really want it to work. I also believe that people are heavily influenced by media and that changing those influences for the better would change everything for the better. As for virtues, well, I think a bit of common sense would solve all remaining problems, but of course, the solution can only be achieved because there already are a lot of clever people (who could bring about the solutions if properly funded) and a lot of altruistic people (even with all women being sensible, a number of honourable men are needed to get a majority for outlawing all kinds of misogyny - and since there are many people rich or educated enough to just move to a different country if Germany is destroyed by radioactive contamination, poisoned water or similar environmental issues).
Re: MAKE YOUR OWN UTOPIA
1) When and where is your Utopia set?
Earth, 2100. Give or take a few decades.
2) What major events in the past helped shape this world?
A man who we will call Peter, born in 2005. He founded a technological and financial corporate empire and became one of the richest men in the world. Then one day, he had a religious experience and turned his company to more philanthropic goals. He gave his fortune away - and then made a better one, from the surge of media attention his grateful beneficiaries had given him. Peter's personal aim was rooting out corruption and lack of accountability, but he ended up making all forms generosity and social action fashionable among the rich and powerful. And from there, it became fashionable among the middle class.
This proved a slight stumbling block, because while billionaires could directly see the impact of their actions on the world, ordinary people didn't see where their money was going. But Peter's obsession with transparency was his saving grace here: it was possible to find the people in the world who needed help, and simply ask them in person hat their lives were like and what they needed to fix it.
On his deathbed, Peter shook up the world again by leaving his fortune to humanity. The Company he owned - by now more powerful than any single government on Earth - was split into nine billion shares of stock, and one given to each person. New Company shares were issued as people were born, and old ones expired when their original owner died. Peter's successors were legally bound to work for the benefit of his stockholders, but that was everyone now. Everyone had the vote, everyone had a trickle of income from the stock dividends, and everyone had a little bit of power to change the world.
3) What major technological advances have changed human capabilities?
Hmm. Well, there's the usual sci-fi bag of tricks. Oil is expensive, so people rely a lot more on sun, wind, and the handful of fusion reactors that have been built. Everyone's more connected, cheap computers and cheap Internet access are available everywhere on Earth. Driverless cars are more common than not. There's the foundation of a space elevator in Indonesia, but it won't be finished for a while.
And true AI is... well, it's been "just around the corner" since 1960, and they're not there yet. It's probably possible to teach a computer to determine its own goals in the real world, but it's not been done outside tightly-controlled and highly unrealistic lab conditions. Nevertheless, Moore's Law has only barely slowed. Computers can now take in vast quantities of data in any format, analyse and correlate it, and spit out anything from psychiatric analyses of Internet users, to cash flows worth investigating for corruption and money laundering and identity theft, to human interest stories about little baby Mamadou being denied access to antimalarial drugs. And this in vast quantities - enough that every person who reads the news gets a slightly different version, and each reader knows it's unlikely that many other people got a story about this specific boy called Mamadou, and if you help him out personally and directly... it'll make a real difference.
4) What major problems have been solved, and how?
Well, a lot of social problems are more or less solved. On the one hand, giving time and money to those in need is a lot more acceptable than it was in 2014 - indeed, having a substantial amount of money that you're not using for anything is considered strange, and spending it on personal luxuries is selfish. If you've got money, do something with it; if you can't think what it's best used for, ask. Because on the other hand, charity is faster and easier and more rewarding than ever before. People who have a particular issue that bothers them - abandoned pets, for example - can simply ask where the best use of their time and energy is, and they'll be told. People who don't have anything specific in mind are pushed to connect with people around the world, to get an idea of the problems that affect the most people, and what problems are most urgent to solve.
Everyone gets a small amount of money just for living and owning their share of the Company. In a cheap part of the world, this is more than enough for three meals a day, a place to live, and various expenses like medical insurance. A lot of people have a job in addition to this, but there's absolutely no shame in living off your pension and doing something creative or constructive with your time. Poverty isn't solved, but its worst consequences are gone. Unemployment is... well, it's higher than ever, but it's not really considered a problem any more.
Nationalism is starting to seem a bit silly in the highly-connected world. The Company is international, and has more money and clout than any single government. It bows to local governments in legal matters, but in the minds of an increasingly large number of people, the Head of the Company is the president of the Earth. National borders are blurry, everyone has friends on the other side of the world. Waving your flag around and proclaiming one country or state or canton or city to be the best is a good excuse for a party. Countries don't really declare war on each other any more.
5) What aspects of human nature have been changed?
As I mentioned already, people are more socially aware and it's a common calling to "save the world" and make life easier for people worse-off than yourself. There's greater empathy in general - people are more accepting towards the Other, whether the Other is a different nationality, different gender, different sexuality, different religion, different lifestyle, or different anything.
At the same time, the way in which these changes are approached is different. Statistics about poverty and death are still used, but "rational calculation" is left to the computers wherever possible. People make their decisions with personal connections and emotional judgements. They try to avoid treating other people like numbers or data. Of course it's important to be able to mathematize a problem, and determine the optimal layout of a factory and the ideal number of workers. But the line manager also cares individually about the people below him, and should want what's best for everyone.
Oh, and the expectation of privacy is a lot less. Transparency is considered very important. If you want to keep something personal secret, you can, but it's almost criminal to do so with anything that's important to other people. No decisions made behind closed doors. No secrets kept from the public for their own good. Get the embarrassing personal secrets out there - if you flaunt it it can't be used to control you. People are more honest and blunt: harmless white lies are filtered out on the way from your brain to your mouth.
6) What ideas and virtues are you attempting to popularize?
Empathy, global awareness, honesty, and doing what you want to do with your life.
A million lives are a statistic. Not everyone can change the world, but if everyone improves the lives of a handful of other people, that will work just as well. Find the place where you're needed, and remember that your actions have consequences.
This isn't a world where all problems are solved - I don't believe such a thing exists. It's a world where all problems are being solved.
... Damn that came out longer than I expected. I'll edit it down later.
Earth, 2100. Give or take a few decades.
2) What major events in the past helped shape this world?
A man who we will call Peter, born in 2005. He founded a technological and financial corporate empire and became one of the richest men in the world. Then one day, he had a religious experience and turned his company to more philanthropic goals. He gave his fortune away - and then made a better one, from the surge of media attention his grateful beneficiaries had given him. Peter's personal aim was rooting out corruption and lack of accountability, but he ended up making all forms generosity and social action fashionable among the rich and powerful. And from there, it became fashionable among the middle class.
This proved a slight stumbling block, because while billionaires could directly see the impact of their actions on the world, ordinary people didn't see where their money was going. But Peter's obsession with transparency was his saving grace here: it was possible to find the people in the world who needed help, and simply ask them in person hat their lives were like and what they needed to fix it.
On his deathbed, Peter shook up the world again by leaving his fortune to humanity. The Company he owned - by now more powerful than any single government on Earth - was split into nine billion shares of stock, and one given to each person. New Company shares were issued as people were born, and old ones expired when their original owner died. Peter's successors were legally bound to work for the benefit of his stockholders, but that was everyone now. Everyone had the vote, everyone had a trickle of income from the stock dividends, and everyone had a little bit of power to change the world.
3) What major technological advances have changed human capabilities?
Hmm. Well, there's the usual sci-fi bag of tricks. Oil is expensive, so people rely a lot more on sun, wind, and the handful of fusion reactors that have been built. Everyone's more connected, cheap computers and cheap Internet access are available everywhere on Earth. Driverless cars are more common than not. There's the foundation of a space elevator in Indonesia, but it won't be finished for a while.
And true AI is... well, it's been "just around the corner" since 1960, and they're not there yet. It's probably possible to teach a computer to determine its own goals in the real world, but it's not been done outside tightly-controlled and highly unrealistic lab conditions. Nevertheless, Moore's Law has only barely slowed. Computers can now take in vast quantities of data in any format, analyse and correlate it, and spit out anything from psychiatric analyses of Internet users, to cash flows worth investigating for corruption and money laundering and identity theft, to human interest stories about little baby Mamadou being denied access to antimalarial drugs. And this in vast quantities - enough that every person who reads the news gets a slightly different version, and each reader knows it's unlikely that many other people got a story about this specific boy called Mamadou, and if you help him out personally and directly... it'll make a real difference.
4) What major problems have been solved, and how?
Well, a lot of social problems are more or less solved. On the one hand, giving time and money to those in need is a lot more acceptable than it was in 2014 - indeed, having a substantial amount of money that you're not using for anything is considered strange, and spending it on personal luxuries is selfish. If you've got money, do something with it; if you can't think what it's best used for, ask. Because on the other hand, charity is faster and easier and more rewarding than ever before. People who have a particular issue that bothers them - abandoned pets, for example - can simply ask where the best use of their time and energy is, and they'll be told. People who don't have anything specific in mind are pushed to connect with people around the world, to get an idea of the problems that affect the most people, and what problems are most urgent to solve.
Everyone gets a small amount of money just for living and owning their share of the Company. In a cheap part of the world, this is more than enough for three meals a day, a place to live, and various expenses like medical insurance. A lot of people have a job in addition to this, but there's absolutely no shame in living off your pension and doing something creative or constructive with your time. Poverty isn't solved, but its worst consequences are gone. Unemployment is... well, it's higher than ever, but it's not really considered a problem any more.
Nationalism is starting to seem a bit silly in the highly-connected world. The Company is international, and has more money and clout than any single government. It bows to local governments in legal matters, but in the minds of an increasingly large number of people, the Head of the Company is the president of the Earth. National borders are blurry, everyone has friends on the other side of the world. Waving your flag around and proclaiming one country or state or canton or city to be the best is a good excuse for a party. Countries don't really declare war on each other any more.
5) What aspects of human nature have been changed?
As I mentioned already, people are more socially aware and it's a common calling to "save the world" and make life easier for people worse-off than yourself. There's greater empathy in general - people are more accepting towards the Other, whether the Other is a different nationality, different gender, different sexuality, different religion, different lifestyle, or different anything.
At the same time, the way in which these changes are approached is different. Statistics about poverty and death are still used, but "rational calculation" is left to the computers wherever possible. People make their decisions with personal connections and emotional judgements. They try to avoid treating other people like numbers or data. Of course it's important to be able to mathematize a problem, and determine the optimal layout of a factory and the ideal number of workers. But the line manager also cares individually about the people below him, and should want what's best for everyone.
Oh, and the expectation of privacy is a lot less. Transparency is considered very important. If you want to keep something personal secret, you can, but it's almost criminal to do so with anything that's important to other people. No decisions made behind closed doors. No secrets kept from the public for their own good. Get the embarrassing personal secrets out there - if you flaunt it it can't be used to control you. People are more honest and blunt: harmless white lies are filtered out on the way from your brain to your mouth.
6) What ideas and virtues are you attempting to popularize?
Empathy, global awareness, honesty, and doing what you want to do with your life.
A million lives are a statistic. Not everyone can change the world, but if everyone improves the lives of a handful of other people, that will work just as well. Find the place where you're needed, and remember that your actions have consequences.
This isn't a world where all problems are solved - I don't believe such a thing exists. It's a world where all problems are being solved.
... Damn that came out longer than I expected. I'll edit it down later.
Last edited by snowyowl on Fri Apr 11, 2014 7:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
... in bed.
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Deepbluediver
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Re: MAKE YOUR OWN UTOPIA
Yeah, I started looking at this thread and the first thing I thought to myself was "well, this is gonna take a while". Particularly the "what event led this this situation" bit, since in some cases I'm honestly not sure how we can get from here (the present) to there, short of a world-wide collapse back to a pre-industrial age and doing it all over again from scratch.snowyowl wrote:... Damn that came out longer than I expected. I'll edit it down later.
Maybe I need to set my sights lower.
Re: MAKE YOUR OWN UTOPIA
Alright, got those in faster than I expected. Here's Florenovia (including some details that I can tell you right now won't be showing up in the comic itself)
1) When and where is your Utopia set?
Around a thousand years in the future, in and around Earth and this solar system. There's no FTL and no contact with extra terrestrial civilization. A few probes have been sent in the direction of the nearer stars, but they're not important to the story.
2) What major events in the past helped shape this world?
The plague, of course, as well as the First and Second Singularity Wars.
The plague affected not only all humans, but all mammals (not including marsupials and monotremes). The virus is still present in all humans, but is now considered benign. All children are grown in artificial wombs, and it's considered normal for the uterus to be nonfunctional. Human Y chromosomes and the genetic structures of dogs, cats, cattle, etc were originally saved in the hopes that they could someday be restored, but the A.I.s in the First Singularity War considered those to be of strategic value, and they were destroyed.
3) What major technological advances have changed human capabilities?
Robots (but not human-equivalent A.I.s) are common, and perform virtually all manual labour - farming, construction, transportation, manufacturing, the simpler forms of customer service, etc. As a result, Florenovia is a Post-Scarcity economy, with over 50% unemployment. It is considered a fundamental human right that everyone, regardless of their productivity, is entitled to food, living space, entertainment, medical care, etc. Everyone - everyone - receives a stipend, calculated daily. This stipend is pegged to certain market indicators, and is intended to ensure that every person will always have enough for quality food, clothing and living space (think of FDR's Second Bill of Rights). Any wages or income one receives are in addition to this stipend.
Aging is no longer a cause of human death. Part of the effect of the plague was to hasten cell senescence and telomere shortening, so the medical research that prevented this wound up eliminating the biological aging process altogether. Along with conquering cancer, genetic defects, diseases, etc., this means that the leading causes of death are accidents (rare) and suicide (rarer). Lifespans of hundreds of years are common. Of course, this means that there's a threat of overpopulation, so there's a hard population cap - given the lack of accidental pregnancies, this is easily enforceable. A prospective parent or parents can only make a child when a slot opens up.
4) What major problems have been solved, and how?
The obvious first one is the near-total absence of violence, theft, and sexual assault, due to a lack of testosterone in the general population and the overall luxury that even the lowest tier of society can afford. In addition, there is unprecedented control over the human body, especially in regards to instinctive drives, so inconvenient urges of hunger or sexual frustration can simply be turned off. In addition, close interpersonal ties between friends, coworkers and neighbours are encouraged, and psychological care is destigmatized, so it's considered common to talk about - and receive solutions to - any major emotional problem you may have.
The environment has been through many upheavals (not only from the extinction of placental mammals, but both A.I.s in the Singularity Wars had decided that poisoning the air and water was a sensible anti-human strategy), but it's now managed and protected with expert care.
Common sense is imparted through education - adulthood, functionally, isn't dependant on age. One is considered an adult when one has completed enough education and passed enough tests to acquire three licenses - the License of Bodily Autonomy (which allows you to make your own medical decisions - your libido stays switched off until you get this), the License of Residential Autonomy (which allows you to go wherever you want, live with whoever you want, etc), and the License of Financial Autonomy (you still receive your stipend without this, but until you're licensed, how it gets spent is up to your Guardian or Guardians). Until you complete the necessary training in personal health, lifestyle management, politics, budgeting.... or, worse, if you screw up so bad that one or more of those licenses is revoked - you're not considered to be a fully functioning adult member of society. There are, of course, other licenses (operate a vehicle, program a computer, start a business), but those big three are the ones that everyone gets.
Personal debt is highly stigmatized and discouraged. Given that everyone, by definition, has enough money to live on, provided daily (all other bills - insurance, rent, etc - are also tabulated daily), going into the red for more than a few weeks can be cause for a visit from financial advisors and social workers... and prolonged debt and money mismanagement can be cause to have one's License of Financial Autonomy revoked.
5) What aspects of human nature have been changed?
Well, obviously, there's no dudes. There's also no elderly people - or, at least, no one who is hampered or handicapped by age.
6) What ideas and virtues are you attempting to popularize?
Male eradication and rampaging A.I.s aside, Lily believes in the coming post-scarcity economy. As such, she tries to use her setting to showcase how and why this can be a good thing, and how a welfare state doesn't have to cripple capitalism.
She's also deeply anti-violence (violence is a male trait, after all), and violent coercion is almost always shown to be the tactic of terrorists, lunatics and subversive enemies of the state (most of the conflict of her stories come from splintered political groups that have beef with one or more of the tenets of the Florenovian society, mainly so she can showcase them being strawmen who eventually either succumb to their own mistakes or are converted).
Lily likes to show intelligence and technology solving problems. She also likes to show psychological and emotional problems - no matter how minor - being dragged out into the light and fixed, rather than sulked over. She's a big proponent of encouraging - or, if necessary, forcing - people with depression or phobias or frustration or delusions to get help, get fixed, and stay fixed.
1) When and where is your Utopia set?
Around a thousand years in the future, in and around Earth and this solar system. There's no FTL and no contact with extra terrestrial civilization. A few probes have been sent in the direction of the nearer stars, but they're not important to the story.
2) What major events in the past helped shape this world?
The plague, of course, as well as the First and Second Singularity Wars.
The plague affected not only all humans, but all mammals (not including marsupials and monotremes). The virus is still present in all humans, but is now considered benign. All children are grown in artificial wombs, and it's considered normal for the uterus to be nonfunctional. Human Y chromosomes and the genetic structures of dogs, cats, cattle, etc were originally saved in the hopes that they could someday be restored, but the A.I.s in the First Singularity War considered those to be of strategic value, and they were destroyed.
3) What major technological advances have changed human capabilities?
Robots (but not human-equivalent A.I.s) are common, and perform virtually all manual labour - farming, construction, transportation, manufacturing, the simpler forms of customer service, etc. As a result, Florenovia is a Post-Scarcity economy, with over 50% unemployment. It is considered a fundamental human right that everyone, regardless of their productivity, is entitled to food, living space, entertainment, medical care, etc. Everyone - everyone - receives a stipend, calculated daily. This stipend is pegged to certain market indicators, and is intended to ensure that every person will always have enough for quality food, clothing and living space (think of FDR's Second Bill of Rights). Any wages or income one receives are in addition to this stipend.
Aging is no longer a cause of human death. Part of the effect of the plague was to hasten cell senescence and telomere shortening, so the medical research that prevented this wound up eliminating the biological aging process altogether. Along with conquering cancer, genetic defects, diseases, etc., this means that the leading causes of death are accidents (rare) and suicide (rarer). Lifespans of hundreds of years are common. Of course, this means that there's a threat of overpopulation, so there's a hard population cap - given the lack of accidental pregnancies, this is easily enforceable. A prospective parent or parents can only make a child when a slot opens up.
4) What major problems have been solved, and how?
The obvious first one is the near-total absence of violence, theft, and sexual assault, due to a lack of testosterone in the general population and the overall luxury that even the lowest tier of society can afford. In addition, there is unprecedented control over the human body, especially in regards to instinctive drives, so inconvenient urges of hunger or sexual frustration can simply be turned off. In addition, close interpersonal ties between friends, coworkers and neighbours are encouraged, and psychological care is destigmatized, so it's considered common to talk about - and receive solutions to - any major emotional problem you may have.
The environment has been through many upheavals (not only from the extinction of placental mammals, but both A.I.s in the Singularity Wars had decided that poisoning the air and water was a sensible anti-human strategy), but it's now managed and protected with expert care.
Common sense is imparted through education - adulthood, functionally, isn't dependant on age. One is considered an adult when one has completed enough education and passed enough tests to acquire three licenses - the License of Bodily Autonomy (which allows you to make your own medical decisions - your libido stays switched off until you get this), the License of Residential Autonomy (which allows you to go wherever you want, live with whoever you want, etc), and the License of Financial Autonomy (you still receive your stipend without this, but until you're licensed, how it gets spent is up to your Guardian or Guardians). Until you complete the necessary training in personal health, lifestyle management, politics, budgeting.... or, worse, if you screw up so bad that one or more of those licenses is revoked - you're not considered to be a fully functioning adult member of society. There are, of course, other licenses (operate a vehicle, program a computer, start a business), but those big three are the ones that everyone gets.
Personal debt is highly stigmatized and discouraged. Given that everyone, by definition, has enough money to live on, provided daily (all other bills - insurance, rent, etc - are also tabulated daily), going into the red for more than a few weeks can be cause for a visit from financial advisors and social workers... and prolonged debt and money mismanagement can be cause to have one's License of Financial Autonomy revoked.
5) What aspects of human nature have been changed?
Well, obviously, there's no dudes. There's also no elderly people - or, at least, no one who is hampered or handicapped by age.
6) What ideas and virtues are you attempting to popularize?
Male eradication and rampaging A.I.s aside, Lily believes in the coming post-scarcity economy. As such, she tries to use her setting to showcase how and why this can be a good thing, and how a welfare state doesn't have to cripple capitalism.
She's also deeply anti-violence (violence is a male trait, after all), and violent coercion is almost always shown to be the tactic of terrorists, lunatics and subversive enemies of the state (most of the conflict of her stories come from splintered political groups that have beef with one or more of the tenets of the Florenovian society, mainly so she can showcase them being strawmen who eventually either succumb to their own mistakes or are converted).
Lily likes to show intelligence and technology solving problems. She also likes to show psychological and emotional problems - no matter how minor - being dragged out into the light and fixed, rather than sulked over. She's a big proponent of encouraging - or, if necessary, forcing - people with depression or phobias or frustration or delusions to get help, get fixed, and stay fixed.
Re: MAKE YOUR OWN UTOPIA
Haha, wow. Naturally, mental health is according to HER standards, and the fact that most people would consider her delusional and in need of therapy just proves that everyone else is crazy.Tailsteak wrote:She's a big proponent of encouraging - or, if necessary, forcing - people with depression or phobias or frustration or delusions to get help, get fixed, and stay fixed.
Re: MAKE YOUR OWN UTOPIA
Several questions:
(Note: I'm not making a mistake with those numbers, though they are made up for demonstration.)
2) Pregnancy is not a problem and, given that everyone is having sex with robots, and pregnancy is basically impossible anyways; STDs are not a problem. Sex is also happening outside any personal relationship (i.e. its basically elaborate masturbation with robots). Any reason that consent would be required no longer exists (in general). Why is one's libido turned off? Does Lily consider children masturbating to be a violation of their bodily autonomy?
1) Except it is. Decision making, especially under pressure, in a crisis, etc, is heavily affected by age. Even if a 12 year old passes these tests, that does not mean they have the same capabilities as an 18 year old or 24 year old who passes these tests. Is this addressed anywhere? Is there a sliding scale, where a 80 at 12 years is worth a 60 at 18 years, to make up for the developmental differences?Tailsteak wrote:Common sense is imparted through education - adulthood, functionally, isn't dependant on age.[1] One is considered an adult when one has completed enough education and passed enough tests to acquire three licenses - the License of Bodily Autonomy (which allows you to make your own medical decisions - your libido stays switched off until you get this)[2]...
(Note: I'm not making a mistake with those numbers, though they are made up for demonstration.)
2) Pregnancy is not a problem and, given that everyone is having sex with robots, and pregnancy is basically impossible anyways; STDs are not a problem. Sex is also happening outside any personal relationship (i.e. its basically elaborate masturbation with robots). Any reason that consent would be required no longer exists (in general). Why is one's libido turned off? Does Lily consider children masturbating to be a violation of their bodily autonomy?
Re: MAKE YOUR OWN UTOPIA
Decision making is effected by development, but that doesn't remotely change the fact that there are plenty of 30-year-olds far less capable of making decisions than my 13-year-old niece (and I'm well aware of the fact that she isn't remotely capable of living an adult life yet). If you're testing for decision making skills, and said test is valuable on any level, it should be just as valuable for a child. Why would you not test their decision making skills?crayzz wrote:Several questions:
1) Except it is. Decision making, especially under pressure, in a crisis, etc, is heavily affected by age. Even if a 12 year old passes these tests, that does not mean they have the same capabilities as an 18 year old or 24 year old who passes these tests. Is this addressed anywhere? Is there a sliding scale, where a 80 at 12 years is worth a 60 at 18 years, to make up for the developmental differences?Tailsteak wrote:Common sense is imparted through education - adulthood, functionally, isn't dependant on age.[1] One is considered an adult when one has completed enough education and passed enough tests to acquire three licenses - the License of Bodily Autonomy (which allows you to make your own medical decisions - your libido stays switched off until you get this)[2]...
(Note: I'm not making a mistake with those numbers, though they are made up for demonstration.)
2) Pregnancy is not a problem and, given that everyone is having sex with robots, and pregnancy is basically impossible anyways; STDs are not a problem. Sex is also happening outside any personal relationship (i.e. its basically elaborate masturbation with robots). Any reason that consent would be required no longer exists (in general). Why is one's libido turned off? Does Lily consider children masturbating to be a violation of their bodily autonomy?
Actually, you know what, no, I don't want to argue about age with you, because I don't imagine I stand to gain anything but annoyance out of it.
Do you honestly not understand how libido effects you outside of your sex life, though?
"Yamete, oshiri ga itai!"
Re: MAKE YOUR OWN UTOPIA
From the First and Second Singularity Wars, I assume the lack of human-equivalent AI is due to restrictions of law and culture rather than technology?
At what ages does Lily expect most people to complete their three licenses? What kind of transhuman genetic and/or technological modifications are available? And I'd expect the artificial suppression of the libido to have some unexpected effects on growth and development—if nothing else, a person who's spent most of their youth without a libido might never decide to get one. Has Lily accounted for this in any way?
At what ages does Lily expect most people to complete their three licenses? What kind of transhuman genetic and/or technological modifications are available? And I'd expect the artificial suppression of the libido to have some unexpected effects on growth and development—if nothing else, a person who's spent most of their youth without a libido might never decide to get one. Has Lily accounted for this in any way?