Humans have always yearned to live a utopian
existence. The word "utopia," created by Sir Thomas More in the early
16th century for the title of his renowned book, refers to an ideal
and perfect place where everyone lives in harmony and everything is done for
the best. Interestingly, the Greek language basis of "utopia" can
mean either " good place " or "no place," illustrating its
simultaneous allure and mirage-like qualities. The earliest description of such
a place is found in Plato's Republic,
probably written in 330 BC, where he describes a society that eliminates
poverty and enjoys an equitable distribution of resources for its citizens.
Plato's version of utopia has benign rulers, few laws, no lawyers (!) and
rarely sends its people to war.
Since Plato and More many other authors have
written their own distinct accounts of utopia, including Samuel Butler (Erewhon), Edward Bellamy (Looking Backward), B.F. Skinner (Walden Two) and Arthur C. Clark (Childhood's End). Utopias certainly can be
in the minds of the beholders.
In the wild and crazy 1960's and 70's various groups
of free-thinking people (aka, hippies) headed for the hills and rural areas not
to establish literary utopias, but real ones. By the late 1960's more than 2,000 utopian communes were
founded in the US. This back-to-the-woods movement is described in a recent documentary
film, "American Commune." The film reveals the founding and adaption
of America's largest utopian socialist experiment, The Farm. The Farm started
in 1970 when more than 300 people headed from Northern California to woody, rural
Tennessee on buses to chart a more perfect union. It is still operating
although much differently than it did 40 years ago.
Unsurprisingly, such utopian fantasies prompted
others to describe their own dark-mirrored impending societies, dystopias,
imaginary places where everything is dreadful, and misery and oppression prevail.
The utopia/dystopia yin and yang go hand in hand. Well-known 20th century
dystopias include George Orwell's Animal
Farm and Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged.
I remember being fascinated with utopias in
high school, when I read a number of these utopia/dystopia classics. I didn't
then head off to the woods; I waited to do that in grad school.
Movie-makers, like their literary cousins,
have also portrayed numerous utopian/dystopian futures (mostly based on
published literature), including Lost Horizon, Things to Come, Blade Runner,
2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, and my fav, Brazil. Dystopian films seem
to outnumber utopian ones; should we be surprised? There's even an
"official" guide to dystopian films. The latest
screen-based dystopia is Elysium, an extravagant special-effects laden
rendition of Earth's bleak future in 2154, with Matt Damon as the
rescuer-in-chief.
Literary and film utopias are presented as
imaginary visions, places that might be possible in a perfect future. Often
they are satirical commentaries on present-day society[1].
Socialist utopias neglect the malfunctions of centralized planning; just like capitalist
utopias disregard the consequences of market failure. No real-world warts
besmirch perfection. But authors rarely offer an actual pathway from now to
utopian perfection.
There is one mechanism that many, many people
see as a means of reaching their personal utopias –lotteries. In 2012 folks
spent about $69B on lotteries across the US in hopes of winning the jackpot.
Their individual odds? About 1 in 175M; which is why such
expenditures are called a tax on people who don't understand math.
Nevertheless, the size of the jackpot, not the odds, is what motivates players
to spend their money so someone else can win it. Just imagine having $448M (a
recent Powerball jackpot) for only $2 down! That sum is bound to open the
pearly, golden gates of your own utopia, even though many winners succumb to
the hazards of something called the "sudden wealth syndrome." So it
goes…
Not just lottery ticket-holders, writers and
film-makers have explored utopias. Politicians and private decision-makers have
played with the utopia myth (that utopia is indeed achievable) on a recurring
basis.
You can easily argue that marketers rest their
sales pitches on this myth. If you just buy that BMW or Johnny Walker Black or
Crest toothpaste, your life will be happier, more rewarding and more filled
with success. Can we each be willing consumers of the utopia myth? Perhaps.
Our sense of utopia being potentially accessible
but just beyond the horizon, as Henry Kissinger states[2]
above, was put into high gear during the US housing boom. Towards its peak, Joe
and Jane America were led to believe that they (meaning real, regular folks,
not just the rich) could be guaranteed to make lots of money just by purchasing
a tract house in Tracy (or elsewhere). Real estate-based fiscal utopia was
within reach, all you had to do was sign on the dotted lines.
This belief in the utopia myth wasn't confined
to America. Even the notably skeptical Irish citizenry drank their financiers'
magic real estate potions. Sipping these utopian potions didn't end well for
anyone. [Except for virtually all the financiers, the purveyors of the dark
potions, who have escaped retribution.] Both the individuals who bought
"too good to be true" real estate as well as their nations were
devastated. The real-estate-based Irish bank bailout totaled $571B, or an astonishing 365% of its GDP. Ah,
the elusive nature of utopias.
Utopian fantasies also can be fortified during
down-cycles as well as booms. Just look at what libertarian politicians like
Ron Paul and Ted Cruz preach with apocalyptic fervor: you can be
"saved" from your disintegrating present existence by stripping dystopian
government out of your life. Oh, my.
Are tea-partiers thus mere mortals
searching for utopia? More broadly, are all of us looking for that good (but
perhaps nowhere) place just beyond the horizon? Has the "American
Dream" always been intertwined with utopian wishes? Quite possibly,
although it would surprise Plato and Sir Thomas More that we are now
characterizing utopia far more personally than collectively.
[1] Erewhon, written
in 1872, embodied Butler's satirical views of Victorian England, based in part
on the author's trip to the South island of New Zealand. From far more recent
personal experience, I found the South island indeed remains one of the most impressive,
visually-arresting places I've ever travelled to. Forget central Tennessee,
head for Milford Sound.
[2] I find it oddly amusing that the former Secretary of
State, who practiced black-belt realpolitik, ever thought about utopias.
