
Every Society Invents the Failed Utopia It Deserves - benbreen
http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/every-society-invents-the-failed-utopia-it-deserves/
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afpx
A lot of this was later covered in a dated yet still enjoyable and
understandable tv series called ‘star trek’. I mean, sure, literature and
speculation of brains and behavior, utopia and chaos goes way back to the
original written word. It’s an unfortunate condition of the human brain - a
prefrontal cortex that has been imprecisely fused onto a primal brain like a
tumor. The PFC creates symbols and structures, logic and resaon, and it
interprets a chaotic universe through a lens of rational models. It begins to
believe that its models are ‘real’, and it naturally tries to apply them to
everything. E.g. compare the Vulkan and the Romulan (I’m no expert here -
sorry). Rational people want utopia.

I don’t see much problem with people having desire for utopia. It’s natural.
The only problem I see is that eventually the tensions between the dionysian
and apolloian cause destruction and harm. Lots of people die. Structure is
good, but I wish people could invent a way to safely dismantle structure when
needed.

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mmjaa
Just like society gets the politicians it deserves, too.

Its surprising how little we take responsibility for the collective failings
that our group intelligence often delivers... or, maybe its not surprising,
actually. Just, disappointing.

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Sone7
I'm sick of hearing that I have the politicians I deserve - the amount of
money spent by special interests to warp the minds of citizens is at an all
time high. The authorities supposed to regulate and hold these people
accountable are captured.

And it's all extremely systematic.

The interests of the super-wealthy are aligned against education, cooperation
and the health of the planet, and we don't have time for throwing blame at the
victims.

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PaulAJ
Wow! Steam-punk psycho-history. How cool can you get?

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JohnJamesRambo
The site was unreadable on mobile due to having to scroll the huge paragraphs
left and right.

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dec0dedab0de
it works fine with firefox's reader view.

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scientician
I would love to simulate the Cosmographic Comparator! Anyone into it?

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hordeallergy
When utopia is the dream, dystopia becomes the reality.

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TimMurnaghan
This is quite an interesting story. It's a shame that it wasn't covered by
somebody who could write clearly rather than a sociology professor.

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pjc50
It purports to be a translation from the French of a hundred years ago, which
is necessarily going to be a rather alien style. It's essentially science
fiction in the style of Verne.

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randcraw
Yes, this 1870's french is pretty alien. But unlike Verne, it's
aliens/alienation are real not fictional.

Ignoring the florid preface by the series editor, Tresch's introduction is
legible enough, and his translation of Michel seems pretty comprehensible too.

Michel's is clearly a period piece, heavily stylized as a political /
motivational screed, but fascinating nonetheless. I do wonder if "Every
Society..." ever existed or if it's her invention. Clearly Octave Obdurant is
at best a nom de guerre/plume.

It's a great phrase nonetheless and worthy of both note and remembrance. Nice
catch, OP.

