The Perfect Society

[DrEast]

When Plato sat down to create the perfect society, he put the philosophers on top, ruling all others as kings among men. It has not escaped my notice, whenever this comes up, that Plato was a philosopher.

In that vein, I'd like people to post what the perfect society would look like. This is not a road map to getting there... just, if you were to visit it for a while, what brief impressions you'd come back with. I'd like to engage in this exercise to point out that, whenever two people get together to create their perfect society, they'll inevitably have a falling out over what they're trying to accomplish.

And that's okay.

So let your utopia juices flow!

1. In my perfect society, there is no "outdoors." Every inch of the planet has been converted into an interior, climate controlled setting. Either the outdoors environs have been moved to another planet, or people have. Utter extinction of all non-human species is an allowable alternative, but see #3.

2. In my perfect society, technology has produced infinite, nearly free energy.

3. In my perfect society, there are no health problems for humanity that arise from #1.

4. In my perfect society, everyone has access to online services.

5. In my perfect society, everyone is armed.

6. In my perfect society, the government is limited in scope to peaceful conflict resolution, that being its only responsibility. Even if it does not fulfill this successfully at all times, it's still a recognized limit.

7. In my perfect society, there are no banks.

That's about all I can think of at this point. See how easy it is? Plato's Republic had nothing on this.

[lisakki]

That's about all I can think of at this point. See how easy it is? Plato's Republic had nothing on this.

I suggest you move to Finland.

[DrEast]

I suggest you move to Finland.

You miss the point! This isn't a perfect society just for me... this is what I think would be a perfect society if it were enforced on everyone. Isn't that what utopian dreams are for? Let us make the whole world Finland, insofar as Finland is perfect.

[dragonsscout]

In my perfect society everyone is angelic, thus negating the need for government, weapons, or money.

Really though, is this society of yours a utopia or just your ideal 'world order?'

[muguly]

In my perfect society, everybody's happy with who they are. The people care more about the envorinment so there is no pollution or global warming. Everyone has a job that sustains them enough to prevent crimes of necessity. People get along enough to respect each others opions and beliefs. There is more emphasis on family and life than money. Education is free to all. There are real communities where everybody know everybody and they take care of each other. Everyone gets a one month vacation and free travel expenses. I think that's it......

[DrEast]

In my perfect society everyone is angelic, thus negating the need for government, weapons, or money.

Really though, is this society of yours a utopia or just your ideal 'world order?'

It could easily be both.

[Synamon]

You lost me when you eliminated the "outdoors". The struggle to understand and survive the physical elements of Earth (nature) has been a driving force in human development. Without it there is no incentive to keep learning or evolving. Living in a bubble is not appealing to me at all.

[Ytterbium]

Finland is far from perfect however.

[DrEast]

Y'all are too busy bashing my perfect society. The point is to create your own!

[dragonsscout]

The Republic sets up a sort of societal order, while this seems to me to be a utopia. They aren't the same. The Republic assumes that wars and crime will still exist at roughly their pre-order levels, while here you seem to be assuming that humans have much more technology than we currently have, and probably several worlds that we live on.

[JoeyDude]

I would make redundancy in lists outlawed. ha ha

[blueback]

I would create a society in which rationality was institutionalized. The government would ensure every person was educated in such a way that they used their rational faculties to their full potential. I think this alone would solve all our problems. I'm not sure what people would come up with, but if they were consistently rational I think it would be as close to perfect as we could possibly get.

[dragonsscout]

I currently have an imaginary nation where I try to create a society of my design.

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Roughly, my theory is that educated people will make better choices in elections. Thus, education is a big deal in my society.

[lisakki]

I personally think Huxley's dystopia in Brave New World would be the perfect utopia.

Who the hell cares about Shakespeare when you can get free Soma?

[dragonsscout]

I personally think Huxley's dystopia in Brave New World would be the perfect utopia.

Who the hell cares about Shakespeare when you can get free Soma?

Not to mention gratuitous amounts of mindless sex...

[SmileyMan]

State atheism.

[cncracer]

Here is my short list. In my perfect world we would still work with the environment, and do not live in a bubble. I like those changes in nature, I just don’t like the way we manage our environment.

1- Man would have learned to live with the environment.
2- Energy which was already there is tapped and solar, wind, and hydroelectric power replace hydrocarbons as fuel.
3- Guns are only collector items and not needed for defense.
4- Crime is a thing of the past
5- Man has broken the key to genetics and adjust DNA to end sickness and increase food for the planet
6- Man recognizes his small place in the universe and a global effort to peaceful expand into that universe continues to the other 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 planets in our universe.
7- We recognize and peacefully accept the existence of other intelligent life forms in the universe.
8- We commutate using telepathy between species, and non organic life form. We have instant and unlimited knowledge from data banks.
9- We control ageing and diseases thus ending death.
10- We accept the need for population control
11- We except evolution and recognize environmental stress results in genetic changes which in some cases make a stronger species; we adjust those changes to make humanity smarter, stronger, wiser, and less violent.
12- We quite following mythology and killing or persecuting any who don’t accept one mythology over the next. This is a first step to ending many wars in the future.
13- We lose the ability to be greedy and power hungry. This will end the need for even more wars.
14- We lose the ability to be jealous, and we learn to share. That should take care of the last cause of wars.

[zibber]

In my utopia, there are no law-like conventions. There is no greed. There is no physical suffering. There is no social competition. Trade is replaced by a pay-it-foward type deal. There is no genetic elite. There is harmony between species.

My utopia is pretty much total vacuum. Nothing is perfection.

I personally think Huxley's dystopia in Brave New World would be the perfect utopia.

Who the hell cares about Shakespeare when you can get free Soma?

Okay, seconded. His utopia from Island sounds a lot more harmonious and wonderful to me (from the moksha-assisted Nataraja worship to the MACs), but it stands no chance in the end.

(Oh: it's noteworthy that both his utopia and dystopia feature (recreational) drugs :laugh:)

[ayayumi]

There is no such thing as a perfect society because no society can please all tastes.

[zibber]

There is no such thing as a perfect society because no society can please all tastes.

How about taste-based segregation, then?

[DrEast]

How about taste-based segregation, then?

Society is excellent at pleasing that particular taste.

[hojiscott]

There is no perfect society/world . . . but If I get to create one it would be:
Peaceful (no crime, abuse, war, to people or animals, etc.)
Everyone would have a job that they love and are good at.
All jobs that need to be done are done and well.
No one makes any money 'cause no one needs any.
Everyone has more then the basics (house, food, health care, education, etc).
No greed, prejudice.
Only healthy jeolousy (envy).
Nature and man are balanced.
There are aliens and they are our freinds (and peaceful, too).
No one takes advantage of anyone else.
No one is allowed to talk loudly (or play scrabble loudly) in bookstore coffeeshops. Of course, the coffee and the books are free and fabulous.

--more later
Hoji

[Anderson]

1) The entire Earth's human populace would be located in a few densely populated, nearly vertical, very efficient cities with little to no pollution. This would be to minimize resources, travel, environmental impact.

2) Limited government and laissez-faire capitalism as suggested by Ayn Rand.

3) Everyone is rational. (keep on dreaming for that one!)

4) Sports are a hobby, like gardening but are no longer big business.

5) All taxes replaced with national sales tax.

6) Major emphasis on sci/tech R&D.

7) One language, one currancy.

[dogwoodlover]

Plato was wrong about his concept of "philosopher-kings."

We "INTJ-kings" ruling society.

[dragonsscout]

Plato was wrong about his concept of "philosopher-kings."

We "INTJ-kings" ruling society.

Of course, if you look at the Keirsey Personality test, then you have four neat little classes, with the NTs being the least common (and therefore, the PKs).:crowngrin: