Posted on 02/18/2015 6:36:05 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
It isn't new. Karl Popper wrote a book about it: The Open Society And Its Enemies whose first topic, in fact, the topic of the first volume of two, is Plato. One thinks of Plato as an exemplar of free thought but in fact, in The Republic he posited a planned society within which every citizen had his assigned place and optimal role...for life. A Philosopher-King, the best of humanity, a natural ruler from whose ukases there would be no appeal because, of course, none would be needed. That's more than a little unrealistic, but then my own opinion is that Plato wasn't actually intending it to be realistic. Popper differs, however, and he has a point.
To indicate where this leads, Popper's second volume discusses two thinkers: Hegel and Marx. The latter was utopian to a fault, but in practice it never did work without the mythical New Soviet Man, a creature whose only imperfection was that he didn't exist and couldn't be created. Not that they didn't try.
I think Adams would be furious to read my contention that he is a totalitarian, but I'm afraid that is, in fact, where this sort of thing ends up. People would be "permitted" to eat meat if imported from outside? Really? Collective agriculture managed by the Internet? Really? Perfect transportation effected by machines that never break, never err? Really?
And the gorilla in the room - who runs this stuff? Who are the "experts"? Who has the power to direct others' lives, because in this scenario their lives will very definitely be directed? Adams doesn't say, but I'm afraid it's going to take the Philosopher-King who doesn't exist, or perhaps collective councils...let me see, didn't those used to be called "Soviets"?
WOW. A communist paradise. A workers’ paradise. To each according to their needs and each according to their abilities.
“This central lawn creates a natural “family” of folks drawn to the common area each evening for fun and recreation. This arrangement exists in some communities and folks “.. avoid the area unless they want a prostitute or drugs.
“The neighborhood would be Internet-connected so it would be easy to find someone to watch your kid ...”
Humor, intentional or not.
No more need for the cartoonists’ home studios. Think of the space and energy savings! No more need for advances in drawing software. Think of all the energy savings eliminating all that commuting to the software developers offices, and resources saved by eliminating all that advertising and packaging!
Using man’s infinite wisdom to create utopia has always been a temptation, even for the most libertarian of us.
As long as one realizes that it can only be a fantasy and can never be a reality, it’s harmless.
It’s only when those start to take their fantasies seriously are we in trouble.
I had a liberal go off screeching at me recently about how the flyover county is supported by the cities.
He seemed to think that we all live on farm subsidies paid for by urban people and if they cut off the subsidies we would all starve to death. I pointed out that most of us would happily cut off the subsidies and if the farmers want they could charge a premium when selling to city dwellers.
Then he trailed off about rooftop farming feeding all of NY but I don’t think he was even buying that one.
***I can imagine a city built around communal farming in which all the food is essentially free.**
Ah yes! The socialist ideal! The pilgrim fathers tried that in 1621 and almost died out. Then they tried capitalism farming and invented THANKSGIVING with the bounty of crops that flowed in when they applied the St Paul rule...”He who does no work shall not eat!”
1. Communal is a poor choice of word. Each resident or family would best have an individual space and responsibility for production. Such a community should also be rural. Open source equipment designs should be included.
2. There are county zoning ordinances and laws against any and all kinds of small manufacturing operations.
3. There are regulations for only allowing approved, graded building materials produced by government-linked producers and outlawing others (e.g., compressed earth blocks).
4. There are regulations against some of the best of homebuilt components for alternative energy systems.
5. Large impact fees and engineering fees are required by many counties for building permits.
6. There are regulations against the best methods for composting waste.
7. Counties only approve subdivisions with homeowners’ associations attached in order to keep out non-government riff-raff.
The bipartisan establishment doesn’t like self-sufficiency, working class real property ownership, competition or consumer savings and will officiously rob anyone trying to engage in such behaviors and exile them to homelessness.
Permanent, unLawful slavery is complicated in law, but it’s the law.
These utopian ideals sound like the future plan for the city of Seattle. So far, all it has accomplished is to make it one of the most expensive places to live in the nation.
How to live like a millionaire. First get a million dollars.
I can tell you one thing.
The best lifestyle for me doesn’t include living in a city.
“I can imagine a city built around communal farming in which all the food is essentially free.”
He lost me there too. Yep, that food just jumps out of the ground onto the table. He is obviously clueless about agriculture (and plenty more).
I thought hippies have been trying to do this in their communes since the 60’s. Seems they always end up either leaving broke or starting some sort of business dependent on capitalism. Al Gore is a perfect example of bailing out of the utopian commune or city model. He used to spend a fair amount of time at ‘The Farm’ in Tennessee hanging out smoking dope with Stephen Gaskin and the others before he got into politics.
I’d like to know what they intend to do with all the takers in society.
I hope they aren’t expecting them to work in the communal farms.
This is the intention that paves the road to hell. What he’s missing is that you can’t get MANKIND out of the equation.
1. It works with a group of people who voluntarily get together to build the city, if they are free to kick out anyone they want - any height, weight, color, gender, hair color, number of toes, favorite color.
2. Hundreds of millions die within 100 years from war and famine the minute this bozo (maybe he isn’t - but he IS mankind) is elected to something in the US or any other country that has a legal monopoly on the initiation of the use of force (i.e. - it’s a government program.)
Great idea kiddo - but go do it with people who choose to join you, and don’t expect those people to behave. You still have jealousy, sin, violence, ignorance, hatred, resentment, and everything else that’s true of man the moment he’s conceived to content with. As soon as they arise, someone will suggest a government. Government + Mankind = Mark Steyn’s finest phrase: Farce, followed by farce, followed by tragedy.
And, there’s nothing depressing about that. This is what man does. Go ask the Bible.
Where I live the sun tends to move around.
How about a house that can be rotated to point to the sun?
A great idea for the eggheads in DC to study, it can be paid for by raising the gas tax.
All the comforts of hive..er...home...
I can imagine a city built around communal farming in which all the food is essentially free.
Without labor the fields will be full of weeds. The author trivializes the work of a farmer. He probably should leave the city one day, go 100 miles south, and see for himself how much labor goes into growing anything.
I share my cucumbers and in return get whatever I need from the other neighbors’ crops via an organized ongoing sharing arrangement.
What is he going to do with grain? Is he advocating pre-Bronze age technology?
We already know how to build homes that use zero net energy.
Absolutely. They are called "caves." Beware of bear, though.
Now add IBM’s Watson technology (artificial intelligence) to the medical system and you will be able to describe your symptoms to your phone and get better-than-human-doctor diagnoses right away.
Is he INSANE? No diagnosis these days, short of minor flu in winter, can be complete without examinations and tests. No doctor, aside from a friend who already knows you, will even give you a diagnosis over the phone.
In this imagined future you can remove much of the unnecessary costs of the cruel final days of life that are the bulk of medical expenses.
Nazis euthanized mental patients, but even they did not go as low as killing old people just because they are old. Logan's Run was NOT a documentary.
Everyone would be walking, swimming, biking, and working out.
Instead of working, of course.
the common center, which has security cameras [...] creates a natural “family” of folks drawn to the common area each evening for fun and recreation.
I see a contradiction here. Why do you need a security camera there? Aren't you trusting your neighbors? :-) (That's how utopias fall apart.)
The neighborhood would be Internet-connected so it would be easy to find someone to watch your kid or dog if needed, for free.
Yes, people are already lining up to watch for someone's kid for free.
When anyone can learn any skill at home, and any job opening is easy to find online
Let's see how you can learn at home to be an oil well worker, or a fisherman, or a scientist. Oh, Mr. Adams is an artist. Yes, you can learn to draw at home... as long as you have someone real who will hold your hand for a while.
In the future, homes will be designed to the last detail using CAD, and factory-cut materials of the right size will appear on the job site as a snap-together kit with instructions printed on each part.
Unfortunately, today workers have to grow trees at the work site to cut them into beams and to make plywood. They have no drawings, and there are no architects, and of course they have no idea what materials they need, and how much - especially not ahead of time. But it will change in the future.
The new city would be built on cheap land, by design
Does the author have any idea what makes land cheap or expensive? I'm sure that an old artillery firing range, with thousands of unexploded shells still in the ground, can be bought cheap enough. Is this his idea of cheap land?
Individually-owned automobiles would be banned.
Ah, you MUST hire someone to do work that you could otherwise do yourself for less money and with less hassle. That's freedom for you, remember! You are free to choose what I tell you.
Besides... where will Uber drivers live and keep their vehicles? Are they exempt from the requirement of hiring someone else to transport themselves? If they are, what stops everyone from becoming a Uber driver but transporting only themselves and their friends? If they are not, wouldn't it be inhumane to deny the drivers the right to live in a city that they serve? It's always easy to build a nice society, as long as you don't need to worry about workers who make it happen. Invariably, utopias cannot exist without magic.
You wouldn’t have much processed food in this city, so no cans and bottles to discard.
It must be nice to live in California (it is, actually :-) - but even here I cannot buy all kinds of produce all the time. I have to buy goods in jars, in containers, in bags, in boxes - unless I want to subsist on whatever is currently available in the garden. I'm eating a Washington Red apple now, but - surprise - the apple tree outside is not even blooming, unlike the peach and the plum. I have lemons, if that's a suitable substitute :-) Oh, rice will be out - CA does not have enough water for it, and never had. There are far less hospitable climates where you can't grow much, and even that would be not always tasty (beet, potatoes.) You'd likely develop vitamin deficiency.
In other words, Mr. Adams must be trolling :-)
Money was invented thousands of years ago because bartering was so inefficient.
I think a properly-designed city could eliminate 80% of daily living expenses while providing a quality of life far beyond what we experience today.
I only skimmed over his particular view of utopia, but it did not appear to me that the quality of life would be particularly good. You spend half your time maintaining your energy efficient home, and your other half growing your one little crop for barter? What if you don't want to grow stuff? What if you want to spend your time surfing the internet or traveling instead? His idea of a room where you could "immerse" yourself in history lessons or whatever doesn't sound like a good substitute for traveling somewhere new and exotic.
Whenever I read about utopias, I notice that they would only be utopic for the person imagining them. For everyone else, they would be miserable.
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