Why Steemit Is Not Utopia And You Should Be Happy
View this post on Hive: Why Steemit Is Not Utopia And You Should Be Happy
8 years ago in #steemit by bleepcoin (65)
$766.39
- Past Payouts $766.39, 0.00 TRX
- - Author $654.39, 0.00 TRX
- - Curators $112.00, 0.00 TRX
Excellent points Bleeps! Really interesting reference to the 1516 text, it's spookily close to what Communist Russia, China N. Korea and others have tried. Wear the same clothes, have the same haircut, property is theft, etc. etc.
As you point out, a real Utopia is where everyone is left to do as they please and go where they want, and trade with who they want to trade with.
Steemit's the beginning, not the end :-)
Cg
Love the post and I need to read into the Bolo'Bolo mentioned in the other comment.
I tend to take the better world issue from two sides, that of the individuals in the population and the implementation/sustainability issues.
Many individuals have become so dependent of institutional laws/processes/benefits/security/etc that they have stopped thinking about it. I see this as the "things are ok, so no reason to worry or change it" view. While I can understand this, they commonly are only looking at their own situation and not necessarily what is working/not working for others or the whole. I do have hope for the future with there being so many people that have done some self-reflection and achieved some level of enlightened self-interest. Personally I use the term Utopia when looking for an individuals vision and goals for themselves in a 'wave a magic wand' scenario. I'll absolutely agree that this is different from anything implemented, but I personally have pulled concepts from what I've read, like Moore's Utopia, to frame the vision a bit better. Like many books, there's nothing that says we have to follow/accept everything in it but rather pick and choose with what makes sense and might work. Personally I don't see a huge conceptual difference between generating a shared vision (from the individuals) and many of the anarchy oriented ideals (that look more at implementation and prolonged sustainability.)
On the implementation side, we seem to be held up by political will and fear (because those holding power wouldn't necessarily be needed anymore.) Idea's that would move us in a (ideally) better situation whether it be universal basic income, self sustenance, or whatever are rarely brought up in main stream media. I also see with us being in the age of individualized services and products that were not necessarily bound to everyone having to agree on everything, just certain core items like the Non Aggression Principle
There is a feedback look here of:
-make populations 'ok' enough to have some base contentment they don't want to give up
-those in power not wanting to implement things that would put themselves out of a job
-Limit 'out of the box' ideas on main stream media so individuals will unlikely get the 'spark' of seeing that things don't have to be this way
I see it being necessary to have both a Vision and a path to Implementation, if we are to get anywhere.
I love discussing these topics though, please don't take anything as being negative. I've thought on things like this for a long time on my own and I'm still learning some of the concepts and terminology that Steemit is exposing me to.
while utopia is unobtainable I do believe that utopian ideas have an important role to play. I dread to think what the world would be like if we weren't constantly striving to better ourselves and our society.
I agree, it is a journey that is constantly changing
Utopia is not so utopian at all - they too wage war, but actually pay warrior slave nations with their overabundance of gold.
Only agreement here for your view, so in a sense, bolo'bolo is the best utopia I know of.
We should call it something else then
I think the problem with striving towards a utopian society is that no one can really define what it really is. Without getting philosophical or pedantic, I'm sure you can appreciate that the notion of perfect will be different from person to person. Should people forego that freedom to judge what is perfect and be forced to accept what is deemed perfect, it might be possible, but we've seen many instances where confining the human mind to a narrow set of morals, principles, and life goals ends up causing the complete opposite of Utopia.
You nailed it
Great points. If only all of humanity was selfless and morally perfect...
I am very happy to stay here with all of you 8]
Well I enjoy posting on dystopia :D
The slaves of Thomas More's Utopia in modern day terms would be technology. I think since he mentions all the work that people would do, the slaves would be there to do all the in between and unpleasant things, things that technology has or is making possible.
Our advancement today was unthinkable to him back then.
That's why it's probably useless trying to predict the future, government planning is an example of how predicting outcomes can be misguided
There's no such thing as utopia. Different times, different needs..
It seems like there are many tools at our disposal at this moment in time but will we take advantage of them and will they be useful in the future?
I'll agree there is no perfection...it doesn't exist anywhere in nature either. But maybe something termed "Adaptive Utopia" might be more in a realm of possibility.
I'm a huge fan of the quote by James Madison of "If men were angels, no government would be necessary." Speaking for myself, I don't need to be told by a law to not murder, steal, assault, etc but rather I CHOOSE not to based on personal philosophy and ideals. Personally I find it sad that many people (of course not the Steemit population) only stop themselves from horrendous acts because of the perceived punishment (which in reality exists even without a law.) For example the lack of anonymity in a small town stops many negative acts from occurring because the likelihood of reciprocity is high (since everyone knows each other, where they live, etc.)
When people have a better idea of how they actually work, motivate, interpret, communicate, filter, etc the idea or providing personalized products, services and maybe even polices hopefully would become easier.
I will admit I'm an optimist and have hope for 'most' people being beneficial to themselves and others. I see people not being exposed to 'outside of the box' ideas being a cause of them being stuck in what I see as outdated methods.