Do we learn more from utopian or dystopian science fiction?
52
17
127
Conversation
I'd say we learn different things
I think utopian tends to be older, so more about historic preoccupations and fantasies then, rather than our dystopian fears now
(and we learn very little about the future from either)
2
2
It’s fascinating to think about the “why” behind the ratio of utopian / dystopian over time.
I wonder if another reason is bc it’s easier to project utopia into a far future - but since the future is coming ever more quickly it’s hard to project out far enough to see that place.
1
5
Replying to
I've been trying to work on something like that, and it's also just hard to get any narrative interest or tension
our culture is so saturated with fear and scarcity, what does a story even look like in a world that is really doing well, and who now would read that
it's a puzzle
changing ratio over time?
are dystopias reactions to earlier disappointed hopes?
utopia 'discovered' first
& dystopias mirror them
abundance 👉🏽
Malthusian population/scarcity
technological progress👉🏽
Romantic fears (industry cities)
freedom/democracy 👉🏽
colonisation, invasion