When you think of the word utopia, what comes to mind? Is it perfection? Freedom? Happiness? Convenience? How about a utopian society? Is the technology advanced? Do cars fly? Does nature thrive? Are people happy?
How about dystopia? I have some ideas. Suffering and despair. A dystopian society might be one of ruin and emptiness, or maybe one of fear, surveillance, and control. Perhaps of technology having gone too far.
When you see these concepts above, which remind you of modern society? In this age of ever-improving tech, do we bear a stronger resemblance to a utopia or a dystopia? I argue that our society more strongly resembles a utopia, as our technology provides us with more freedoms, a greater quality of life, and the capability to connect with anyone instantly.
There are many ideas of what a utopia or dystopia might look like. What constitutes a perfect society and what constitutes a horrible society are both very subjective matters. However, there is a theme that I’ve noticed across common depictions of the two, whether in literature or in art. Their technology is often highly advanced. I would guess that there are two closely related reasons for this.
For one, utopias and dystopias are often, though not always, depicted as being in the future. I’d imagine this is because we think of them as things to come. Not that we truly expect our societies to remotely resemble anything like the images above, but because they are fun, interesting, and insightful what-if scenarios for the future. It’s natural that a society set in the future would have better technology, as it has been rapidly improving for centuries and will continue to do so.
The other reason for utopias and dystopias being associated with advanced technology is this: It’s easy to imagine that extreme technological advancement would be necessary for a utopia or dystopia to exist. A utopia might be the product of technology dealing with all of our problems. For example, all of our medical needs taken care of, our workloads reduced significantly, our travel made especially convenient and efficient, etc. However, advanced technology poses dangers as well. Consider a dystopia where AI has become too advanced and enslaves humanity. Consider another where some government has complete control of its population through extreme surveillance capabilities, government control of communication and technology, and oppression by an advanced military power.
These two reasons are very related. Simply put, there may be a point where technology becomes extremely good in the future, and this technology may result in society enhancing or reducing its problems to extreme degrees. It is for these reasons that I believe it’s important to consider whether our society better resembles a utopia or dystopia through a technological lens.
Now, which does modern society lean towards? Utopia or dystopia? I believe the former, but let us first consider the counterargument. Why might people consider our society becoming more dystopian?
Dystopia
On a surface level, technology seems wholly good. As technology improves, so does our healthcare, entertainment, communication and transport capabilities, etc. However, one of the things that the relationship between utopia and dystopia highlights is that there can be drawbacks to technology. It can go too far. This is evident by many dystopias depicted in literature essentially being failed attempts at creating a utopia.
A famous example of this is Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. The novel begins far in the future, specifically London, 2540 AD (Lohnes). Technology has completely eliminated many of societies’ “problems.” For example, there is no war, people use machines to learn while they sleep, people take a drug (called “soma”) to make them happy all the time, women don’t need to go through pregnancy, etc. The society revolves around science, technology, and efficiency. It is supposed to be perfect, but two characters, John and Bernard, see flaws in the society. It has become too artificial, controlling, and meaningless. The society only manages to remain “perfect” because it brainwashes or exiles those who might go against the grain. It is meant to be a utopia but is instead a dystopia.
I’m not going to directly compare the nuances of Brave New World’s society and our society. It isn’t fair to say that our society doesn’t lend itself toward being more dystopian than utopian just because our society doesn’t resemble the setting of one dystopian novel. After all, dystopia can be represented in many forms. However, I will use the novel to emphasize a common theme I see in dystopias: technology that limits freedom.
In Brave New World, people don’t have freedom to feel different emotions, because soma makes them happy. They don’t have the freedom to have their own kids, because they will be exiled for it. They don’t have the freedom to learn what they please, because what they learn is chosen for them and they learn as they sleep. They can’t communicate with whom they please, because their caste system, enforced by surveillance, keeps them divided and isolated.
In modern society, I don’t see technology as a potential source of subjugation. I see technology as something that gives us more freedom to live as we please. However, I do believe there one aspect of modern technology that can be argued to be dystopian, and that is surveillance, specifically in the United States.
In 2013, Edward Snowden leaked a lot of damning information about the NSA (MacAskill and Dance). It was revealed that, after 9/11, the NSA significantly increased its surveillance on Americans as well as the people of some allied countries, even to the point of monitoring telephone lines. They were collecting so much data on the majority of Americans that they were able to make profiles of who people were, how they lived, and what kind of person they were. They could monitor whomever they pleased and do so en masse. Sometime after the leak, this was ruled unlawful. The NSA still monitors suspicious individuals, but they require a warrant to do so. However, the fear still exists in the minds of many people. They’ve done it before, what if something were to happen and the government were to allow it again? It’s a very real possibility.
Personally, I don’t really mind if the NSA monitors me, which certainly informs my viewpoint of modern society (specifically the US in this case), not being dystopian. However, I recognize that this is a large issue and source of fear for many people, and certainly does feel dystopian. As such, I consider this a strong argument for the idea of the US being more dystopian than utopian. With that said, I still believe modern society has more in favor of it being utopian than dystopian, which I will discuss in my next section:
Utopia
Modern technology affords us so many freedoms, aids, and conveniences. Less than a century ago it was unthinkable to be able to live so long and with such quality of life as we do today. That isn’t to say that everyone gets to live a quality life. After all, I’m not arguing that we do indeed live in a utopia. Many people suffer, lack resources, and can feel some of the drawbacks of technology, but I’d argue that overall society continues to improve as technology does, suggesting modern society is only becoming more and more utopian.
One piece of evidence for this is the great boon to society that has been long distance, instant communication. Being able to speak to instantly communicate with almost anyone instantly has improved almost every aspect of society. For one, it helps people find and maintain connections, whether that be for friendship, work, etc. Zizi Papacharissi, in their article, “A Networked Selfie,” does an excellent job of describing some of the benefits of modern communication. With something as simple as a selfie, she describes how cellphones allow us to save experiences and capture our emotions, and how they allow us to share them with other people (Papacharissi). They help people stay connected over distance and provide a way for people to better remember the past. Never in history have people been able to create so many meaningful connections and over such distance.
The benefits of communication don’t stop there. It has also led to mass market growth (Yates). Instant communication means more business, whether that means easier communication between businesses, or the potential for online shopping. This market growth has improved economies across the globe and provides a higher average standard of living as a society’s infrastructure is able to improve and its people are given more financial freedom.
Improved communication isn’t the only reason modern society better resembles a utopia, but I believe it to be one of the largest driving factors as it improves all aspects of society. Other specific things technology has brought us are improved medicine to live longer and with less pain, more and improved entertainment to enjoy oneself and relieve stress, and improved transport to be able to travel further in our society or across the world should one please.
Some common themes I see among capabilities that technology brings us is freedom, quality of life, and improved communication. I believe these are all incredibly important components of improving society and the lives of its people, and for this reason I believe that our modern technology makes our modern society more utopian than dystopian.