Dystopian Thinking, What Would Hitler Do With Skynet?
A brief history of pessimism…
Over the years, mankind went through periods of optimism and pessimism about its nature and future. What we think of our historical evolution is greatly determined by what we think about ourselves. If we think humans are essentially good, we will think of history as progress. If we think humans are essentially evil, then we will see history as decadence.
Our beliefs are reflected in literature and cinema, under the form of utopias and dystopias. Adding some exponential technology to our assumptions on human nature, we end with the following equation:
Exponential Technology + Anthropological Assumptions = Utopia / Dystopia
19th Century Optimism…
The 19th century was a time of belief in unlimited progress thanks to technology and the civilizing forces of capitalism. Optimism was reflected in Auguste Comte positivist philosophy and Jules Verne’s novels.
…To 20th Century Pessimism…
During the 20th century, humanity made huge progress towards well-being for most. Yet the zeitgeist was dystopian. Many of the dystopias were mostly about what would Hitler or Stalin do if the had access to exponential surveillance and violence technologies.
20th century dystopias share a number of traits:
- A centralized dictatorship.
- A stratified society, where a ruling elite gives masses some kind of bread and circus populistic entertainment (soma in Brave New World, violent sports Rollerball, etc.).
- An ultra-rational society with no place for emotions.
- Mankind is dominated by machines, its own creation turned against it.
- Propaganda, propaganda, propaganda.
- Advanced surveillance tools.
- Irresistible gestapo-like repressive technology (cyborgs, Smith agents, etc.).
20th century dystopias had a messianic leader heading the resistance movement, a hero who arises from the oppressed by receiving some individual act of enlightenment: Neo, John Connor, Winston Smith…
…To a New Optimism?
The 21th century began with terrorism, economic crisis, environmental disasters… Reading the newspaper seems to predict we are facing imminent extinction. Yet, data suggests this is our golden age. We are close to eradicating extreme poverty, we are more educated and live longer than ever, and we never had access to such a vast pool of civil and political liberties. Contrary to popular belief, the last century was the most peaceful in history.
We might have not realized it yet, because we still live under the paradigm of scarcity of the industrial society, the era of totalitarian regimes and literary dystopias.
Do this mean we’re bound for Eden? Of course not. Philosopher Nick Bostrom, director of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford warns that humanity faces a serious chance of extinction in the next century.
But authors like Diamandis, Pinker, Inglehart and Rifkin, from different perspectives and disciplines, tell us a story of technological progress, peace, liberation and expansion of our empathic abilities. Quite the opposite of dystopias command and control of the industrial age.
Hobbes wrote that life on Earth is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutal and short”. That was true in the midst of the religious wars of the seventeenth century. But much has changed since. Our lives are becoming more social, rich, comfortable, peaceful and long.
Hopefully, in the coming years, literature and cinema will catch up. Our dystopias say more about the eye of the beholder than about reality. Big Brother, Skynet and Matrix express our fears. The utopias of the years to come, I think, will reflect our hopes.
