My Utopian Vision Includes Peace and Opportunity

Reading history, today’s headlines, and predictions of the future one could give up hope and think humans were meant to destroy each other. War after war, and stunning inequalities are the norm. But there have been great thinkers who wanted peace. Some made great strides toward that, and the developed world has made progress compared to earlier generations.

I’ve read many dystopian novels and my work in progress is also dystopian. It’s kind of easy to think of bad routes mankind can go, so for this blog entry I’ll write my vision of a utopia. And yes, I’m fully aware these are all unrealistic.

First thing is separation of church and state worldwide. The United States has had this since 1776, and it has created a diverse people with varying thoughts the past three centuries. I understand that religion is beneficial on the personal level. AA and other addiction clinics were founded from religious people, and they have made a difference. With grieving when family or friends pass away many seek comfort from the religion they know. It also creates a connection with family and community.

Separation of church and state also means tolerance of different religions. When the church or other religious institution is also the law, it pushes out other perspectives and thought. This creates a us versus them mentality. And throughout history a lot of people died in the name of religion.

My second hope is poverty ends. As technology improves food production, and architecture a goal should be that everyone gets food and shelter at a bare minimum. In the United States twelve percent live in poverty. For African Americans and Hispanics, it’s 20 percent. That is too high for the richest country in the world. In other parts of the world that live under dictatorships, that percentage is higher.

There is a conservative ideal that everyone should work for what they get. As technology improves is that really the case? The rust belt has seen robotics, and production go oversees that shrunk the manufacturing sector severely. Every year they’ll be more technology improvements to shift the workload from manual labor to robotics. The United States will also continue to exploit improvised counties for cheap manual labor. Not everyone can excel in college either. The percentage of people in the United States with a college degree is 37 percent, higher than it’s ever been, but not even close to most of the population. So, when manufacturing, agriculture, architecture, construction, retail, and most industries need less people in those fields, what happens to those work positions? It’ll be a decision humanity will have to make and sooner than people may think.

In my view I’d like to see more people being able to pursue what they want. Whether it be sports, art, acting, music, or anything that interests a person. They always ask kids in school what they want to be when they grow up. My guess is the majority do something else rather than their dreams. And with work, if someone is really into their career or want to make a lot of money that’s fine for them to work long hours. But no one should work seven days a week behind a cashier so they can pay rent. People should have opportunity to pursue what they want, and not worry about survival.

Lastly in my utopia they’ll be no wars. I don’t follow the news enough to post my opinion on social media, but I wish Israel would stop the horrific bombardment on the Palestinians, and that Ukraine keeps their territory by defeating Russia. People should think as global citizens in the future free to go anywhere in the world, and not with nationalistic mentalities. With basic needs met for everyone war would not be needed.