Inaugural Utopia Awards Winners

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  Krystof Huang

  July 16, 2023 at 7:27 am

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  *** The Unboxed Utopia ***

  A “Utopia” is an ideal society. In spite of thousands of attempts, every Utopia has failed. Consequently, “Utopian” today implies “over-idealistic” and “impossible.” It is also commonly claimed that any Utopia cannot have individual freedom. Even though–by definition–that is a Dystopia and not a Utopia… And so…

  In my opinion… anyone claiming that “Utopia is impossible” or “Utopia is Dystopia” is simply confessing that it is impossible for them to “think outside the box…” Or perhaps they are just unable to think… Or are stingy people who are just not interested in a better world… And so… Instead of wasting time on arguments… I will simply list some rather obvious solutions for anyone able to “think outside the box…” Hoping that some people might see my point…

  1. Problem: foreign invasion, natural disaster or economic collapse.
  Solution: Let anyone join who wants to join.

  Explanation… I came to this conclusion as a teenager in the 1970’s. Like many teenagers, I spent years trying to invent an impregnable medieval fortress. One of my ideas was to be surrounded by bees, ants and poison ivy… And to spray the oncoming army with sugar water… And Archimedes actually did something like that… However… Even better is 10 castles in different locations… And the USA government actually has something like that… However… Even better is an entire nation that has no specific location.

  2. Problem: convincing people to follow your Utopia dogma.
  Solution: Let anyone join who wants to join.

  Explanation. A “Utopia” is by definition a happy place where everyone wants to be. It is not perfect. It is only more desired than other places… And so… If you believe you have some kind of Utopia… But this depends on arguing with 8 billion people… Then you are full of BS… And most so-called Utopianists are full of BS… And this is one reason they all fail.

  3. Problem: economic feasibility.
  Solution: Help everyone who joins.

  Explanation… Anonymous “crowd funding” for emergency needs… Mentorship programs for financial advancement… Affordable housing… No promises and no guarantees… But help depends on what is available and total transparency of what is available… And any member who routinely gives a few dollars to help other members will receive priority treatment when they need help or mentorship or housing.

  4. Problem: unsustainable growth-dependence.
  Solution: help everyone who joins.

  Explanation… If every member-owned business helped every other member to start a business or to qualify for a raise… And helped to fund “crowd funding” for emergency needs of members… Then there would be no need to join the stock market and send their profits to a growth-dependent system… Because they would be assured of loyal customers… Because every dollar the customer spends at their business would improve the help that customer receives… And competitors who join the stock market would be unable to compete…

  Free online education with incentives to complete the education would also result in educated people… A Utopia can and should make sure its members are educated… Which is well proven to be the basic answer to poverty and overpopulation.

  5. Problems and solutions of pre-existing outside-the-box Utopias. These existing institutions are not considered “Utopias.” But they easily could be. If enough of their members were able to think-outside-the-box.

  * The USA. Offer everyone in the world some kind of quasi-USA citizenship. And anti-USA sentiment and the nuclear arms race will die out pretty quick.

  * Facebook or any successful website. Facebook could guarantee its future and make the world a better place by using its billion-a-week profits to help every Facebook member. Instead, Facebook sends a billion-a-week to Wall Street.

  * Consumer Co-ops. The current trend is for so-called “consumer coops” to charge high prices. Meanwhile giving tiny discounts or profit-sharing to investors. Coops should “get back to where you once belong.” By expanding instead of reducing member support programs. Minimizing instead of maximizing their profit margins. And enabling everyone who walks in the door to be a member. Just like every Supermarket does… Coops could then demolish their competitors… But instead… The idea of coops was developed before computers were invented and they have not even kept up with the competition.

  * Any religion. Medieval Jews began the idea of mutual support groups. So did every religion in the beginning. Now they are all a business selling an invisible product called “heaven.” Which probably does not exist and cannot be returned for a refund. That is an ideal business. And they do still help their members more often than Facebook. But they are not dedicated to doing that. And every member is expected to believe in inane dogmas.

  * Fraternities. The Masons and the Knights Templars were once very wealthy, very powerful and very helpful to their members… The problem was… Instead of admitting they were people banding together because they needed help… Instead they claimed to be superior people and tried to make others feel inferior…. They claimed to have top-secret secrets such as mystical secret handshakes very impressive to a 6 year old… And they were difficult to join and did not do much good for non-members… The Templars were consequently exterminated and the Masons have not learned much either.

  * Any social or environmental organization or “humane society.” Just start thinking-outside-the-box of becoming an integral part of everyone helping everyone with everything. Do more and more and more.

  * The Salvation Army. This huge organization proves how–simply by helping non-members–it is possible to be extremely popular. Even in spite of being extremely annoying. Just ditch the hard-ass holier-than-thou dogma and the military uniforms. And invite everyone to join. Do more and more and more. And we might have a Utopia.

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