Four Utopias, Four Dystopias

A Future of Terror and Total State Control

“We,” by Yevgeny Zamyatin (1921)
The Premise: It’s the 26th century, and a brutal war has erased most of the world's population. The nation of One State, headed by an absolute ruler called “the Benefactor,” arises to restore social order, wipe out crime, and protect citizens from the untamed wilderness.
What Happens: The Benefactor strips citizens of all privacy, freedom and sense of individuality. Each person is known only by his numerical ID. Total surveillance is the rule: One State is built out of glass so that police can monitor the activities of the nameless populace. The authorities have planned people’s daily routines down to the hour. No facet of life escapes state control. The story revolves around D-503, a fervent supporter of the regime, who meets and becomes infatuated with the mysterious (and female) I-330, a covert subversive. As D-503 finds himself more emotionally involved with her, it becomes harder to resist deviating from his dogged adherence to the State's doctrines.
How It Ends: D-503 is arrested and brainwashed. He witnesses the execution of I-330 without reacting. Meanwhile, anti-government forces gain momentum and the masses begin to show signs of dissent. As the novel ends, the fate of One State is uncertain.

Image credit: iStock

A Future of Innocence and Happy Americana

Celebration, Florida; 1996 to present
The Premise: A community, planned down to the smallest detail, designed by the Disney Corporation, the entertainment conglomerate that gave the world Disneyland, the “happiest place on earth." Celebration is intended to hark back to an innocent, Mickey-Mouse-and-Wonder-Bread time in American life.
What It's Like: The gated town’s design shields its residents from the undesirable factors of urban life: crime, noise, dirty streets, etc. Divided into villages, Celebration has its own school, town hall, health service, information channel, and calendar of events. The population of 9,000 “happily signs a 166-page Declaration of Covenants restricting just about everything that might conceivably annoy anyone. The document bans non-designated shrubs, limits the choices of window treatments to white or off-white, and mandates prior approval of any change in house color. If your dog barks to much it can be permanently removed by the authorities" (William Geist's, “Way Off the Road,” 2007).

A Future of Amnesia and Constant War

“1984,” by George Orwell (1949)
The Premise: “1984,” the ultimate dystopian novel, is set in the grim nation of Oceania, which is constantly at war with a revolving roster of enemy states. No one knows how the nation came into being. The reason? The ruling Party dedicates a whole ministry to rewriting history.
What happens: Every aspect of life is controlled by the ruling Party (headed by the shadowy figure of Big Brother). The totalitarian regime terrorizes its own citizens with constant spying and censorship. In addition to being fed a steady diet of propaganda, citizens must use a new language called Newspeak, designed to excise from their lexicon any words that could incite seditious thoughts. The story centres around Winston Smith, a low-ranking Party member who has indulges in small acts of defiance, like keeping a secret diary of for Big Brother. When he falls in love with his co-worker Julia, another rebellious soul, his hatred for the Party grow. Eventually he’s caught in a trap laid by the Party.
How it Ends: Winston is captured and tortured, and his spirit is broken. He is made not only to accept the legitimacy of the Party, but, the cruelest of emotional twists, to love Big Brother.

A Future of Equality and Prosperity in B.C.’s Gulf Islands

Sointula, B.C., 1901-1905
The Backstory: In the late 1890s Finland was struggling against the oppressive forces of Russian expansion. Fleeing their home, many Finns came to coastal British Columbia and found work in mines. Imperiled and oppressed by the dangerous work conditions, meager wages, and substandard housing, and aroused by the socialist pamphlets of the Finnish thinker Matti Kurikka, a group of Finns asked Kurikka to come to B.C. and help them start a new, utopian community.
What Happened: The Finns set up a joint stock company to raise money to build a colony on Malcolm Island, and a newspaper to spread the news. By November 1902, there were 200 people on the island. Kurikka worked to actualize his vision of utopia by building an egalitarian community where there would be no exploitation. The island community was christened Sointula, which means "harmony" in Finnish. Everyone, man or woman, would run the community co-operatively – farming, logging, building, cooking, raising children – and each would share the fruits of their labours equally.
How It Ended: The colony lasted three years. Kurikka had the vision, but, unfortunately for his followers, not the planning chops to make it work. Three big hurdles: the land the community settled on wasn’t arable; the logging work, intended as a source of income, instead exerted punitive costs; and the residents, tradesmen from Finland, were ill-prepared for the hard labour of pioneering a community. A fire in January 1903 killed eleven people and caused extensive damage, and the colony was liquidated in May 1905.
Image credit: Snorri Gunnarsson, via Flickr

A Future of Crimelessness and Technologic Advance

Minority Report (2002), directed by Steven Spielberg, based on a short story by Philip K. Dick
Premise: In Washington D.C., in 2054, technology has reached an almost mythic pinnacle. Murder is virtually gone because of a program called “precrime.” Powered by the psychic visions of three "precogs," the program analyzes and interprets their visions into a report of when a crime will take place so the police can pre-empt it by arresting the would-be criminal.
What happens: A police agent is identified as a future murderer. Because he’s never met the victim, he suspects he’s being set up and goes on the run. The very technology he’s been using to protect society turns against on as he struggles to elude ubiquitous iris scanners and tries to clear his name without the possibility of due process.
How it ends: The flaw in the Precrime program is exposed when Anderton manages to prove that it could be subject to human manipulation. The guilty one is in fact the program director himself, and the crime ironically re-establishes the power of human free will. The Precrime program is shut down, and those who have been jailed for as-yet-uncommitted crimes are released.

A Future of Peace and Balanced Progress

“Island,” by Aldous Huxley (1962)
Premise: On the fictional island of Pala, a culture has found a better life: a balance between Western technology, Buddhist philosophy, and reverence for nature.
What happens: The Palanese islanders are productive, happy, and spiritually improving. Sworn pacifists, they refuse to use technology in any way that will cause harm to others. This pacifism leaves them unfortunately vulnerable to the malice of outsiders. Trouble looms when the neighbouring community of Rendang eyes Pala and its resources.
How it ends: The Rendangese attack. The Palanese, without an army to defend themselves, surrender without a fight. Their utopia is destroyed.

A Future of Equality and Fruitful Labour

New Lanark, Scotland, early 19th century
Premise: Social reformist Robert Owen, angry at the misery of the workers in the Industrial Revolution, converts a cotton-mill village a model utopian community. Machines, he feels, should serve people instead of vice versa.
What Happened: Around 2,500 people lived at New Lanark. The mills thrived commercially, as did the workers, who were given fair compensation and good care. When Owen's business partners grumbled at the expense of his welfare programs, Owen bought them out. New Lanark became celebrated throughout Europe as a shining example of a profitable industrial town with a healthy and happy work force.
How it ended: A successful experiment, New Lanark prospered for a long time. Passing through several owners, the mills finally closed in 1968, and people left the town in droves. Each year, over 400,000 tourists visit the village, which has been recognized by UNESCO as one of Scotland's five World Heritage Sites.