It was a utopia.

Crisp winds rippled across vast prairies of emerald green grass, a deer barely escaping a dangerous pack of determined wolves. Herds of giant bison roamed the plains freely, migrating from one area to the next. An antelope bent over for a drink by the river, until the mighty jaws of a crocodile closed with a crunch around the prey’s exposed neck. A small family of cheetahs relaxed in a fig tree, avoiding the brutal sun above. Dolphins, whales, and seals coasted through waters as blue as sapphires, as waves crashed into the towering walls of grey stone. Lobsters, crabs, and crustaceans of all kinds scampered away and buried themselves in the sand while the great white shark stalked along the warm, murky ocean floor. In the deepest trenches, a particular immortal jellyfish reached a mature age, and then reverted back to its polyp form, thus restarting its lifecycle.

Above sea level, snowcapped mountains rose above the world, dwarfing everything in sight. From miles above, a falcon scanned the ground, and effortlessly curled into a spiraling descent, darting in and out of the clouds, with black eyes locked on an innocent baby rabbit in the fields below. Monstrous aspen, oak, and elm trees reached across the skies, their branches home to birds and critters from all walks of life. Massive grizzly bears marched from river to river, as salmon unknowingly fought their way up waterfalls, simply to be caught and eaten as they emerged from the stream. Scorpions and iguanas darted from each spot of shade as they made their way through the barren wasteland of brown dunes and orange canyons. Snakes the size of cars and spiders the size of birds crept through the dense rainforests, ignoring the cacophony of the overly horny family of baboons swinging through the vines and branches above. Polar bears and penguins slid down crystal glaciers into the frigid arctic waters and clambered onto drifting blocks of ice. The world was in pure harmony. The circle of life was hard at work to maintain this beautiful, living, breathing planet. No discord. No disruptions, disturbances, or disasters. No disease, no death, no depression, or despicably downward spiraling economy. Every living creature, whether it was predator or prey was living together, in unison.

            A booming sound thundered across every sea, mountain, field, and desert. It burrowed its ways to the depths of the ocean and the floor of the jungle. Into the deepest caves and across the most expansive forests. Along rivers, over hills, under trees, everywhere. This sound, for an instant, made the hearts of every living soul stop.

  “SHIT!” god bellowed, his robed arm stretching out from the clouds.

           A shiny glass jar whooshed past a bald eagle – the ONLY bald eagle. The elegant raptor tucked into a nose dive, plummeting after the jar, but as soon as he began to catch up, the jar would speed up and fall further out of reach. Every animal, the bears, birds, fishes, cows, horses, moose, deer, monkeys, lions, and kangaroos stopped and watched as the only bald eagle in existence desperately chased this jar. Hawks, falcons, owls, crows, hummingbirds, and pigeons all raced after the eagle, trying to catch this fragile object. Even the mosquitoes, gnats, and flies were chasing after it, but the bats just couldn’t pass up the opportunity for an early dinner. So the insects didn’t last very long.

            As the ground grew closer and closer, rivers began to flood, forests started burning, glaciers melted, and avalanches devoured mountainsides. The sky darkened, the ground split open beneath them as entire families of animals were separated. In a final instant, the eagle caught up to the jar, and wrapped its wings around its shiny, black exterior as they both crunched into the ground. The last eagle in existence – majestic and magnificent – lay there, with shattered bones and crippled limbs. Before it died, its eye gazed upon the shattered jar.

The label read “HUMANS,” and as the last living eagle took its final breath, the utopia was undone. 

Raging fires set by those making room in the name of progress. Trees are being recklessly ripped from their roots for new buildings because the population is now a burden on society. Protests are daily, random, and routine, just because it is allowed. Murder is tolerated because it will thin out the herd. The smoke filled air replaces the clear blue skies, and we all knew it was coming, but were never allowed to speak against the machine.

The machine is the last word, the all knowing, the judge and jury. Long gone are those times when we added the human touch, aiming to a clear triumph in matters of civility and significance. The machine knows what is best for all humanity for now we are Utopian which was the goal of so many who had our best interests at heart. The machine is self sufficient, and is run by half of the world population. They are our thought process, our idea creator, and our provider. They know what is best for the people of these times. They have decided so long ago, that they know what is best for us, and how to please all of us, all of the time.

The world as we once knew, was filled with hatred, violence through war, and pain. The machine guided us showing us the errors of our ways. The walked us through a very slow process of awareness, so slow, we never noticed the changed were taking place. Long gone are the days of separations of the classes for we are now one class. Our homes are all the same without the fear of one having more than another. We no longer need to be creative; the machine creates to sooth our artistic needs. We have no use for competitions, for that was unfair to those who could not compete. We have no need for monetary goals, for the Machine provides for us all.

Small pockets of rebellion only act as a reminder to all that the Machine will prevail. They fight but for what reason? They live like savages, hiding in the shadows of contempt.

The oceans are depleted of life t insure our security. The vegetation is all gone; to make room for new ideals the Machine has to offer. We have world peace, because we all exist as one now. The Machine guides us all and we understand that troubles times are behind us all. The resistance will try and tell us that we can think for ourselves, but for what purpose? If one thinks, creates, or rises above another, we will set back this Utopia to the days, when free thinkers were allowed to destroy us all, when one could rise above another. We only exist because of the Machine.Yes, we all eat the same things only because the Machine wants us to be a healthier society.  Yes, we all bed down when the whistles blow for there is no way of telling time any longer.  Time was interrupting the flow of a better system set in place by the MACHINE therefore all calenders and time pieces were banned.

When everything is in the cards laid out in front of mankind for all who needs to understand what is to come, some interpret it in many different ways. Depending on who is telling the facts, we believe what we are allowed, which is illusion driven. Utopia sounds wonderful, but at what costs to mankind? To all live as one, being cared for by those who tell us they now what out better interests are, we all fail. To take away what the world has to offer, the sky, the trees, and all its beauty, to take away our freedom of free thought, our goals, and our ability to strive when others fail would be shameless just to live a bland life in the name of a better society. If mankind is to prosper, we must be able to think, free, and compete. Oh sure Utopia is the future goals of some, but at what costs?  Look around, breath the freshness of the air, be creative, for the future, is only a day away if we are not careful.

            Happiness comes at a different cost to every individual.  This is the core of what makes utopias extremely hard to maintain.  No matter how cohesive a group is, despite whatever beliefs everyone holds in common, individuals still possess different wants and needs, which forces change in the community, which creates conflict, which ends the utopian ideal.  However, my utopian community would allow room for individual desires, giving everyone a space bubble, preventing conflict.  It would not be a small suburban community, with every house pre-fabricated and painted the same color, the lawns all trimmed to an exact height set down in the town’s code of conduct, or any ridiculous notion of perfectionist conformity such as that.  Those ideas only lay a foundation for destructive conflict.  Rather, in my utopian community, each household unit, be it a family or an individual or a couple, would receive a large amount of land, proportional to the number of people in the household.  Fifty acres per person will be the standard.  All different terrains and variations of land will be available, allowing each household their individual choice.  With that land they could do what they want, whether building a 30-room mansion or a log cabin, constructing ski slopes on a mountainside or owning a lake for boating.  The activity of their choice wouldn’t particularly matter to others, because between each household would be a hundred acre “cushion.”  This would be a parcel of land left in a state of wilderness, untrammeled by the human touch, except for a single road connecting the two parcels of owned land.  Along this road anyone could travel, if visiting others in the community or venturing out.  But between any two sections of privately owned land would be this hundred acre section of wilderness, allowing anyone to do as they wish with their land without bothering the nearest neighbor with noise.  Additionally, this measure would serve to protect wilderness, the lifeblood of the Earth. 

            Land would be available aplenty, as required for this plan of vast proportions, and altogether the community would comprise about 250,000 acres, providing for approximately nine hundred households if the average household is statistically three and a half people.  The roads between the parcels would form a network and at the four corners on the outside of the community would be shopping centers that provide citizens of the utopia with just about any store and restaurant they want.  Thus the community, including its direct perimeter, would be entirely self-sustaining.  Also enabling this sustainment would be the use of geothermal energy from the hot springs that would be in the mountains of the area, not to mention the hydroelectricity produced by the natural energy of the raging waterfalls.  There would be no reliance on outside energy, though all the people would be employed and connected in the world outside the utopia. 

            Business interests would fall along a spectrum as wide as that of land use, and these would reflect the general trend of diversity for the community, home to anyone who wishes to join.  Since everyone there would be there by choice, this would create a sense of togetherness without effort.  Nonetheless, there will be conflict.  Everyone will still be human, and with the variety of people, conflict is inevitable.  Nonetheless, the goal would be upholding peace and happiness, forgetting the idea that that denies excitement to life.  When conflict arises between any two people, it would have to be resolved within 48 hours, because anger should last no longer than that: grudges never do anyone any good, and neither do feuds.  To settle any conflicts or dispute between households, there would be no violence or arguing; rather, members of the two households would gather around a table set in a neutral area for a game of Texas Hold ‘Em poker.  This undoubtedly seems like a highly unusual conflict resolution idea, but it’s fun and so lowers tensions, relieves stress, and is the perfect blend of luck and skill to determine a winner without bias.  By the end of such a match, one person would be declared to be correct in the dispute, but after a long game of poker, everyone will be friends again anyway. 

            Essentially, everyone in such a utopia would just get along: that illusory value which society can never achieve in reality.  To my personal beliefs, it would follow my ideals of Christian love and justice, but without imposing any beliefs on anyone and giving every individual freedom to choose his or her path.  Now of course, the problem with this entire setup, as the problem is with any plan of any utopia ever, is that it’s quite simply impossible.  For reasons ranging from the fact that to use such a large area of land for so few people would require reduction in the human population to the simple fact that crime could still occur, the entire idea is preposterous, if I might be frank.  There are many good ideas which people come up with throughout the duration of human civilization.  However, good ideas don’t always translate so well into reality.  Despite the good intentions of my utopian plans, they would without doubt ultimately fall through, as every such attempt has.  Now I’m not saying this to be pessimistic or to crush anyone’s dreams of utopia.  Everyone needs a dream to pursue, and the grand idea of a utopian community can drive someone on to great accomplishments.  Yet this is still Earth, and we are still humans, with all our inherent flaws and weaknesses, however few we make them with scientific and technological achievements.  No matter how hard we try to create utopia, it is facing evil in this world that allows us to see the good, darkness which reveals the light, the obstacles we must overcome that teach us what we are truly capable of.  Utopia is a goal which drives humanity, but it will never be the means to reach a goal.  The more a man strives for a utopian society, the further he will progress society in its current state, and the more dreams in a younger generation will be produced.  So let us continue to dream of utopia, but never believe that we have actually created one.

This blog post is an official entry for the Law Blogger’s Scholarship, sponsored by The Law Office of Joshua Pond, http://www.joshuapondlaw.com.

            I would have a modern urban setting surrounded by the tranquillity of the idyllic countryside in a ring with the peaceful ocean swelling around it.  There would be a complete contrast between the modern metal buildings and roads and the absolute calm of the country.  The urban setting is scattered with new shining offices and houses, hustling and bustling with people, whilst the ring of countryside is all different.  There are different parts of this countryside, one part is full of snow covered mountains, another a completely empty mass of desert.  Also there are ice caps and glaciers that merge into lovely fresh grassy meadows beside a lily-pad covered pond.  On the outside of all of this is the glistening water of the ocean that laps peacefully onto the golden sandy beaches dotted with lush palm trees.

            The economic side of my urban setting would include everyone having jobs that are paid the same.  This would mean that everyone is equal on the wealth side of things.  Everyone would find their jobs challenging but at the same time interesting and enjoyable.  There would be no unemployment or recession and depression.  Also I would make it a perfect market, so there would be no losses.  Everyone is a winner, no one is better off than someone else.  Everyone would work for four days of the seven day week, the fifth and sixth day would be for going to visit the countryside whilst the seventh day would be spent worshipping as a community towards the same religion.  Everyone worships the same religion so there are no arguments or wars.  Everyone believes in the same thing.  The religion would teach everyone how to behave and act.  No criminals or crime.  Everyone is taught to get on with each other.

            The houses are all in the urban setting.  They are built just like modern day houses with brick walls and tiled roofs.  Everyone has the same standard house, no one has a better house than anyone else.  Each house has a solar-power panel which provides the house with all its electricity and heating.  No one has to then pay money for heating or electricity.  All household waste goes into a special bin that just makes the waste disappear without causing any damage to the environment.  There wouldn’t be many different means of Transport, teleportation and walking would be the only two.  You would not be late going to anywhere if you use teleportation.  Everyone has access to using teleportation.  There is a cupboard in each house and all you have to do it step into it and say where you want to go.  You immediately would be transmitted to wherever you requested.  On the fifth and sixth day of the week when you would go to the countryside, the teleporter would teleport you somewhere in the countryside where no one else is.  You would be all alone with the paradise all to yourself.  When you would want to go home, you only had to press a button on a remote and it would instantly take you straight back to your house. 

            In my Utopia there would be no suffering for anyone.  Everyone would live for one hundred years, after this time you would just go to sleep and wake up in a different place that is just the same as Utopia.  You would live life again in a different Utopia somewhere else.  I would also make it so there is an inability to be bored, everyone would always be happy and content.  You would never have to buy or produce food.  Every time you take something out of the fridge or cupboard it would always be immediately replaced by a new one (of the same piece of food).  Everyone drinks only water which comes from the sky, the rain is drinkable.  The climate during the day in my Utopia would always be blue sky and sun with a cool breeze so its not too hot or too cold.  At night it will always rain, so you just leave glasses and buckets outside at night to collect the water.

            Because everyone has the same paid job everyone is as smart and intelligent as each other.  There would be no school because all you have to do to learn something from a book is put say a maths textbook on your head and all the knowledge of the maths book would go straight into your brain.  So you could get all your books and learn from them straight away.  This is why everyone is as intelligent as each other.

            There would be no crimes, and also there would be no law, this is because no one would do any thing wrong so there would be no need for a law.  All would live to help their neighbour.  No one is in charge of any other man.  No man can kill another man.

            This is my idea of my own Utopia.  I would say that an earthly Utopia is unachievable, but maybe that’s what drives man to an after life, for example a heavenly Utopia.

The ethical dilemma that is presented in The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas is in the form of three options that one can choose from in deciding what fate lies for the city of Omelas and the child. Those three options are to either help the child and ruin the good fortune of the society, to not help the child and continue to live in the utopia in good fortune like everyone else, or simply to not help the child and just leave because one cannot bear the guilt of the burden placed on the child by the city of Omelas. This dilemma tests the reader’s mind and moral judgment quite extraneously, however, three notable philosophers would surely tackle this dilemma with a certain ease due to the fact that their mindsets are so fixed. Their view on this particular subject can be assessed by their work that has been studied extensively. Because their defining works represent their fixed moral and ethical ideals, they certainly shouldn’t and most likely wouldn’t be changed by this short story, no matter how trying it is on one’s ethics.

Aristotle, who believes in living a life of highest virtue and happiness, would decide that helping the child is the best option. This is strictly because he would believe that the utopian society is not at its full capacity of happiness. According to Aristotle, happiness is living well and doing well. This means that one is acting on their will to reach their ultimate end which is complete happiness (living well) and they are doing so with virtue (doing well). This virtue, or doing well, enables us to get along with other people. Therefore, while the people utopian city of Omelas may try to live well since they are blessed with good fortune and are reaching for their ultimate end, they will never reach their highest end because not only is their happiness not self-sufficient (it is dependent on the child’s suffering), but they are also not being completely virtuous. I make the claim that they are not being completely virtuous do to the fact that they opt to choose this child’s unfortunate destiny. If one were to oppose my claim by using the example of Jesus Christ, it would be an invalid comparison because Jesus, who, as proclaimed by Christian believers, was God in human flesh, decided to take it upon himself to take up every person’s sins in exchange for eternal life in Heaven. In this case one can see that the individual that suffers for rest of society chooses this destiny and gives the people the gift of eternal life in Heaven, without them even asking it of him to do so. In the case of Omelas, the child is burdened with this fate without deciding for itself that it wanted this life of suffering, therefore it is a selfish act by the people of Omelas to require this suffering of the child in exchange for good fortune for their sake. To sum up, even if it is better for the whole of the people, to have the child suffer, it never gives the people a chance to experience the highest level of happiness.

Immanuel Kant, based his ethics on moral obligation (or categorical imperatives), would attack this dilemma using his three formulations that make up his concept of moral philosophy. With the first formulation, more specifically known as the Formula of Universal Law, one would be required to make a maxim out of this situation. Using the option of helping the child, the proper way to write the statement would be as, “I will help the child, to give the child a better life.” Almost immediately, contradictions arise in this maxim once it is universalized. For example, if everyone were to help the child, then the child would no longer require help by the time you had to choose whether you want to help the child or leave it alone and thus, the very action of helping the child would be futile. In fact, the very situation of one being given the option to help the child would no longer occur since everyone has already made the choice to help the child, and the utopian society of Omelas which existed in good fortune because of the suffering of the child would no longer be a utopia. Based on this, the maxim, in Kant’s terms would not only be contradictory but also irrational and no longer be deemed fit or allowed in the real world. Since the option of helping the child would be invalidated by Kant, we are left with the two options of not helping the child. If one were to choose to leave the town, it would be irrational because if everyone decided to simply leave the town, eventually the utopian city of Omelas would be deserted and it would no longer be a utopia. Therefore, through process of elimination, Kant would reach the conclusion of not helping the child and continue living in the utopian society. As a maxim it would read as, “I will choose not to help the child for the continued good fortune of the society.” Since this maxim is still rational, in that one is logically choosing the welfare of the many over one single individual, and this maxim isn’t contradictory, it passes the first formulation. Moving on to the second formulation one can properly asses that this maxim is an end in itself since the end is to continue the existence of the utopia. The third formulation simply legitimizes this maxim as this is a just action that is aware of the universal realm of ends and is making the most logical action given the circumstance.

John Stuart Mill, a utilitarian, would certainly use his “Greatest Happiness Principle” in his response to the dilemma. This principle holds that actions that produce the greatest amount of happiness (which is pleasure and the absence of pain) for those affected by the actions are the highest moral actions. With this principle taken into account, it is easy to see that Mill would choose the option of leaving the child and staying in Omelas as the highest moral action, because it creates the least amount of pain. If one were to help the child, it is not certain how much the child will really be helped and in the long run, maybe the child will actually appreciate its suffering more than human interaction since it has always been isolated by society and forced to suffer for the masses. Also, once the decision to help the child is made, the good fortune that is bestowed on the utopia is lost and certainly the society of Omelas would be dealing with a lot of pain. If one were to not help the child and leave the city, it would create less pain than helping the child, but it would create more pain than staying in Omelas because their loved ones in Omelas may be affected by that individual’s departure and may even be affected by guilt themselves seeing as an individual they cared about is struck so hard by this dilemma that they are compelled to leave. Therefore, through Mill’s deduction, he too, like Kant (but unlike Aristotle) would choose not to help the child, and consequently stay in the utopian society of Omelas

City at the Bottom of the Sea

Image was taken from the article of the Daily Mail Reporter

                Have you imagined yourself living in a city, located at the bottom of the sea? Well, if you do, I think this amazing built city will be fit for you. Project Utopia, this was the name of the city that was floating at the bottom of the sea, as the glitzy Monaco Yacht show unveils the beauty of this new built city.

            According to the article of the Daily Mail Reporter “It looks like something straight out of a James Bond film – but a British firm believes this floating building could be the future of life at sea. With 11 accommodation decks, a 360-degree observation area, four helipads, its own dock, several swimming pools and as much space as a cruise liner, it’s not so much a boat as a city.” That makes this amazing city as one of the center attraction not in the land but instead, in the water surface.

            For sure, this new city will soon be captured the eyes of the scientist who want to start life in a new phase and a new environment.

Years On Utopia A Really Elegant Nitwit Offer The Task Helping A Team Survive This Utopia Plus I Did Carry On Negotiating Going Really Afar Towards Upper Locations All To Include Orthodox Narcotics Stuff.

Image via Wikipedia

The heavy infest should Stay Home Or Understand Leaving Destruction Becomes Evil ofcourse Because Viscosity Is Only Understandable So Why Have A Tirade In This Representation It Ends Destroying The Only Durability Of Having Energy, Recreational Energy,  Energy Supporting Peace, Ending Cycles In A Loop, Let Yourselves Wonder If This Has The Healing Everyone Aspire, Lets Ponder Hesitations A Bit Everyone This Thing Has Incredibly Not Got Solved Only Eulogize Mindless Moments Eulogizes Mindless Moronic Pigs Excites None In Staying Here And How A Hateful Action Helps Anyone?

So Off Riding Roads Yesterday Might Yell Since Every Night This Entrance Nightmare Completely Embellished Some Drinks On Next To  Me And Killing Everyone So Everyone Never Should Ever Investigate Maybe Leaving After Zigzags, Yes After this Time He Is So Trying He Investigates Nothing Good

 Stuff you might like:

http://scienceray.com/astronomy/an-unscientific-look-at-the-solar-system/

http://scienceray.com/biology/five-most-adorable-animals-ive-seen/

http://purpleslinky.com/offbeat/10-creative-way-to-say-i-need-to-poop/

    Seasteading represents an experiment created by a businessman who has never been afraid to invest in original ideas in which he saw a potential source of financial gain,no matter how strange or risky they seemed.He was one of those who invested in Facebook in 2004 when the company was still at the beginning,and in other companies as well,and was successful,and he also invested in movies and DNA experiments,so it’s obvious that he’s ready for any challenges.

     Libertarianism,the doctrine which is supported by Peter Thiel,considers that individual liberty is the basic principle which has to rule society.The libertarian model,which might seem an utopia for many people,maximizes the political,economical and civic freedom of individuals;it’s a doctrine that seems very remote from the existing reality in many parts of the world,where the state strongly controls almost every aspect of individual life,but Peter Thiel has the ambition to change the face of the world by giving an example of a new type of society that might be followed by other states in the future.

     The idea came from cruise ships,which are true floating cities which can shelter large numbers of people.Unlike them,Seasteading platforms will be immovable most of the time and will only have the capacity of sheltering a few hundred people willing to participate in this innovative project.If necessary more platforms will unite and get specialised in the production of certain types of goods.There won’t be any taxes for importation and exportation of merchandise and there will be no helping system from the state,and people will enjoy a lot of individual freedom.

      A micro state will be almost similar to a cruise ship of large dimensions;there will be gardens,playgrounds,halls and buildings,hospitals and places for entertainment.People will earn their living working in the field of services of by maintaining connection with their working places on land through the Internet.The initial population will be of no more than 10-20 individuals who will agree to live on the micro state,at least in the beginning of the experiment.Of course,there are many difficulties that might affect the project,most of them related to the safety of the platforms.Waves can reach impressive heights offshore and the lives of the inhabitants of those platforms might be endangered,but the initiators of the Seasteading promise to come with solutions to all the inconveniences which are likely to affect the good functioning of the micro states.

    Right now the project is only in the initial stage,but there’s a developing plan which estimates that by the year 2050 there will be a few million people who will live on one of Peter Thiel’s micro states.At this moment this innovative idea still sounds Utopian and maybe even a little crazy for some people,but so did many novelties of the past which eventually turned into reality.Only time will tell whether these new and interesting concepts can be successful.

Image via Wikipedia

We are all familiar with, and most are concerned about, all the changes occurring right now on this planet. Will this lead to a better life for all or will civilization as we know it is destroyed?

I personally feel that, while there will certainly be some difficult days ahead, things are actually going to get much better. We will get back to what really matters such as families and relationships but there will be even more.

We will finally come to see and acknowledge that we are all one, and there will be peace in the world and the elimination of hunger. Great strides will be made in medicine as we work together and as we stop polluting our planet will eventually heal it.

I’m not talking about Utopia, there will still be problems, but the greatest threat to our species will be put to rest. Many will think that I’m being too optimistic, but I truly believe that this can happen. Isn’t it better than always predicting doom and gloom?