\UTOPIA BUBBLE\ - A utopia built within a distopian setting. In order to preserve its exclusivity and high standard of life, utopia bubbles sometimes revert to the oppression and exploitation of distopian people. A utopia ceases to become a bubble when its high standard of life is abundant enough to be made available to all.
One of the most powerful forces that has shaped human social evolution for thousands of years is the utopian drive. Everyone seeks to find seemingly perfect conditions in which they can thrive and live out their existence in happiness. The places in our world where obstacles inhibit or deny this drive are the places with the most brutal conflicts and intense human suffering. The headlines that often dominate our news from the Middle East attest to this reality, where some Palestinians will go so far as to blow themselves up with their enemies in the cause of restoring their people's old way of life and the freedoms now denied them.
Utopia
Utopian flying machines, France, 1890-1900 (chromo...
Jake Lloyd portrayed 9-year-old Anakin Skywalker"Utopian" and "utopianism" are words associated with impossibly idealistic, visionary reform. It may be impossible to have a perfect world but it is also impossible to keep people from trying to build one. America can be seen as one of the largest products of this evolutionary force and as the greatest, utopian bubble humanity has ever built. Behind it, we can see a past succession of lesser utopian bubbles from the British to the Roman Empire, all the way back to the lavish lives of the Emperors of China and Pharaohs of ancient Egypt.
The life span of a utopian bubble is usually short. We have yet to figure out a way to build a sustainable one that isn't exclusive or makes a profit on the misfortune of others, creating enemies and provoking attacks...