Building a plausible utopia p2: Technological achievement

A big part of the plausibility of a utopia, for me, were the systems of governance and resource distribution. Speculative fiction is more meaningful to me when I can see our own world within that fiction.

But, as I have previously argued, 140 years is actually a very, very long time. Smartphones came into being only in 2011 after all, a mere 20 years after personal computers even started to become common. Given that pace, the technological advancement which we may play with can be almost-magic, as we see with relativistic speed ships, nanite bandages, and personal use drones.*

There is a danger, when utilizing sci-fi technology, to accidentally lose what for me is the soul of a speculative utopia. That is, the world we create is completely disconnected from the world we live in by virtue of the powers of its technology. For example, while I love Star Trek, the utopian society is built on, functionally, infinite wealth machines (replicators). The government structure and bureaucracy of Starfleet is largely uninteresting, and serves mainly as a stand in for the flaws of today (in other words, their purpose is to get in Picard’s way most of the time). This serves the plot of the show just fine, as it is primarily a character drama. However, even the show begins to walk back on their abilities when larger-scale war or economics comes into play (e.g. the introduction of non-replicable goods, the implication that replicated food is worse, the introduction of replication production bottlenecks during DS9). This is because, while they may work just fine when exploration is the focus, infinite resource machines are not interesting to think about.

And so when I created the setting of First Contact, I wanted a world where the concerns of now are still mirrored to some extent. Relative to today, resources are abundant, and life convenient. But the machines are just larger, more efficient versions of what we have today. People still need space to live, logistics on large scales still isn’t trivial, and resources are, to some extent, constrained. Jane still needs to check the medical cabinets and replace them every now and then.

Because there are challenges, forming that into something better is fun! We can have policy debates! Bureaucratic efficiencies! Economic planning! And when a colossal challenge comes in the refugee crisis, the government I imagine gets to really flex its bureaucratic muscles. We see the ridiculous logistics of moving people in action, which is all the more impressive because it is still difficult.

The utopia is built on a combination of human ingenuity / societal progress and technology. Technology is a tool and a method. But ultimately the sentients of the setting need to take hold of it to make something better.

*I admit the inertial dampeners are more “magic” than the rest of the technology, but drone fighters (which would have been required if human pilots just couldn’t keep up) would have been lame as hell.