What are the elements of a utopian society and to what extent is it achievable?

Idea of progress

Gandhi once said that “Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress”. In this notion, we are going to discuss a kind of disagreement that can lead to progress. But above all, let’s give a quick definition of this notion: the idea of progress can be defined as an improvement, a development, a change or an advance which contributes to making the world a better place.

In order to illustrate this notion, we are especially going to focus on the question: “What are the elements of a utopian society and to what extent is it achievable?”

To answer this question, I have chosen to talk about 2 different subjects, namely: the utopian city of Auroville as well as the repercussions of being able to design your baby.

1. Auroville

Auroville, also called the city of Dawn is an experimental township in India where the residents mainly meditate and volunteer. They produce their own pottery, cotton clothes and beaded jewelry; they are a kind of square peg in a round hole.

The city aims at being a perfect world, a world of beauty, harmony, unity and truth. It’s a place there is no creed, no color, and no cast.

In class, we watched a young American’s testimony about her experience in Auroville. She’s a hippie traveler that told us about her “amazing experience” in the City of Dawn. She seemed overwhelmed and didn’t even know “how to put it into words”.

However, according to the Washington post, the city is becoming too popular for its own good, receiving too many tourists. To tackle the issue, they control the number of visitors and require a 10-day minimum stay. Moreover, “Indian domestic workers do most of the cooking and heavy cleaning while the Europeans live in comfort”. Consequently, inequalities are still widespread in this “utopian city”.

1. Genetic engineering

Over a second phase, we’re going to discuss the idea of progress through a text entitled “genetics will let parents build their baby”. Indeed, nowadays prospective parents are given to choose their children’s genes. This technique is called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). There are arguments in favor of this technique such as: deciding either you want a boy or a girl - deciding what physical traits you want for your baby - avoid diseases. On the other hand, there are also arguments against, in fact, it would change the nature of society and create a more competitive world with super smart people. There would be no more diversity and everyone would be the same. There are also ethical concerns: “It could radically change our view of parenthood, our view of our relationships to each other and what it means to be human”.

As a result, what seemed to be a great step forward is actually a very dangerous discovery for the world; it’s the proof that science has its limits by creating such a debate and by reinforcing the inequalities that already exist. Indeed, if the PGD becomes a reality it would not be accessible to everyone. Consequently, it will be a growing gap between the haves and have-nots.

To put in a nutshell, it would be impossible to create a utopian society to the extent that every good aspect hides a negative one. Indeed, we’re living in a world where, unfortunately, inequalities will always exist and there will always be people more powerful than others. That’s the reason why we could link this notion to the notion of places and forms of power.

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