2019-12-16 Level 7: Utopias

Greg Malivuk
gmalivuk@staffordhouse.com
http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - notes from all classes
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If you could change one or more laws in the US or your country to make things better, what would you change?
- no guns
- travel without a visa?
- no marijuana?
- more marijuana?
- make divorce process simpler
- make the marriage process harder/longer
- no waiting period for remarriage
- gay marriage
- get rid of “morality” laws
- don’t punish victimless “crimes”
- license to have kids
Make a list and share with the class.
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fundamental attribution error = attributing your own decisions to your special situation and circumstances, while attributing other people’s decisions to their overall character and personality
	(“I did it for many specific reasons that make it justified. You did it because you’re lazy.”)
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BREAK
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If something should require a license or permit, who gets to decide who receives it?
How can we make sure that those decisionmakers are doing it fairly?
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Some people shouldn’t have kids. Some people shouldn’t have guns. Some people shouldn’t be given a loan for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Who decides who is allowed to have kids or guns? Who enforces it? How do they enforce it? (What are the consequences for doing the thing without approval?) Who checks for fairness? Who enforces rules about fairness? Who checks them?
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utopia (modern sense) = a place where everything is perfect or at least as good as possible
dystopia = a place where (pretty much) everything is bad
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What are some fictional examples?
dystopias
	Hunger Games (post-apocalyptic dystopia)
	1984
	Fahrenheit 451
	Animal Farm
	Black Mirror
	Brave New World (false utopia)
utopias
	Dinotopia
	(original) Star Trek (There are wars and fights, but the main society is meant to be utopian)
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There are several types of conflict in stories, and all of them can still exist in a true utopia except man vs. society.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict_(narrative)
(Rebellion/revolution stories are generally man against society. Post-apocalyptic dystopias might be man against nature or man against society.)
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The original meaning of “utopia” was not “eu” (good) + “topia” (place), it was “ou” (not) + “topia”.
In other words, it simply meant a place that doesn’t exist. The short book by Thomas More was published in 1516.
“Concerning the best state of a commonwealth and the new island Utopia”
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p. 89 - Read the excerpts from this book. What do you think about the society described?
1 crime and punishment (Might as well complete the crime if attempting it is just as bad.)
2 religion
3 government / making laws
4 dangerous or unpleasant jobs (What happens if there are no criminals?)
5 business, economics, and money
6 foreign policy / war
What laws would you make for each of these areas if you had the power to?
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trial balloon = a tentative measure or statement made to see how a new policy would be received
epistemic crisis = an inability to even agree on the facts of reality, let alone cooperate and discuss values
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/11/16/20964281/impeachment-hearings-trump-america-epistemic-crisis