Okay. So, over the last few months, a lot of you have heard me talking about what the universe ‘should’ be like. This is actually in direct violation of one of the things I’ve been trying to take some guidence from (Smart Recovery) but I feel sort of strongly that I should (there’s that word again ;-)) try to figure out what I think Utopia for Sheer looks like so I’ll have some idea when I’ve arrived, assuming I ever get there.
I don’t know if I’ve already done so or not, but I’m sure if I have, my views have changed, so I’m going to enumerate what my latest version of it looks like here.
First of all, a system of file permissions – including blocks on individual actions and grouped blocks on types of actions, which can be applied to individuals or groups. In other words, I can set it so people I don’t know can’t shoot me – or even so people I don’t know can’t communicate with me at all in any way. Or so that some particular person I do know can’t hit me. Or whatever. Protection from each other should be a natural law, like the law of gravity.
In one version of this, if you shoot me, you see me shot but I don’t see myself being shot, and our realities are divergant – tools would need to exist to help bring back togeather divergent realities. In another version – probably more practical to impliment – attempts to violate the file permissions of the universe just result in error messages.
Second of all, nearly limitless resources for all. Yes, that’s right, I think we all should be wealthy beyond our wildest dreams without needing to work for it. I think no life form should ever fear for hunger, or shelter, or physical safety. This isn’t saying that I don’t think we should be able to work, or that I don’t think there will be many worthwhile things to do. Just that I don’t think lack of will to work should result in any threat or danger to the non-worker.
Third of all, a better understanding of how to make human relationships work. I think that there should be a manual given to every child that explains what we know so far about how to live together as friends, and how to make love relationships work. Heinlien suggested in Stranger in a Strange Land that the problem is the language we are currently using isn’t well shaped to this task, and I think that’s one of many possible avenues that should be explored. I’d like to see a fair chunk of resources put into the task of writing such a book – I realize that we have more pressing concerns, like energy and war and whatnot, but I think that our lack of knowing how to be human without hurting each other costs us considerably in how far we get in achiving our other goals, and I think that a ‘work-smarter-not-harder’ approach might be to figure out human relationships and how to make them work without making us unhappy sooner rather than later.
Fourth of all, a lack of coercion. I would not want to force anyone to live in my utopia, and I’d like to think that no one would want to force me to live in theirs. It should be possible to build a universe where it’s not necessary to punish children for anything, because they can’t do anything truly dangerous and they will learn that hurting other people isn’t good on their own. Of course, it’s not like I’m raising a child so I’m really not in much of a position to talk, but I do feel like a lot of the things we do to our children are horrible. I really question whether any person – of any sort, be it diety, human, cat, etc – should have any authority over any other person.
I know I certainly keep abusing my power with my cat by picking him up and hugging him when he doesn’t want hugged. And I feel guilty about it, and I’m working on stopping, but if I abuse power – after thinking so much about how bad power is and how bad abuse of it is – who can we trust?