Analysing Tomas More's 'Utopia', further research into utopias and how I imagine a utopia can work (20/4/2013)

Analysing Tomas More's 'Utopia':

Since I have been learning about many different utopias within this module I deciding to do some further research into Tomas More's ideals of a utopia which he wrote about in a book under the same name and published in 1516.  

Originally I loved the idea of multiple islands that elected leaders to represent each one as that made each one of the outer islands independent whilst allowing for the middle one to make the big decisions that could have an affect on all of them. However, my research has revealed that the utopia was in fact only one island with multiple cities (54 in number) surrounding a main city. This is a shame, as even though this still works I personally felt that having people live separately from one another would help each island to live in harmony and keep their ideals because of the phyical distance between each one. I imagined this would prevent them from being swayed or contracted by the other islands' ways of living. Also thus allowing numerous beliefs to exist without one definite yes or no approach to things. Instead, now it appears that More's ideas were for separate cities, this doesn't present any fresh ideas in my view.

Although I was a fan of the original location and setting for More's utopia, I do not accept that some of the standards for this utopia are utopian e.g. that every household were to be allowed two slaves and the women had to confess their sins to their husbands and could themselves be enslaved if they were ever unfaithful to them.

Things such as private ownership also seems not to exist in this setting which is interesting as the citizens merely ask for what they need at store houses. This reminds me in a way of Star Trek as the Federation allows its citizens free access to food in a similar way and therefore may have taken that idea from Tomas More's book. Free healthcare also seems to exist in More's utopia (Interestingly the NHS was introduced in England in 1948) and wealth is quickly taught at a young age to be worthless since gold is used for the chains worn by criminals in order to make it look less appealing. Children are even given jewels to wear that they then get rid of when they reach maturity.   

Multiple religions also seem to feature and are tolerated which is interesting considering the wars that have been raged in the name of religion since. This is especially fascinating considering when the book was written as there was then considerable conflict between Catholics and Protestants. 

Looking over the ideals of the island I find myself more and more interested in them and can see it working if it were to resurface, even if I do understand that even the best intentions (especially for utopias) can fall apart easily. Now obviously the idea of the cities electing people to represent them is a direct parallel to our modern government in the UK and how we elect officials to represent us. However, I feel the utopian idea works better as it isn't the ideas of multiple political parties trying to gain control, instead it's the individuals elected because they appear to want what is best for their city and it is through discussions in the central capital city that allow everyone to thrive. However, I personally feel that the idea would work better if it were with the islands as explained above. If the meeting area wasn't a central city, but rather a convenient central location of importance and significance then all the cities would feel equal and still respect the overall decisions made by the chosen representatives wherever they made them.   

To change More's utopia to modern day such things as slavery would have to be illegal and women's rights would need to exist so as to fit into modern widely accepted ideals, but this is of course would be for the better. Otherwise, if one citizen is not equal to another then how can the ideals of a utopia exist (e.g. peaceful and working with one another in order to benefit everyone's needs and maintain the sustainability of their chosen lives)?

Further research into utopias:

I also decided to do some further research into utopias and found an interesting fictional example that no one else in my group spoke of, Neverland from Peter Pan which was written by J.M Barrie. Sure it has pirates, but if you think about it its a world of magic and puts forward the idea of never aging. Therefore, it is pure escapism for the children who can travel there since they are more open to those ideas and beliefs. Many children at such a young age are innocent and therefore this makes for an interesting example as the children can play games and do whatever they want forever. However, this also stops the children from growing up and without responsible older role models, or more importantly loving parents, I find it hard to see this kind of utopia working forever as all I can imagine happening is the events seen in the Lord of the Flies by William Golding in which the children turn on one another and become 'savages'.

How I imagine a utopia can work (The Sim Project):

Overall I feel strongly that the islands would have made for a great utopian setting if done correctly, however I also feel that they is only one true way of creating a utopia. I believe the only way to make a utopia work is through a controlled environment. If you think about it, both our nature and nurture are represented by our upbringing and as a result our personalities. Therefore in order to co-exist in a world where everyone's ideals are the same and people do not just fight one another I believe that everyone's free will would have to be altered/controlled in some way or another. Yes, this means that the people living there wouldn't have a true sense of freedom which is horrible, but you would make them think it was their ideal life style and therefore stimulate bliss through ignorance. Granted everyone has their own opinions on what a utopia should be, but if you based it on the original ideals of peace and tranquility then perhaps it would work. You could even make the controlling more natural through having the right body chemicals released/stimulated in order to deter the citizens of the utopia from fighting one another or thinking purely selfishly, thus avoiding the common problem of utopia's greed. As for the role of leader which can be corrupted you could give control to machines which  each monitor the citizens and control the environment around them in order to continue the utopia's permanent goal of peace. If this was the case then I feel humans could still live their everyday lives as they could still watch TV, go out to places and socialise to an extent that doesn't threaten themselves, others or the utopia itself. Similar to Asimovs's 'Three Laws of Robotics' that are considered in science fiction, which could perhaps be edited to accommodate humans and a utopian setting as I have done so below.

1. A human may not injure another human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A human must obey the orders given to it by the machines, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A human must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

This could also be done in a way similar to the mechanics seen in the game 'The Sims' as each Sim has bars representing their needs. Therefore the machines could monitor a human's 'bars' as it were and make sure they are happy whilst not being just a couch potato. After all, too much of anything isn't good for anyone.

I understand that the thoughts above are rather extreme and that overall it sounds as if I'm suggesting humans all become Sims and be controlled by the machines instead of the usual other way round. But, I feel that this would sadly be one of the only ways of creating a utopia without full dictatorship or human control. At least this option would still allow a human to be mostly what they were and if managed correctly could still allow a human to live alone, a feature that is harder to pull off in the actual Sims game due to the game's programming.   

Harvard Referencing:

I used the following websites in order to help my research.

• Frost, J. (2010) Neverland [Online image]. Available at: http://thedisneyblog.com/2010/11/14/michael-jacksons-unbuilt-neverland-theme-park/ (Accessed: 20/4/2013).
• Ortelius. (1595) Vtopiae Map [Online image]. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Utopia.ortelius.jpg (Accessed: 20/4/2013).
• Unknown. (2009) Why can't Utopian societies work? - Yahoo Answers. Available at: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090710103840AAh33Ee (Accessed on: 20/4/2013).
• Unknown. (2010) 'The Sims 3' Screen shot [Online image]. Available at: http://thelifeyouwant.wordpress.com/tag/thesims/ (Accessed: 20/4/2013). 
• Unknown. (2011) "In a Perfect World"-Utopia - Mibba. Available at: http://www.mibba.com/Articles/people/3539/in-a-perfect-world-utopia/ (Accessed on: 20/4/2013). 
• Unknown. (Unknown) Utopia (book) - Wikipedia. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia_%28book%29 (Accessed on: 20/4/2013).
• Unknown. (Unknown) Neverland - Wikipedia. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverland (Accessed on: 20/4/2013).
• Unknown. (Unknown) National Health Service - Wikipedia. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Health_Service (Accessed on: 20/4/2013).