Fernando Alcoforado*
This article aims to present what to do to make planetary utopias come true, aiming at building a better world and that its opposite, planetary dystopias, are eliminated. Utopia and dystopia are two concepts that encourage discussion about the future. Utopia can be understood as the idea of an ideal, imaginary, perfect society and, therefore, supposedly unattainable. The word utopia was created from the Greek terms “u” (a prefix used with a negative connotation) and “topos” (place), meaning “no place” or “place that does not exist”. The term utopia appeared for the first time in the work “Utopia” by the English writer Thomas Morus, around 1516. In his work, Morus criticizes the real society in which he lives and proposes an island idealized by him where society would abolish private property, religious intolerance and everyone would live happily in a just and egalitarian environment. Dystopia is generally characterized as a place where one lives under conditions of extreme oppression, despair, or deprivation. The word dystopia or anti-utopia, the antithesis of utopia, presents a negative vision of the future, generally characterized by totalitarianism, authoritarianism and the oppressive control of society.
In dystopia, passing or going to a better world is not possible. On the contrary, the negative features of reality are reinforced. By reinforcing the negative characteristics of the world, dystopian literary works are critical or satire, serving as a warning to humanity, starting from a pessimistic discourse. In works of fiction, authors portray the future in a negative light with the catastrophic evolution of society that is opposed to utopian. A very famous example of dystopia is the work Admirável Mundo Novo (Brave New World) (1932), by Aldous Huxley. This work narrates a hypothetical future where individuals are biologically preconditioned and live in a society organized by castes. Another dystopian classic is “1984”, by British author George Orwell. Published in 1949, the work portrays the daily life of a totalitarian and repressive political regime.
Human history is full of examples of utopias and dystopias. Excellent examples of utopia concern the Enlightenment, Marxism and Modernity. With the Enlightenment, it was expected that society would evolve towards tolerance, humanism and respect for nature and the right to freedom and equality among men would be affirmed. It should be noted that the purpose of the Enlightenment was to correct society’s inequalities and guarantee the rights considered natural to the individual, such as freedom and the free possession of goods. Enlightenment humanism of the 18th century already proposed that human beings and their dignity were the center and fundamental value of all sciences, thus also imposing that they should be the maximum concern of every legal order, of every legal system.
The Enlightenment provided the motto of the French Revolution (Liberty, Equality and Fraternity) and fertilized it as its followers opposed injustices, religious intolerance and the privileges of absolutism. However, since the French Revolution until the present moment, the political promises of the Enlightenment have been abandoned all over the world with the adoption of increasingly sophisticated inhumane practices by governments and imperialists policies by the great capitalist powers, the outbreak of 3 world wars (World War 1, World War 2 and the Cold War), the advent of fascism and Nazism, the carrying out of military interventions and the carrying out of coups d’état in several countries of the world, as well as the escalation of neo-fascism in the contemporary era in the United States, Europe and also in Brazil.
The political theses of the Enlightenment had failed since the English Revolution (1640), the American Revolution (1776) and the French Revolution (1789). This failure paved the way for the advent of Marxist ideology in the 19th century throughout the world, which proposed to take a step forward in relation to the Enlightenment, seeking to end the exploitation of man by man with the reduction of economic inequalities between social classes and, in the future, its complete abolition. The facts of history demonstrate that the Enlightenment theses that guided the bourgeois revolutions in the 18th century and the Marxist theses based on which the socialist revolutions were carried out in the 20th century failed because they did not fulfill their historical promises of conquering human happiness.
As an example of the failure of the Enlightenment and its promises, one can consider the failure of liberal capitalism not only in the political-institutional field, but also in the field of the economy which, driven by the free market, was responsible for the occurrence of two great economic depressions in the world capitalist system in 1873 and 1929, the rise of colonialism and imperialism in all corners of the Earth, the advance of Nazi-fascism and the advent of two world wars (1914-1918 and 1939-1945) and the Cold War (1945-1989), which confronted the United States and the Soviet Union, and the new Cold War that confront the United States against Russia and China, as well as the rise of neoliberal capitalism which, in the contemporary era of economic and financial globalization, was responsible for the world crisis of 2008 and gave birth to modern totalitarianism which, embracing the entire planet, imposes the neoliberal ideology it occupies at the same time all space and all sectors of life and represses in every way the will to transform man and the world.
As an example of the failure of Marxism and its promises, one can consider the failure to build socialism in the Soviet Union and in the countries of Eastern Europe, in China, in Cuba, etc. which demonstrate that the old socialist project is no longer viable and a new project of a democratic socialist society will have to be elaborated and built. It should be noted that the utopia based on the old socialist project as it was built in the Soviet Union and in other countries became its opposite, in dystopia, in state capitalism, with political power exercised in a despotic way by a new type of bourgeoisie (state bourgeoisie or Nomenclature). The proletariat, on behalf of which the socialist revolution was carried out in several countries of the world, did not exercise power and the population did not and does not participate in the decisions of socialist governments. Real socialism ended in most of the countries where it was implemented and there was no popular reaction to fight in its defense and maintain it, which demonstrates the immense frustration of the people for not meeting their expectations.
Like the Enlightenment and Marxism, Modernity also failed to fulfill its promises. Modernity was born with the 1st Industrial Revolution in England. Since the 1st Industrial Revolution, science and technology have acquired a fundamental importance for human progress, through continuous technological innovations. With Modernity, an attempt was made to use the accumulation of knowledge generated in search of human emancipation and the enrichment of daily life. Modernity is identified with the belief in progress and the ideals of the Enlightenment. With Modernity, it was expected that society would reach the utopia of uninterrupted progress for the benefit of humanity thanks to the development of science and technology. The evolution of Modernity was marked by events that negatively marked society from the 20th century onwards. The main one was undoubtedly the catastrophes of the 1st and 2nd World War. In fact, science and technology contributed to the barbarism of two world wars with the invention of powerful and destructive weapons. Science and technology began to be used on an unprecedented scale for both good and evil. Add to all this the fact that science has lost its value because of disillusionment with the benefits that technology has brought to humanity.
All this scientific and technological development has culminated in the current era with a worldwide ecological crisis that may result in catastrophic global climate change that may threaten the survival of humanity. In this sense, one can doubt the real benefits brought by scientific and technological progress with the advent of Modernity. Everything just described highlights the prevalence of dystopia over utopia in human history. An example of dystopia is presented in the work The End of progress – How modern economics has failed us, published by John Wiley & Sons in 2011. Graeme Maxton claims that humanity is moving backwards. Humanity is destroying more than building. Each year, the world economy grows by approximately $1.5 trillion. However, each year, humanity devastates the planet at a cost of $4.5 trillion. Humanity is moving in the opposite direction, generating losses greater than the wealth it creates. Maxton claims that humanity has experienced rapid economic growth, but has also created an unstable world. According to Maxton, in many countries, for the first time in centuries, we are facing a drop in life expectancy and the prospect of declining food production and water supply, as well as the depletion of natural resources such as oil.
Another example of dystopia is presented in John Casti’s work O Colapso de Tudo – Os Eventos Extremos que Podem Destruir a Civilização a Qualquer Momento (The Collapse of Everything – The Extreme Events That Could Destroy Civilization at Any Moment) (Rio: Editora Intrínseca Ltda., 2012). In his work, John Casti argues that our society is becoming so interconnected and complex that collapse is almost inevitable. Casti outlined the scenarios of a widespread and lasting internet outage, the depletion of the global food supply system, a continental electromagnetic pulse that destroys all electronic devices, the collapse of globalization, the destruction of Earth by the creation of exotic particles, the destabilization of the nuclear situation, the end of the global oil supply, a global pandemic, the lack of electricity and clean water, intelligent robots that overwhelm humanity and global deflation and the collapse of world financial markets. Edgar Morin also presents an example of dystopia in his book Vers l’abîme? (Towards the abyss?) (Paris: Cahiers de L’Herne, 2007). Edgar Morin considers the inevitability of the disaster that threatens humanity in which, according to him, the improbable becomes possible. The title of the book, in the form of a question mark, deals with the certainty of the abyss. Will mankind avoid this disaster or start over from the disaster? Does the world crisis that opens up and amplifies itself lead to disaster or to overcoming? Edgar Morin proves that the world crisis has worsened and the dominant political thought is incapable of formulating a policy of civilization and humanity. The world is at the beginning of chaos, and the only prospect is a metamorphosis, with the emergence of forces of transformation and regeneration.
Morin states that Modernity created three myths: that of controlling the Universe, that of progress and the conquest of happiness. The enormous development of science, technology, economy, capitalism, has increased invention in an unprecedented way, but also the capacity for destruction. The reason inherited from the Enlightenment imposed the idea of a fully intelligible Universe. Scientific and technical progress has allowed human emancipation as always, but collective death has also become possible as never before. Technological, scientific, medical and social progress manifests itself in the form of destruction of the biosphere, cultural destruction, creation of new inequalities and new servitudes. Morin defends the thesis that world society is not civilized, on the contrary, it is barbaric. Morin asserts that we are facing the collapse of the Enlightenment and its promises.
What has just been described highlights the imperative need for utopias aimed at building a better world to be realized in all corners of the Earth. There are 12 utopias aimed at building a better world, which contribute to the achievement of collective and individual human happiness: 1) The achievement of world peace to eliminate the dystopia of wars in the world and, above all, to avoid the outbreak of the 3rd World War; 2) The construction of democracy in all countries of the world to eliminate the dystopia represented by dictatorships; 3) The prevalence of civilization values in society to eliminate the dystopia represented by barbarism; 4) The construction of democratic socialism in all countries to eliminate the dystopia of wild capitalism dominant in the world; 5) The construction of the social welfare state in all countries of the world to eliminate the growing global economic and social inequalities; 6) The rational use of natural resources in the world to end the devastation of nature; 7) Economic planning in each country and globally to eliminate economic and social chaos at the national and global levels; 8 ) The construction of green and smart cities in all countries to eliminate the dystopia represented by increasingly degraded cities in the vast majority of countries in the world; 9) The use of science and technology for the good of humanity, ending the dystopia represented by science and technology used to produce evil for humanity; 10) The conquest of the immortality of human beings to eliminate the dystopia represented by the inevitability of the death of human beings; 11) The conquest of humanity’s survival in the face of dystopia represented by the threats to its extinction caused by the forces of nature existing on planet Earth and coming from space; and, 12) The conquest of human happiness, individually and collectively, with the success achieved in achieving the 11 previous utopias.
Each of these 12 planetary utopias and their respective dystopias will be the object of detailed analysis in the next articles to be published.
* Fernando Alcoforado, awarded the medal of Engineering Merit of the CONFEA / CREA System, member of the Bahia Academy of Education, of the SBPC- Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science and of IPB- Polytechnic Institute of Bahia, engineer and doctor in Territorial Planning and Regional Development from the University of Barcelona, college professor (Engineering, Economy and Administration) and consultant in the areas of strategic planning, business planning, regional planning, urban planning and energy systems, was Advisor to the Vice President of Engineering and Technology at LIGHT S.A. Electric power distribution company from Rio de Janeiro, Strategic Planning Coordinator of CEPED- Bahia Research and Development Center, Undersecretary of Energy of the State of Bahia, Secretary of Planning of Salvador, is the author of the books Globalização (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC- O Brasil e a Nova (Des)ordem Mundial (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1998), Um Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2000), Os condicionantes do desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado. Universidade de Barcelona,http://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globalização e Desenvolvimento (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento do Século XVI ao Século XX e Objetivos Estratégicos na Era Contemporânea (EGBA, Salvador, 2008), The Necessary Conditions of the Economic and Social Development- The Case of the State of Bahia (VDM Verlag Dr. Müller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG, Saarbrücken, Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e Catástrofe Planetária (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2010), Amazônia Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e combate ao aquecimento global (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2011), Os Fatores Condicionantes do Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2012), Energia no Mundo e no Brasil- Energia e Mudança Climática Catastrófica no Século XXI (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2015), As Grandes Revoluções Científicas, Econômicas e Sociais que Mudaram o Mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2016), A Invenção de um novo Brasil (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2017), Esquerda x Direita e a sua convergência (Associação Baiana de Imprensa, Salvador, 2018), Como inventar o futuro para mudar o mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2019), A humanidade ameaçada e as estratégias para sua sobrevivência (Editora Dialética, São Paulo, 2021), A escalada da ciência e da tecnologia e sua contribuição ao progresso e à sobrevivência da humanidade (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2022), a chapter in the book Flood Handbook (CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida United States, 2022) and How to protect human beings from threats to their existence and avoid the extinction of humanity (Generis Publishing, Europe, Republic of Moldova, Chișinău, 2023).
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