Learn from her errors: her story is published herewith as a caution to all citizens. Had she
sought help when she showed the signs of early madness, the uncontrolled brooding, the first small
crimes, society would have been spared much labor, And much pain.
Learn from her errors: all her mad rebellion bought was that pain.
Learn from her errors: in the design of the social contracts, in our agreement to them, are the
tools to keep us all on a calm and healthy path. Society is perfectable: it is a simple matter of
codifying it to meet every human need.
This just leaves both my egomaniacal side and my terminal value of liberty whimpering, and deciding to override everything else. I reflected on it calmly for a few minutes and came to the conclusion that I’d likely be driven to murder-suicide if implanted there in my current state.
it doesn’t (at least for me) give a feeling for why people might like living there
It’s an interesting story, but not for the way it addresses utopia—it doesn’t (at least for me) give a feeling for why people might like living there. Instead, it’s presented as scary authoritarianism.
What I like about it is the way it undercuts “ignore all barriers” romanticism.
It might relate to a notion I’ve been playing with—that one of the reasons people like systems with a lot of punishment is that they’re afraid that effective methods of getting people to do what you want are too controlling. They want to leave room for rebellion.
On that note… have you ever read the short story “A Defense of the Social Contracts” by Martha Soukup?
This just leaves both my egomaniacal side and my terminal value of liberty whimpering, and deciding to override everything else. I reflected on it calmly for a few minutes and came to the conclusion that I’d likely be driven to murder-suicide if implanted there in my current state.
Aren’t you, errr, understating?
I’ve read it now.
It’s an interesting story, but not for the way it addresses utopia—it doesn’t (at least for me) give a feeling for why people might like living there. Instead, it’s presented as scary authoritarianism.
What I like about it is the way it undercuts “ignore all barriers” romanticism.
It might relate to a notion I’ve been playing with—that one of the reasons people like systems with a lot of punishment is that they’re afraid that effective methods of getting people to do what you want are too controlling. They want to leave room for rebellion.