Is Utopia Possible?

Recently, a Twitter acquaintance posted a link to a blog post with a rather nihilistic take on responses to climate change.  It essentially claimed that solutions from capitalists, socialists, communists, liberals, individualists, radicals, and Malthusians were all useless; implying we have to throw away all preexisting ideologies and start from scratch.

For such a pessimistic view on the world, the reference to Malthus was particularly ironic.  Of course, Thomas Malthus was the British economist who, in the period 1798-1830, proposed that expanding populations would quickly exhaust food supply.  Malthus wasn't wrong, exactly, he just couldn't predict technological changes that would increase food supply or reduced population growth as the middle class emerged and children stopped being economic assets.  No one can predict the future and the lesson we should take from Malthus is that no matter how bad things look now, they can turn around.  There is nothing to be gained from panicking in a fit of apocalyptic despair.

All of the different world views in the first paragraph have strengths as well as weaknesses.  It would be much more practical to accentuate the positive than to throw away everything.

Capitalism certainly has many sins to answer for but you can't deny the efficacy of small groups of independent entrepreneurs when it comes to generating ideas and launching concepts.

Socialism provides economic justice and ensures that all receive an opportunity to develop and grow as people wish.

Liberals bring a pragmatism and a passion for social justice.

Individuals can't change the world by themselves but nor will global solutions work unless individuals participate and make the necessary sacrifices.

Radicals are needed for their fresh thinking and fearlessness when it comes to challenging established norms.

As for Malthusians, Malthus was right.  Population can't grow forever.  The good news is that history shows most people choose to have smaller families; assuming children aren't economic assets and they have access to birth control.

Humans have evolved to the point where we are our own enemy.  Most of the pressing problems we face, from climate change to wars, were created by us.  As Einstein once said, "the significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them". If we are going to survive as a species (at least while we have only one planet), we're going to need to change the relationships with our world and with each other.

We need to stop viewing the planet as simply a resource, vast and relatively impervious to our actions.  We need to instead view it as a fragile web of interconnected systems.  There needs to be a system of global caps on the resources we consume, the emissions we give off and the damage we inflict.  An evidence-based scientific consensus should be developed and enforced.  Increases in average standard of living are only provided through technological advances that reduce the impact of goods and activities.  And the population needs to be stabilized.  GDP becomes a quaint, obsolete concept.

At the same time, we have to stop seeing each other as enemies, competitors, and rivals.  Instead, we are fellow travelers with a shared interest in peaceful coexistence.  Resources are shared equitably among the world's people and the products of research are freely available to all.  Quality healthcare and education are freely available to all.

How do we get there?  Honestly, I don't know.  I only know that we must find a way.  Or today's Malthus might be proven right.