In a real dystopia, you think you're in a utopia.

Dystopia is when Internet Explorer becomes the only available browser.

Utopia is Distopia Peace is War Liberty is Slavery 1984, i guess?

So I guess then it's best to strive for midtopia?

One man's utopia, is another man's dystopia.

I would go even further. There is no difference between a utopia and a dystopia. 1. In order to have a utopia, you need a pure society. 2. In order to have a pure society, a way of enforcing that purity is required. 3. In order for society to maintain purity by force, a totalitarian state is established. 4. In order to establish a totalitarian state, all forms of opposition must be eradicated. 5. In order for opposition to be eradicated, the people must be oppressed. 6. In order for people to be content, they can't be oppressed. How can a society be perfect if it's people will inevitably end up discontent and incapable of doing anything about it?

Actually, 1984 has a happy ending, though most people skim over it. The Appendix (the bit describing INGSOC in-universe) at the end of the book that details the world is written in Standard English, and talks about INGSOC in past-tense, as if scientists from after the fact are speaking about it. This means that the superpowers eventually fell, and individuality won over. Don't believe me? Read the appendix, 1984 is an excellent book.

Birds born in a cage believe flying is a sickness

That Utopia world sounds like shit

What about Zootopia

The scariest part about dystopia is that you never realize you are in one until it’s too late to stop it

That interesting how the first utopia imagined look more like a dystopia now.

I can't believe you didn't mention that Utopia means "no place" in Greek, because I feel that would've added to the theme.

I have a communist classmate who believes that 1984 actually describes a perfect society. Yea, he's not the sharpest tool in the shed.

The ending of 1984 is ambiguous if you take into account the appendix on Newspeak, that is put at the end of the book. It talks about Newspeak in the past tense and in proper English which opens up the interpretation that the ''proles'', as they're called in the book, actually did manage to revolt against Big Brother.

I taped up posters around my high school saying “big brothers always watching, feel safe yet (my high schools name)” and was questioned for an hour by our resource officer and compared to Charles Manson and Hitler in one breath. I did this because they were putting in cameras infront of the bathrooms, and I wasn’t for that so I tried to peacefully protest and was taken down and put up for expulsion.

As soon as you mention Trump in anything, even for a slight second you know the comment section is fucked.

Video synopsis: Think of the perfect utopian world. Now think of what it would take to create and uphold it. Is it still a utopia? No. They are the same, and no one can change that.

"And the slaves wear chains of gold."

Thomas More: creates a radical idea of a new society Also Thomas More: "But no Atheists, the have some radical ideas!!"

A Utopia is not possible for us humans, because it would require us to all have the same wants, beliefs, ideas, etc. We would need a hive mind, or otherwise a total clone of just one, with a center, kind of like ants.

one man's utopia might be a other man's dystopia

I paused this video when he said spoiler alert like a year ago, and just now after finally getting and finished reading 1984 did I finish this video

2:04 "nobody owns anything" karl marx: 👀

Cody: all religious views are tolerated Me: sweet Cody: however atheist are hated Me: Shit

One mans Utopia is inherently another man's Dystopia.

4:40 1984 's last chapter' s written in English, not Newspeak, suggesting that the regime had actually been overthrown

1984’s appendix is pretty clear about how INGSOC falls after the story

"You can have peace or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both." -Robert A. Heinlein

Let's rephrase the last sentence. "Fiction can give us a look into what can be unless it's a generic young adult fic with a love triangle and a mary sue

The title of this video is just perfect, a good reference to the "Double Think" from 1984, where two radically different, radically opposed things, are the same: Freedom is Slavery, so that... A revolutionary wants to free you from slavery, but you refuse becaude *freedom is slavery* Big Brother tells you to become a slave (as if you weren't before) and you are happy because *slavery is freedom* The same logic is applied to every two contrary words, like Peace and War, Democracy and Dictatorship, Capitalism and Socialism, Bad and Good, Black and White, Wealth and Poverty, Power and Submission etc.

"A utopia is written on paper; a dystopia is when you make it real"

Love how you had the atheist wear a fedora

I've always thought that all utopias are inherently dystopian, because there's no such thing as a "perfect" anything, and the idea of chasing perfection is heavily flawed.

Gosh just let me log out of reality already, I'm too tired for this.

Like you said, "Utopia" is very very much a product of its time. Communal living where you can move freely across you living space? An anti-thesis to the earlier feudal system with peasants largely bound to their land. Same goes for the "Everyone needs to farm for two years" rule; this is means this is a class/caste less society. Same goes for everyone wearing the same clothes. This doesn't mean a totalitarian regime that makes everyone the same (that hasn't been invented yet), it means no one distinguishes himself by his clothing to be above someone else (think swords, crowns ore purple capes). Kings/princes that got elected weren't as novel in 1500 as you might think, although the voting members were high aristocracy in the middle ages. Although many guild and free-cities, especially Hanse cities, had limited forms of democracy as well - Thomas More just thought that idea to its very end. Inclusion of slavery seems to me a neo-classical approach - The renaissance thought highly of the Ancients, after all. End in case of criminals better than capital punishment such as hacking off body parts or public execution which were favored at the time, at least for the common masses. Public storage facilities instead of private ownership is a message that the government is incredibly efficient and takes care of its citizens. The first central governments in Egypt and Mesopotania came into being to make grain storage and food distribution better. Same goes for the first written systems. Same goes for having a passport, which I imagine would have been a rather novel idea - at least to issue them to everyone, not just official function holders. Atheism being evil is very common accross all cultures and religions - especially when philisophical thought and religious though were intertwined. Seperation of the two was relatively recent in Western society, and the notion is still present in the belief that atheists are unethical because they don't have a moral compass bestowed them from a higher being. All religions living freely was truly liberal at a time of Reformation and the clash of western and mid-eastern culture, altough I belive the Ottmoman advancements towards Europe came after More. The idea of not killing but detaining an enemy likely meant a different thing back than, as you would kill a peasant in war, but hold a noble for ransom. Which implies that More's Utoptians held all live as noble. Modern Dystopia/Utopia fiction is similiary a product of its time. Think mind control, humanity going to the stars, totaliarism, influence of/over the media, the ideologies and politics involved, genetic manipulation, Total War and so on.

I think that the society seen in "The Giver" is a great example of this whole utopia/dystopia argument you present

One important factor about any "dystopia" and "utopia" is that although it seems like the moment they appear means that they remain forever, this is NEVER the case. Because of human nature, even a society as dystopian as possible as 1984 will not last forever. Only two options are possible, it either gets better over time or it gets worse over time, the latter means that when it gets so bad it will collapse and "swing" in the other direction, therefore creating the entire opposite of the world we live in. A good example is Russia and the Soviet Union. When the situation in the Soviet Union got so out of hand, everything collapsed and it pretty much became a capitalist country (complete opposite of communism). (though I'm oversimplifying, obviously) When it feels that we're living at the edge of hell, it just means that there's just a little left before the whole world flips upside-down. And the opposite is true as well, when you work for a "perfect" world, it's only a matter of time before the world becomes everything opposite of your perfect world.

Utopia is just dystopia from the leader's perspective

This aged very well

I bought 1984 because of your video a while ago and I love it

what is a utopia is to one is dystopia to another

Me: For my last wish genie, I want to live in a Utopia! Genie: You said you'd free me but your wish is my command! Me: Why am I a slave!

Some of his ideas were repeated in Marx's works, not all of them.

More's Utopia? ..... Join the Army!!! Everyone lives in a bunk room with their squad and they all wear green. Equipment is locked up until needed and food is distributed in the mess hall. The privates get to do all the slave labour and the Sergeants shout at them for doing it wrong.

It has been argued that Utopia and Dystopia are not merely opposites, but rather two halves of The Human Experience. Utopian literature stimulates the intellectual part of the human brain, and much of the appeal is trying to intellectually figure out how such a society would function. While dystopian literature stimulates the emotional and visceral side. We don't need to think about how a dystopian Society functions, we simply feel and experience its horror. This may also be part of the reason why there are significantly more dystopian works of fiction than utopian. not everybody enjoys intellectually deconstructing and idea and frankly the very notion can come off as pompous. but everybody can feel and experience something on an emotional level.

Thank you for your information! I'm using this as research for my english class which was given an article about Twin Oaks (a so-called _utopian_ society in Virginia). This research will help with my Socratic Seminar group talk. This brings a lot of help for me, and I hope these details will help me in my reasoning that is partially against this concept.

It's a little disingenuous to say Karl Marx's idea were More's Utopianism + healthcare. Marx and Engels spent a lot of writing space to critique the Utopians of their past in order to build a theory of socialism that was based on a scientific analysis of history and political-economy. The best example of this is Frederick Engels own work "Socialism: Utopian and Scientific"

Big Brother is Watching you. Yes you watching this video.

*The Giver*

The Great Reset joined the Dystopia server

"Plans never survives contact with the enemy." In this case is, Utopias never survive contact with human nature.

the thing about 1984 is that it really specifies that we will never know when we are in a dystopia the dystopia will be normal to all those born after its formation

If you're able to say you live in a dystopia without being un-person'd, you're not in a dystopia.

Recommended reading: News from Nowhere, Herland. Written by people who think their societies are utopias, but anyone can see how dystopian they would be.

1:20 looks like the island of Singapore

Ah, Utopia. A wonderful DLC.

Wait, if a perfect Utopia is Dystopia, that means my greatest dreams are my worst nightmares? Mind F*ck.

The thing is, that a Utopia is a perfect representation of the perfect Dystopia. The theme of perfection that a Utopia conveys is often corrupting, or a facade to hide a darker aspect. There is no such thing as an Utopia.

In 1984, it is heavily implied that at some point after the 2050s, INGSOC collapsed. The Appendix (newspeak dictionary), states that newspeak became the primary in the 2050s, which means it was written sometime after. They also speak of INGSOC like a relic, so either the proles rose up (which is unlikely given their full indoctrination into newspeak) or Oceania finally fell due to Eurasia or East Asia gaining the upper hand. Personally I think that it was the areas that were hard to control which lead to INGSOC's downfall, as their production always seemed to be in decline, which makes it even more surprising that they managed to stay in power for so long.

You should read the book "The Giver" By Lois Lowry which is about a boy that lives in a utopia with no freedom but it turns out to be a dystopia. It is a great book!

I just wrote a research paper on Orwell's impact on politics. Couldn't have made this video a week earlier, huh Cody? Well, I've always liked your brother Zach better

I feel like this video ended 5 or 10 minutes too early :(

Helped so much ! Thank you so much

War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength

Love atheist bob's fedora lol

him: free medical care explored in socialism me: laughs in NHS

If you are in Utopia.The smallest things could make hundreds think they are living in a Dystopia.

_We._ _Brave New World._ _Nineteen-Eighty Four._ (Forgot to mention _The Iron Heel_ !) True classics, right here. Each of them have the same dystopian-like society, but have different means of bringing it about and keeping it.

Utopia has a double meaning. It's means a perfect world & a world that doesn't exist.

Finally someone put my thoughts into words! Thank you!!

It would be cool to see a series where people explain what happened, to prevent certain dystopian timelines.

What if the Titanic survived its maiden voyage?

Fucking exactly. Proves there's no such thing as utopia.

Hi there - I'm a secondary English teacher and I use this video in class every year when introducing the genre of dystopia. It's the only one I've found that so clearly and succinctly describes Sir Thomas More's original utopia and the ways in which it's actually dystopian - thank you! However, the only subtitles available are the auto-generated ones, which are often completely inaccurate. Subtitles really help many of my students understand auditory input. Would you please consider adding subtitles to the video? I know many others would benefit as well.

Very well presented discourse. Food for thought.

But what about dinotopia?

With every dystopia there is a concealed utopia ;)

In short, Someone's Utopia is another's Dystopia.

"One man's utopia is 1,000 men's dystopia", B.Klenk

One man's utopia is another man's dystopia

If you try to make a utopia you'll get a dystopia.

Reminds me of "The Giver"

Excellent work my man! Very thoughtful and articulate. Looking forward to your next video already. I'm pretty sure I can answer your question on whether or not we would know that we lived in a dystopia. The movie Tomorrowland presented this subject quite clearly. It has has several scenes of the main female character in various classes with different teachers. One of them presents the idea of dystopia in a lecture, while our hero sits with her hand raised high. Eventually, the teacher relents and our hero asks if we can fix it (dystopia). The teacher doesn't answer her. His jaw drops open and he raises his arm as if pointing up. Just then the classroom bell rings. I can explain all of this, but it sounds crazier than fiction. Basically, these characters are pointing towards the moon, with the implication being that it is responsible for our common plight. I realize this doesn't prove that we actually know we're dystopic, it only proves that some people do, and they even know how to fix it. Remember how Wernher von Braun lamented on his first missiles working perfectly, but landing on the wrong planet? Yeah....

"George Orwell and Ayn Rand" One of these things is not like the other

All these jokes and off-color comments instead of discussing the content.... KZfaq in a nutshell. On topic: I was raised as a Jehovah's Witness. Everything I remember from childhood and my teenage years is about the promise of a Utopian paradise, a paradise without death doing Jehovah's work and ONLY Jehovah's work. Like a Utopia, everyone would have a role that they could not deviate from, else they would be sent to the eternal lake of fire (not Hell, since per the JW's there is no Hell, only the eternal lake of fire where you go if you don't qualify for Paradise). To me, Utopia has always sounded like Hell. I prefer freedom.

This just makes me wanna go live in the woods, away from civilization, even more.

I really like how you used Double speak in the title, a title of the hat to George Orwell's 1984.

0:24 Accurate visualization of current political climate is accurate.

Last time I was this early, I made a "Last time I was this early" joke.

Some analysts have noted that the appendix of 1984 is written in English and refers to the events of the book as the past. There's a line, "Relative to our own, the Newspeak vocabulary was tiny, and new ways of reducing it were constantly being devised." Many think that this implies that the governments of the world were eventually overthrown.

Maybe the real dystopia was the friends we made along the way

One thing with the slavery in Utopia is that it wasn't like we think of slavery. It wasn't hard labor. If you were a criminal the you were working towards your freedom and depending on what you did you might not even be chained. And the people from other countries willingly came to Utopia to become slaves in order to escape their home country. These people often weren't even chained they just did work like anyone else would. So while there was slavery it wasn't as bad as we think of slavery as being.

Based off of the ideas set forth in this video, I define dystopia as an environment that can't be changed. Doesn't matter if the ideals that crafted the society were sound to the majority, there will always be those who find discomfort, and if society always refuses to modify itself to accommodate those who are in discontent, that discontentment will spread to the majority. If nothing changes until the end of time, eventually everyone will accept that they're in the worst possible scenario government wise, no matter what ideologies that government revolves around.

Damn, thanks for giving me an existential crisis before my final final exam dude.

"Take my hands now with you I am in Utopia" has a completely new meaning

Last time I was this early, This joke was still relevant.

Utopia after eutopia, Greek for "a place," and prefix "u-" meaning not. A perfect place that will not exist.

Enjoyed the clip. Thanks. The repeated return to literature and art to describe a utopia is also interesting. A lot of popular TV series might be seen as a dystopia --- law and order where the "good guys" find themselves in a gritty environment with some spots really gritty and then they sort of sally forth to try to "fix" the grittiness. Speaking in a generic fashion. Politics might also be seen a utopia or as promoting a utopia, a bright and shiny vision, a city on a hill. Hmm.

The line between a utopia and a dystopia is a thin one