Utopia
"Utopia" is a term that English statesman and author Thomas More coined in the early sixteenth century in his novel of the same name. It is derived from two Greek words:Eutopia (meaning "good place") and Outopia (meaning "no place"). Utopia is therefore a good place that does not exist. A space utopia, one could claim, is a good place that can exist only in space.
The word "utopia" conjures up the vision of an ideal society, where people are physically and morally free, where they work not because of need but out of pleasure, where love knows no laws, and where everyone is an artist. A space utopia is the same paradise set elsewhere and served with a generous dose of science fiction.
Space utopias resonate mostly in the United States, because of its history as an immigrant nation with an open frontier; its tolerance for small, like-minded, isolated communities; its preference for the individual as opposed to the government; and its faith in technology to solve human problems.
A good example of space utopia is the human-made space habitat first described by Princeton University physicist Gerard K. O'Neill in his book The High Frontier (1977). Situated at L-5, an equilibrium point between Earth and the Moon, and made of lunar material, this hypothetical habitat is entirely controlled by its creators, including the gravity, terrain, landscape, and weather. Energy is obtained from the Sun, while air, water, and materials are constantly recycled. The few thousand inhabitants in these settlements lead happy and productive lives, dedicated to learning, service, production, commerce, science, and exploration. Their society combines control over the environment, the beauty of self-made nature, the shared plenty of a consumer economy, and the intimacy of village life. There is little crime and no racial, ethnic, religious, or economic strife. Government isdemocratic and limited, imposing few legal, fiscal, or moral restraints on its citizens, thereby enabling them to pursue their individual happiness.
The likelihood of the successful existence of space utopias is diminished as the inherent difficulties of utopias on Earth are compounded by the rigors of the space environment. Social and biological scientists, humanists, and theologians argue that a large-scale utopian society is against human nature, if for no other reason than it ignores the human drive for power. Social scientists argue that the demise of small-scale utopian communities is caused by their inability to sufficiently isolate themselves from the rest of society and to survive the transition to new group leadership. Faced with fading communities, American Mennonites emigrated to the jungles of Central America, and few cults in the United States have survived their charismatic leaders. While many utopian cults transformed into established religions and institutions with bureaucratic organization independent of their founders, there are examples of those that could not and, instead, have found violent death (People's Temple followers, led by the Reverend Jim Jones, in Guyana, 1978; Branch Davidians, led by David Koresh, in Texas, 1993; and Heaven's Gate followers, led by Marshall Applewhite, in California, 1997).
The harsh and unforgiving environment of space precludes the existence of human groups without strict authority structures, at least within our solar system. The International Space Station operates under a rigorous chain of command sanctioned by international law. Space utopian societies may have to wait for routine travel between solar systems and the availability of uninhabited Earthlike planets.
Communities in Space (Volume 4);; O'neill, Gerard K. (Volume 4);; O'neill Colonies (Volume 4);; Settlements (Volume 4);; Social Ethics (Volume 4).
Bibliography
Finney, Ben R., and Eric M. Jones, ed. Interstellar Migration and the Human Experience. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.
Harrison, Albert A. Spacefaring: The Human Dimension. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001.
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