Is a Utopian society possible?
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Can a Utopian society really exist? What are your thoughts on building and/or living in a Utopian society? Would you want to live in a Utopian society? What are some of the fundamental characteristics or your ideal Utopian society? Use the links below to learn more about Utopian communities and post your response. What Would Make the Best Society? Is a Utopian society possible? Utopian States America and the Utopian Dream Want to escape the modern world? 9 Utopias that really exist 10 ambitious plans for creating Utopian communities in America YA Utopia / Dystopia Books
40 Comments
James Detmer
9/18/2017 10:34:04 am
No, a true utopia cannot exist. A world or society where nothing bad happens would be great, but it would also be boring. Additionally, it may be less technologically progressive. We have most of our technology (ie smartphones, GPS...) because of war and other conflict. There is one main reason we (the United States) went into space and then the moon, the Russians. We had to show that we were better. One person or group will always try to one up all the others. There would be some benefits; I wouldn't have to worry about murder or accidental deaths. However, I would not want to live in a world where we lost sight of ourselves. Humans are creatures of habit and hate, a wise thing to remember. If your utopia suddenly decided to stop existing, you'd suddenly have countless people with no direction... But I suppose that depends on how you define utopia. Do people still have specialized jobs?
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Kaylee VanHam
9/18/2017 10:57:05 am
I agree with the idea that we would not be as advanced as we are now in a Utopian society. I never thought about that before, but it's true that competition and wars have sped up our learning and understanding of medicine, technology, and countless other studies and products. On the other hand, if we lived in a Utopian society, maybe the minds of everyone put together would have still accomplished these things just as quickly. More minds working together can be powerful. In fact, with Russia and the U.S. working together, our advancements may have come much sooner.
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Chloe Williams
9/18/2017 12:59:19 pm
I disagree with you. I think Utopian places could potentially be real. There are a group of people ( The Amish) that stay away from the modern day world making it their own Utopia. We might not agree with what they call it but its definitely possible. Utopian places are usually in the middle of nowhere, where people go to escape the real world and to have a fresh start in life. You mentioned that there would be less technology; I agree that it would be more difficult but they would find their own way to succeed. Take the Village for example the movie shows us their own Utopia, and you can see that they have their own advancements and stayed away from the "real world" because they all lost someone they cared about deeply. So with that they created their own Utopia. I also would think in their Utopia they would be included in the world breaking news I mean they would have to now days. They can have restricted technology, but they wouldn't be bored. They would find something else to do because the world that we live in is surrounded by technology and people don't even realize how sucked in we are; at least the Utopian people would have more of a social life and better connections to the people around them.
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Mr. R
9/20/2017 07:51:36 am
Chloe, great comment and points. However, Amish have very strict codes of living...not really Utopian! And, many people try to leave the society because of its harsh rules and living conditions. The Village is an awesome example, too, and ultimately shows the restrictions of a Utopian society. Great points, kid!
Hope B
9/20/2017 11:09:31 am
I agree that the probability of certain things being restricted is high. Like technology for example, I'm sure it would be hard for most people to go from using technology every day, to little or no technology. But a Utopia could still be possible.
Mr. R
9/20/2017 07:48:58 am
Very thoughtful response, James. I wonder if people would appreciate full freedom and peace completely -or even recognize/understand it- if some restrictions, rules, and conflict did not exist? I doubt it.
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Anthony Cross
9/28/2017 10:43:52 am
I agree with you, a true Utopia can't exist. But I do however feel that a utopia can exist within a perfect world of a book. The reason it can't is because people need structure as much as some don't want it a structure is something everyone follows. Structure is what makes a utopia different is that it doesn't want one that others enforce. even though they would enforce one.
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Kevin Dyke
9/18/2017 10:34:22 am
Well I don't think a Utopia society actually exists, even though some people believe there is some places as perfect as a Utopia place. I would certainly live and build a Utopia city or town I would want everything around me to be a perfect little society so that everything will be perfectly built and made around me. My Utopian society if I were to build one would have big buildings and lots of land to live and flourish in.
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Kaylee VanHam
9/18/2017 10:46:20 am
No, I don't believe that a Utopian society can really exist. I believe that people are unable to live among each other without having their quarrels. Unfortunately, not all people are able to restrain themselves from fighting so a Utopian world would be impossible. I think that living in a Utopian society would inhibit me and all others from forming our own opinions. This would have to be true because in a perfect world, quarrels wouldn't be allowed. The only way to stop people from having different opinions and beliefs would be to have one set of rules, laws, and opinions that everyone must follow. This proves my point of Utopian Societies not being possible because if the government were to create one set of laws there would be opposition. Some may say that no government at all is an option, but then there would be chaos and crime everywhere. But if a Utopian world were possible, my ideal society would be a little home in a valley with a waterfall. A place where you live with your closest family and friends and all work hard to provide for each other.
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Tayiah Nesbitt
10/10/2017 10:10:12 am
I agree that a Utopian society could not exist since people cannot get along or be completely civil with one another.
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Chloe Williams
9/18/2017 01:05:42 pm
I personally think that Utopian places could exist. In my previous comment I forgot to mention that they wouldn't need jobs because they wouldn't be a part of our government; they would have their own. I personally picture a Utopia as a place where peace is created and no technology, just nature and the people that you have around you. Picture the mountains and waterfalls, lots of open fields with little cottages for each family.
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Halle B
9/19/2017 11:09:47 am
I think it's possible for utopian society to exist. I’m pretty down with the idea of it, and I think it sounds really cool. I don’t really think it’s possible for utopian society to exist right now in 2017, but in the near future I can see it happening. I personally would support a utopian society, I mean I’m not going to live for the longest time, but if my children get to have a completely blissful existence with little to no worry, sure why not. I think it’d be a difficult transition, but the more it progressed it would become easier. I think I’d miss a lot of things in a more “faulted” society, but if I were to have children they would be growing up in it. They would have nothing to compare it to. I think it’d be cool to try something new, and see the lengths people would go to create a perfectionistic society. One of the biggest problems with a utopian society is individualism and subjectiveness. People all have their ideal world and how things should work, so it’s hard to make everyone happy in a “perfect” world. If I were to design my own utopian society I’d include an efficient system that allows little to no waste, lots of food, non pollutant yet sustainable energy source, low crime, and maybe like efficient work assigning. I really liked the Lois Lowry’s idea in The Giver, the idea of observers taking time to assign the perfect job and the perfect mate. I think that would be nice, and it seemed that most people were pretty happy with that. I think that it’d be cool, but obviously I don’t think it’ll happen anytime soon.
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Brianna Breen
9/19/2017 05:07:28 pm
I don’t doubt that Utopian societies exist, but I do believe they are very difficult to maintain. In order to form a Utopian society, all people must agree on a version of a “perfect” government. I personally could not live in a Utopian society. I know I wouldn’t know the difference if I did live in one, but since I don’t, I feel as if we as people, should learn from our mistakes. In a Utopian society it is very rare for those to make mistakes. I also believe it isn’t fair to limit people of what they want, whether it’s who they are physically as a person, or what they believe in. That being said, I guess an ideal characteristic of a Utopian society I would want is that everyone gets along, but those can be who they want. As long as they follow this “perfect” government that is created, they should be able to be who they want, and express themselves; even if they want to explore outside of the community. It would allow them to learn what it’s like, and possibly realize why the Utopian society was created.
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Mr. R
9/20/2017 07:55:47 am
The problem with Utopian societies and the ideas of Transcendentalism (have you kids studied that yet?)...is they are both idealistic, which is a great goal to set, but they neglect to consider the faults of mankind...and the flawed humans we all are. Greed, jealousy, hate, etc., these things, unfortunately, have a tremendous influence on our behavior.
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Mikaila DeMyer
9/20/2017 10:11:24 am
I don’t think a real utopia can exist. As advanced as we are, humans have faults and make mistakes. When creating the utopian society, some things that seem insignificant at the time can be overlooked, and they may create a major problem in the long run. People also get greedy, or hateful, no matter what the reason. Depending on the size of the utopia, some people might decide that they don’t agree with the rules of their society, and they might end up destroying the group for everyone. Knowledge also comes from experience; if you were trying to create a government for your utopia, you’ll most likely use ideas from the government you’re used to, or you’ll attempt to do the opposite and it’ll be a complete flop.
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Emily D
9/20/2017 11:21:09 am
I completely agree with your stance on where society can go wrong in trying to make the Utopian dream a reality. I like your examples and descriptions of exactly how people's own faults could ruin their own Utopia.
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Rachel
9/20/2017 10:43:06 am
I believe as well that Utopia societies do exist in the world, but are very hard to upkeep and maintain. I do think they can be lived in, but I personally never could. It would have to be a group of people that all think alike and get along perfectly. I think it would be very very difficult to build or live in a Utopian society, would have to be all the right people, willing to obey the rules. Some of the characteristics I would want in my Utopian Society are love for all people, a society where everyone can express themselves and never be discriminated against. If someone wants to explore outside of the walls, let them do so. Let people do what makes them happy.
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Hope B
9/20/2017 11:04:14 am
I agree that living in a Utopian society would be difficult to maintain. I also agree that everyone shouldn't be discriminated in a Utopia and they should be able to express themselves freely. People should still have freedom, even if they agree to living in a Utopia.
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Jasmine Cooper
9/20/2017 10:52:49 am
Utopia is a concept that is often played out within the minds of many humans and often seems enticing, and though it may be, that idea can be nothing more than just that. A figment of our imagination. I, for one, if it was possible, wouldn't mind the idea of living in a Utopian society, but faulty human nature prevents any chance of that happening. Don't get me wrong, I like to believe that people have good in their hearts, but it is not as easy to forget that we, humans, have many flaws, and those flaws are all ideals against the ideas of utopia. Such as hate, rage, anger and the list goes on. All are pieces of us, no matter how much we try to deny it or try to believe that every human has a golden soul and that there are perfect people among us, but so long as we still remain human, and nothing more, our natures will never succumb to the idea of Utopia. This isn't just me being a pessimistic person, it's simply fact, and everyone at some point in their lives, one way or another, knows this. Humans are designed to have their own opinions which leads to controversy, which leads to an imperfect society where there will be arguments, people fighting, all which fit on the anti-Utopian form, and that's only /one/ of the many examples of why a Utopia couldn't exist anywhere but our imaginations.
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Hope B
9/20/2017 10:59:12 am
I believe that a Utopia is possible, in fact there have already been Utopia's created. While converting from normal living like we are used to, to a Utopia would be quite the difference. Most Utopias revolve around natural living, hence they don't go to the doctors or a hospital. All of their own food is grown or comes from livestock they care for. It is a very different lifestyle from what most people are used to now. Personally I think I would result to a Utopia if it was necessary, and more beneficial to my life. Especially if I had a family and I didn't want them growing up in world with bad people and bad things everywhere. I don't think a Utopia would be a bad idea in that case. If I were to live in a Utopia I would want there to be a lot of jobs to do, to create everything needed to live. I would also want their to be schooling if I were to have my children there with me if it was during that time.
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Jessie
9/20/2017 11:15:22 am
I think that a Utopian society can exist in small portions, like small towns, or islands that are isolated have an easier opportunity to change society to however they desire. I don't think the United States could ever turn into one though. Thinking about living in an Utopian society is bizarre to think about, and I really don’t think i’d want to live in a world like that. All Utopian societies seem like there's always a dark downfall. When people try so hard to obtain a perfect world, it’s impossible. I feel like the consequences of a failure from a Utopic society attempt, is far greater than the world we live in now. People can try to change the way the world works, but large scale it’s unobtainable.
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Emily D
9/20/2017 11:16:43 am
Of course we would all love it if a Utopia did exist. It's human nature; we all want to be happy. In fact, we spend our entire lives thriving to satisfy ourselves with a good life thinking we deserve it for our hard work. And of course I would want to be a part of something like that. I wouldn't wish anything less than a perfect life upon anyone. I'd want my family and friends and my future children to all be happy and prosperous. But everyone knows that in such a complex and diverse society like today, this is nearly impossible. There are so many races, religions, cultures, customs, not to mention endless opinions of what the proper government looks like. To come together and create a single society of which everyone is happy seems like a fool's hope. When Utopia is defined, it sounds like something that many religions believe in. Like the afterlife, or Heaven as the Christians put it. Where there is no pain or suffering. Only happiness. This was attempted many times over the years by a variety of different people and cultures. Now, whether you think they succeeded or failed the attempt depends on how you define Utopia. In The Village, their version of Utopia was a small little village where everyone is always kind of one another. They eat together, play together, executing actions only by the kindness of their hearts. However, they were never allowed to leave their village, because of the "creatures" (that eventually turned out to not exist) that lurked in the woods surrounding their village. I think this takes a sort of darkened twist/slap of reality to the concept of Utopia. I think it takes a darkened twist because the Elders used such vile and dangerous steps to ensure that no one ever left. I think the movie itself gives you a slap of reality because the reality was, you have to do things like that sometimes to preserve something as precious as that. They did what they had to do. Which is the blatant reality of most of the problems in today's society. Something like that, I think, would maybe be possible. To hide somewhere extremely secluded, to have a mutual agreement between one another to never go back. I think that would be possible. Although it may not work forever. There's always that one person or group of people that rebels, or wants nothing more than to leave. To explore the world. Which could potentially ruin everything that makes the Utopia, a Utopia. It's such a precious thing. Trying to maintain could be the equal of trying to balance a spoon on the end of table. It would work, but just one small movement could send it crashing down. The kind of Utopia that The Village presents however, is a bit different to what I imagine. I imagine it as something of the equal of world peace. Where people live simply. Where there's almost no technology at all. Where you're free to go wherever you want, whenever you want. Where everyone welcomes you with a broad smile on their face, where people would help someone in need without thinking twice about their race, religion, or political beliefs. But this concept, I think, is by far the most impossible version to achieve. Again, we all know how unforgiving our society is about saying the wrong thing in public, or posting something quirky online. But it would've been possible a couple decades of centuries ago, before everything got so complicated. I truly wish I could be more positive on the subject, but when you're talking about the perfect life, I believe anything perfect in general is impossible. Therefore, I believe that my version of Utopia at least in today's society is impossible.
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Mikaila DeMyer
9/20/2017 11:23:20 am
I agree with you on your point that Utopian societies are possible at first, though they may not work farther into the future. Maintaining a Utopia could mean going to drastic measures to ensure its prosperity. Today's society is too complex to revert to less technology and hate.
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Geena Bosworth
9/20/2017 11:17:55 am
I do not believe a utopia can exist. A utopia is an imagined place or state in which everything is perfect. Different people have different ideas on what a utopia for them would be. If there was a society that was trying to be a utopia, each person would have a different picture in their head of a Utopian Society. If each person wants something different it wouldn't be a utopia for everyone. Some people might love it, but others might hate it. There would also be a government because if there wasn't one it would be chaos. There are people who will want to fight against the government. There is also traits that humans have that would affect the utopia such as being hateful and angry. But just because it seems impossible to create a utopia doesn't mean that people should stop trying.
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Abby DeSmith
9/20/2017 05:39:07 pm
I really don't think a utopia society could ever really thrive for to long. Maybe it would work of a little bit but wouldn't last long. For example in Lord of the Flies everything starts out great. The kids are all agreeing at the start of the book and its mostly running smoothly. The longer they are on the island everything falls apart an it becomes a dystopia. I don't think its possible to make a utopian society and I don't think I would want to live in a utopian society. It would be great for everything to be perfect but in the long run its not going to stay that way because as humans we can never be perfect.
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Claire Emmert
9/21/2017 10:53:36 am
I agree with you, I also think that a Utopia could work for a little bit, but eventually human flaws would start coming out and the Utopia would fall apart. I also wouldn't want to live in a Utopian society.
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Megan Hirdes
9/25/2017 05:51:08 am
I agree with you completely. I feel like everyone would love it at the start but would fall apart because humans are gonna be humans. As much as we want everything to be perfect it cant be because we are not perfect.
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Claire Emmert
9/21/2017 10:44:06 am
A Utopian society cannot exist. Everyone has a different opinion on what a perfect society would look like, so there would be no uniform decision on what the Utopian society would be like. If someone was unhappy with the Utopia, there would be conflict (there is no conflict in a Utopia). Today, a Utopia would be nearly impossible to achieve simply because there are so many different people with different opinions, thoughts, ideas, and beliefs. The government is flawed humans in charge of other flawed humans. No one is perfect, no one is innocent and no one fully wants to be perfect. Life would get boring quickly. A Utopia would be a safe place where people were kind and didn’t hurt each other, which sounds very appealing, but there will always be bad people in the world.
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Tyler Driesenga
9/21/2017 11:00:57 am
While I love the concept of a Utopia, I don't believe that they can really exist. I think that human nature would eventually get in the way. Throughout history, the only thing that has gotten in the way of achieving a perfect human society is humans themselves. Due to our evil nature, I don't think that a society can be created where humans don't get in their own way and ruin a Utopia. As for me, I don't think I would want to live in a Utopian society. While everyone loves it when things are going well, the fact that things go wrong is what makes this life interesting and exciting. Dealing with problems and navigating through life's struggles is a fundamental part of being a human and finding out who we are at this point, and I don't know that I would like to see that all go away. I also don't know what would constitute a Utopia. Who decides what this perfect set of rules consists of? Are there rules? There are too many variables, in my opinion, for a utopia to exist.
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Megan Hirdes
9/25/2017 05:49:07 am
I don't think a utopia society could ever really work Maybe it would work of a little bit but wouldn't last long. I don't think its possible to make a utopian society because there will always be people who want it to be different and would not want to live in a utopian society. It would be great for everything to be perfect but I do not think it would last long because if everything was perfect there wouldn't be any new advancements in health or technology and instead of people excelling in things like that, we would be living pretty mediocre lives.
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VALERIE ROSEMA
9/25/2017 11:15:10 am
A utopia is NOT possible for many reasons including the main reason which is that humans are flawed. People are too flawed individually already, so how can we expect everyone to come together and create an ideal place of perfection. Politicians will always lie and corruption will prevent a perfect government. Individuals will always do as they wish, and more often than not, when you tell someone they can do or have something, they will only work at it harder. Laws will always be broken. Also there is no way in heck to make everyone like-minded, and with so many different stubborn perspectives and opinions: war, murder, and violence cannot be contained. An utopia is overall impossible because no components necessary for a utopia can be perfected, & thus an utopia cannot be imposed.
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Emma Hayes
9/26/2017 11:00:26 am
I agree a lot with your first statement a lot. People are not perfect and that is something that is not to be ashamed of. It is all a part of individualism. Also agreeing with your view on the possible corruption of the government. people are selfish and work for there own goals.
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Morgan Carlson
9/25/2017 05:41:20 pm
There a certain level to the ability in which a Utopia can exist. When one thinks of Utopia's they see a world full of peace and balance. We know that when there a certain level of control of the type of knowledge and our ways of life, there will be those few who don't conform. If we lived in a Utopia society we'd all have to become pure or innocent in some form or another. Just give the Utopia seen in the movie we watched in class, the young people of the village didn't know of the outside world, there were innocent to what it was like to know suffering or death. We also saw to what extent people will go to keep people from rebelling against the utopia way of life. To live in a society in which we are a utopia seems peaceful, but a hard concept to keep through time. One there is a sense of isolation, most often utopia's are societies in among themselves, they don't often associate with other forms of living because that would often threaten the peace and innocence of the utopia. I for one wouldn't want to live in such a world, where I'm possible unconsciously restricted either by fear or other means. I enjoy the freedoms that I have, and would not willingly give something like that up.
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Emma Hayes
9/26/2017 10:55:39 am
I do not think that a utopia is possible. As long as there are people there will never be peace. People will always have differing opinions from one another. The people that try to build these utopias are dreamers that will not succeed. I would not want to live in a utopian society because there is a lot of trust you need to count on other people in the community and I don't think that I trust people that much. The main ideal of a utopian society is to get along and have peace. I think that would be utterly boring. you would have to strip everyone's individuality and take away all differing opinions so they could get along.
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Tayiah Nesbitt
10/10/2017 10:12:12 am
I do not think it possible for a Utopian society to exist. Perfection doesn't exist and there is no way people could be civil enough with one another to get along perfectly since everyone has different opinions and points of view. I also would not want to live in a Utopian society because life wouldn't be as interesting if everything was perfect.
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Maddyson Brown
10/12/2017 10:42:04 am
No a Utopian society will never exist. It will never exist because not every one will be happy. It would be great if everyone would be happy and no one would fight ect but there is always a group that is unhappy. there is always a group that disagrees with one another. no one will ever agree on the same things and see eye to eye. Like I said it would be great but it will never happen.
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Cameron Proper
10/16/2017 08:08:29 pm
I 100% agree with you. Not everyone will be happy, because not everyone can feel the same about all things, and they may not always see eye to eye like you said.
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Xavier Walser
10/12/2017 10:55:44 am
I do not think it's possible for a utopia to exist in our world today. I do think it is possilbe for a utopia to exist if we were in the past. In the past before advanced technologies it was much easier to keep information secret. With things like the internet today, and person in a utopia who wanted the truth coud easily find it. Another problem with
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Cameron Proper
10/16/2017 08:05:45 pm
I think that a utopia couldn't exist. In order for a utopia to exist there would have to be a group of people who all want the exact same thing. there isn't a good possibility that you will find enough people who think the exact same and feel the exact same way about everything. There will always be problems when it comes to humans.
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Alyssa Thomas
10/17/2017 05:27:33 pm
I don't think that a Utopian society will be able to exist in today's world. It has way too may problems and is nearly impossible. I personally would not like to be in a Utopian society. It is very hard to find a group of 200 people to be part of a Utopian society or life. It just doesn't make sense.
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