# How would you make the world into a Utopia? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 8, 2005, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-make-the-world-into-a-utopia/283735 "2005-01-08T09:51:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jake\_the\_Plumber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@Jake\_the\_Plumber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake_the_Plumber)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-make-the-world-into-a-utopia/283735/21 "2005-01-09T00:58:57Z")
> [@Dr. Love](#): > > I agree with **HPL**. Genetic engineering for physical characteristics is almost certainly workable, but I doubt that human vices can be destroyed without turning civilization into an insect colony, destroying all the positive aspects of human civilization. Your best bet is to try to channel our vices towards a positive goal. Um, yea, that entire genetic engineering man to be better sounds more like a dystopia, Orwellian (or Zamyatin, actually, but I doubt most people know who he is) type thing… ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-make-the-world-into-a-utopia/283735/22 "2005-01-09T01:05:00Z")
I would try to ensure basic food, sanitation and healthcare availability for everyone. Spend more on infrastructure building in nations and areas of the world that seem to have potential I would triple R&D spending to about 6-7% of GDP globally. I would make higher education in the sciences available to anyone who wanted it. Especially the sciences that are involved in neurology in some way or another. Utopia, at the end of the day, is just a state of mind. It exists because the brain is sending certain signals to make the person happy so research and development in neurobiology, neurochemistry, genetics, etc would have to progress alot more rapidly than it currently is. ---
**Author:** ![Jake\_the\_Plumber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@Jake\_the\_Plumber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake_the_Plumber)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-make-the-world-into-a-utopia/283735/23 "2005-01-09T01:24:38Z")
> [@Wesley Clark](#): > > I would triple R&D spending to about 6-7% of GDP globally. I would make higher education in the sciences available to anyone who wanted it. Especially the sciences that are involved in neurology in some way or another. Utopia, at the end of the day, is just a state of mind. It exists because the brain is sending certain signals to make the person happy so research and development in neurobiology, neurochemistry, genetics, etc would have to progress alot more rapidly than it currently is. Happy pills for all? Poor, poor Zamyatin… ---
**Author:** ![sinical\_brit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/48db29/32.png) [@sinical\_brit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinical_brit)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-make-the-world-into-a-utopia/283735/24 "2005-01-11T13:52:31Z")
Bin ALL religion and let rational thought rule !! Sin ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-make-the-world-into-a-utopia/283735/25 "2005-01-11T13:58:32Z")
> [@Wesley Clark](#): > > I would try to ensure basic food, sanitation and healthcare availability for everyone. > > Spend more on infrastructure building in nations and areas of the world that seem to have potential > > I would triple R&D spending to about 6-7% of GDP globally. I would make higher education in the sciences available to anyone who wanted it. Especially the sciences that are involved in neurology in some way or another. Utopia, at the end of the day, is just a state of mind. It exists because the brain is sending certain signals to make the person happy so research and development in neurobiology, neurochemistry, genetics, etc would have to progress alot more rapidly than it currently is. Soma? ---
**Author:** ![Jake\_the\_Plumber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@Jake\_the\_Plumber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake_the_Plumber)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-make-the-world-into-a-utopia/283735/26 "2005-01-11T13:59:44Z")
> [@sinical brit](#): > > let rational thought rule !! Good god, I hope the people in this thread never take control of the world. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-make-the-world-into-a-utopia/283735/27 "2005-01-11T14:54:46Z")
I’d paint it. Brown. What? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-make-the-world-into-a-utopia/283735/28 "2005-01-12T00:24:12Z")
> [@Jake the Plumber](#): > > Happy pills for all? > > Poor, poor Zamyatin… As opposed to what, living a life at the mercy of emotions you don’t control. Utopia is just a physical environment that promotes good neurochemistry, why not cut out the middleman. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-make-the-world-into-a-utopia/283735/29 "2005-01-12T00:32:01Z")
I’m not sure what my entire plan would be, but a good first step would be to round up all the utopian thinkers out there and throw them in the prison. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-make-the-world-into-a-utopia/283735/30 "2005-01-13T06:33:56Z")
> [@Jake the Plumber](#): > > Good god, I hope the people in this thread never take control of the world. My exact sentiment when I read your thread on Utopia! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-make-the-world-into-a-utopia/283735/31 "2005-01-13T13:00:38Z")
What’s wrong with brown? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2005, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-make-the-world-into-a-utopia/283735/32 "2005-01-14T17:05:36Z")
Step 1: Abolish the death penalty. Abolish imprisonment for non-violent crime. Community service will be the most severe punishment allowed for any crime other than murder, rape, assault, or armed robbery. Step 2: Guarantee everyone on the planet access to food, water, sanitation, clothing, shelter, medical care, and disaster relief when needed. Step 3: Remove all trade barriers. Step 4: Remove all immigration barriers. Step 5: Run all secondary education on a voucher system. Set strict standards, and deny vouchers to any school failing to meet standards. Step 6: Institute a flat tax, with deductions for those below the poverty line. Step 7: Put high sales taxes on fossil fuels, so that it will become profitable for companies to switch to alternate energy sources. Step 8: Have the government encourage scientific research not through grants, put rather through competitions modeled on the X-Prize, where a payout is given to the first person or group to achieve a certain task. Step 9: Gradually reduce militaries as the whole world becomes one big happy family, thus greatly reducing government spending. Step 10: Phase out Social Security, and government retirement schemes in other countries, thus further reducing government spending. Step 11: Give local governments control, as long as they don’t violate rules established in steps 1 through 10. ---
**Author:** ![Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cornelius_Tuggerson)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2005, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-make-the-world-into-a-utopia/283735/33 "2005-01-14T20:02:55Z")
Enact the Elite Conscription Act (smart people doing as they please = not good) Open up the space frontier big time. Just to create a place where people who don’t agree with my regime can go and not have to deal with me. Create a government that adjusts itself based on the results of its previous actions - kind of like the scientific method only with government. And one last law that shall be enforced harshest of all - All people are sterilized at birth by default. Only those who prove that they have the will and the means to raise a child are given an opportunity to reproduce. The general theme of the times will be that the state cares little for people’s emotions or feelings - it only concerns itself with verifiable consequences of their actions. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-make-the-world-into-a-utopia/283735/34 "2005-01-14T20:27:20Z")
> [@akifani](#): > > Let’s assume that you’ve just been elected World Leader with full executive, legislative and judicial powers for a lifelong term. > > Let us further assume you’re a benign dictator and not an evil one (I know evil is more fun but just bear with me here) . > > What steps would you take to make this world as close to **your** vision of a Utopia as possible? > > You wouldn’t have any magical powers or anything of the sort. Let’s just say all the leaders of all sovereign nations will now obey your directives. > > What would you do… Secure the rights and property of those who give me their consent to govern them, and allow those who do not to secede. > [@](#): > > …and why? Because every man is entitled to give or withhold his consent. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2005, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-make-the-world-into-a-utopia/283735/35 "2005-01-14T21:31:18Z")
> [@ITR champion](#): > > Step 1: Abolish the death penalty. Abolish imprisonment for non-violent crime. Community service will be the most severe punishment allowed for any crime other than murder, rape, assault, or armed robbery. What do you do if someone decides not to do the community service? Just curious. ---
**Author:** ![Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cornelius_Tuggerson)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2005, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-make-the-world-into-a-utopia/283735/36 "2005-01-14T23:06:47Z")
> [@iamthewalrus(:3=](#): > > What do you do if someone decides not to do the community service? Just curious. We could always consider refusal to do community service a violent crime. Or just fine those that refuse, freeze their assets, make sure that any money they make in this country goes to pay for their crime before it goes to them. Its kinda like the “speeding tickets proportional to your paycheck” idea that Finland has. ---
**Author:** ![bizzwire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/958977/32.png) [@bizzwire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizzwire)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2005, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-make-the-world-into-a-utopia/283735/37 "2005-01-15T03:36:45Z")
This may sound kinda harsh, but I’d start by getting rid of, say, 90% of the world’s human population. Pretty much all that’s wrong in the world is due to the simple fact that there’s just too damned many people. Bizzwire assumes the position… ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Cooper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@Agent\_Cooper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Cooper)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2005, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-make-the-world-into-a-utopia/283735/38 "2005-01-15T16:04:37Z")
> [@bizzwire](#): > > This may sound kinda harsh, but I’d start by getting rid of, say, 90% of the world’s human population. Pretty much all that’s wrong in the world is due to the simple fact that there’s just too damned many people. > > Bizzwire assumes the position… My thoughts too. But you’re not being harsh. I think it could only be done by removing ALL human beings. That would do the world good until chimps start getting too smart again. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-make-the-world-into-a-utopia/283735.md?page=1)