Said Piercy, the impulse that drives us to imagine a utopian future is the fact that "You have to have a way of imagining a society you want you or your children to be able to live in." On the other hand, dystopian fiction asks the question: "If this goes on, what is going to happen?"

In other words, one is more based on our hopes for our children's future. The other is based on our actual observations about the way the world is, and how it appears to be developing. [UNM Today]

This is part of a short film by Oh Hello made for the PC giant, which requested a glimpse of the "not so distant utopian future." I actually think this depiction of future interfaces is pretty accurate, with transparent wall monitors (these already exist), gesture-controlled computing, multi-use devices that are location-aware, and best of all real-time translation between natural languages. Plus, apparently, the "pinch" gesture from the iPhone has become ubitquitous on PCs in this happy world.

Possibly the translation scenes are the most utopian, however. We see kids in the US communicating seamlessly with Indian kids; and later, a woman meets a business colleague and her comments to him on the phone appear to get translated instantly into text he understands. This is obviously supposed to be the refined version of Google translation, which today can get the job done but still leaves a lot of words weirdly translated.

Could instant, accurate translation lead to a utopian world? Or would it only make things easier for all these middle class types in this video who are jetting around to business meetings?

via Oh Hello

On the heels of Jason Stoddard’s “Happier Science Fiction” manifesto, Solaris has announced that science fiction writer and former Interzone magazine editor de Vries will be soliciting manuscripts for stories depicting a kinder, gentler future:

Shine is a collection of near-future, optimistic SF stories where some of the genres brightest stars and some of its most exciting new talents portray the possible roads to a better tomorrow. Definitely not a plethora of Pollyannas (but neither a barrage of dystopias), Shine will show that positive change is far from being a foregone conclusion, but needs to be hardfought, innovative, robust and imaginative. Most importantly, it aims to demonstrate that while times are tough and outcomes are uncertain, we can still bend the future in benevolent ways if we embrace change and steer its momentum in the right direction.

De Vries is looking for stories set within the next 50 years that would persuade “the biggest skeptics on the planet” that the near future can be a better place. He has also set up a blog for Shine, hoping to create an “open platform” for discussing the nature and challenges of an optimistic future.

[Shineanthology’s Weblog via Jason Stoddard]

The history of ocean civilizations isn't particularly bright, but it is remarkable just how many ways people can think of building on the ocean.

What and Where?: Sealand, a platform off Suffolk, England.
What Was The Inspiration? A small abandoned military base after WWII, Sealand was situated in international waters. Former English major Paddy Roy Bates occupied the island and won the resulting legal case in a British court. He named himself King and his son Prince, and the nation-state went on from there. An independent company, HavenCo, invested in Sealand but pulled out shortly thereafter, citing fraud. Their business plan currently consists of trying to get bought by a major tech company.
Why Did It Fail?: Constitutional monarchy may not be the worst form of government, but this micronation was doomed by its size: it is so tiny as to be dependent on the goodwill of other nations. Still, Sealand was certainly the most successful of these projects at establishing sovereignty.

What and Where? The Minerva Reefs, an artificial island south of Tonga
What Was The Inspiration?: Las Vegas real estate magnate Michael Oliver tried building an artificial island in the early seventies by building up sand on a reef as part of a micronation that would be a libertarian paradise. The reefs were submerged at high tide, but it was thought if properly built up they would remain above sea-level.
Why Did It Fail?: Like other sea mounts, the Minerva Reefs came under the jurisdiction of neighboring nations, including hostiles from Tonga. Unwilling to fight, the project was abandoned. In 2003 a new movement of Minervans arose with...a website. As of 2005, Tonga and Fiji were still squabbling over the area.

What and Where? Oceania, an independent horseshore-shaped harbor in the Carribbean.
What Was The Reason? A hopeful libertarian Eric Klien and architect Jim Albea conceived of Oceania in early 1993 after a botched election in Nevada soured them on the U.S. The proposed images inspired the Seasteading Institute's co-founder Wayne Gramlich.
Why Did It Fail? Their website admits "the project ended due to lack of interest in April of 1994," and with an anarcho-capitalist focus, it was only likely to attract a certain type of person – a problem the Seastanding Institute will also be dealing with. Oceania founder Klien is onto a new project called The Lifeboat Foundation that looks to build a nanoshield and otherwise preserve the existence of humanity.

What and Where?: New Utopia, a chain of proposed 'islands' on concrete platforms near the Caymans.
What Was The Inspiration?: The concept's inventor is Howard Turney, who identified himself as Prince Lazarus Long and was prosecuted by the SEC for selling national bonds for $1500 each. Prince Lazarus also attempted to sue one of the people he had worked with for $10 billion, and it's really not a good idea to burn bridges when you're on a seafaring utopia.
Why Did It Fail?: New Utopia has a functioning website and per Prince Lazarus Long is still open for donations, but detailed illustrations of what might have been are about all this project has left. Yes, this project has no chance of being realized, but Friedman summarizes the larger problem presented by New Utopia and the Minerva Reef, saying, "We are very doubtful that any sea mount raised above surface level will remain unclaimed by the existing sovereign nations for very long."

What and Where?: Freedom Ship would circle the globe and stop at international ports of call.
What Was The Inspiration?: CEO Norman Nixon started the project in the late 1990s with the idea of it housing 30,000 people. Visions of a massive population that would make it a full-time cruise ship abound, and appear to have no basis in reality. At one point Nixon openly suggested the project would cost over $10 billion.
Why Did It Fail?: It hasn't entirely flopped yet, but come on. With unrealistic expectations of a casino, a hotel and a full-on commercial district, the Freedom Ship is simply too massive a plan to sustain itself. They have, on the other hand, built a 400 pound model.

In Patri Friedman's proposal for the Ephemerisle, he hopes to learn from the stalled and non-existent projects of the past:

I think that these projects all suffered from too much ambition. They attempted to tackle a difficult problem all at once, rather than dividing it into realistically small pieces. Realistically small, for a country, may not merely mean space, it may also mean time. Rather than attempting to solve the paradox of finding good land that no government wants, or the thorny engineering problems of building economical barge-cities or floating platforms, I propose the Ephemerisle: a temporary, autonomous, anarcho-capitalist community in international waters.

How to Build Your Own Sea-Based Country for Fun and Profit [Gizmodo]

World Without Women by Day Keene and Leonard Pruyn (1960)

How it happened: A mysterious illness kills off all the women in the world save a few.

How they reproduce: Unfortunately, all the women have been rendered barren, except one who was living in isolation during the plague.

How it works: The now largely male society becomes obsessed with the surviving women, with most states declaring martial law. Men who harass or assault women are shot, prostitution is legalized, and some countries require their remaining women to enter polyandrous marriages.

The White Plague by Frank Herbert (1982)

How it happened: A molecular biologist, driven mad by the loss of his wife and children by the IRA, concocts and releases a deadly biological weapon that affects only women.

How they reproduce: A very small handful of women were successfully inoculated against the plague.

How it works: The world returns to a semblance of stability, with the decimation of the female population finally uniting a once-divided world, a unity that extends to the sharing of breeding women like any other natural resource. Childbirth becomes the primary function of able women and is quickly commoditized, with women agreeing to carry the children of important military officials in exchange for protection and influence.

“A Man’s World” by Alan Moore (1985)

How it happened: The Culacaons are all naturally male.

How they reproduce: Through the act of “gamugha,” in which one party meets an unpleasant end.

How it works: The system works out fine for the Culacaon, but it can lead to some cross-cultural misunderstandings.

Hatching Stones by Anna Wilson (1991)

How it happens: When cloning becomes a technological feasibility, men find that they prefer cloning themselves to having natural-born children. Women become increasingly rare from generation to generation, until the few remaining women go into voluntary exile.

How they reproduce: Men have themselves cloned.

How it works: The men offer women exile to quell political tensions between men wish to employ cloning as the exclusive means of reproduction and women who seek a return to natural childbirth. The clones, who are portrayed as the product of their predecessors’ narcissism, live a happily hedonistic existence but suffer from a lack of personal identity.

The Disappearance by Philip Wylie (1951)

How it happened: A single dimension shifted suddenly and mysteriously in two, with one universe populated entirely with males and the other populated entirely with females.

How they reproduce: The universes remerge before it ever comes to that.

How it works: Neither dimension functions well without the other. The infrastructure and technological capabilities of the male universe remains intact, but violence breaks out around the world, forcing men to achieve their ends by force.

“The Crime and the Glory of Commander Suzdal” by Cordwainer Smith (1964)

How it happened: On the planet Arachosia, feminity is carcinogenic, so one female scientist devises a way to make the entire population male.

How they reproduce: In making the females male, the scientist also ensures that humans on Arachosia continue by developing a system whereby males can carry male children, remaking humans as the klopt.

How it works: Without women, the klopt descend into a dysfunctional, nightmarish society filled with violence. Having not seen other humans in generations, they remember women as abominations, and consequently believed that all humans of the two-gendered variety should be destroyed.

The Guardians of the Universe (Green Lantern)

How it happened: The male Malthusians sought to combat evil and promote order in the universe, establishing orders such as the Green Lantern Corps. The female Malthusians, however, had no interest in meddling in the affairs of other species (or disapproved of the Guardians’ decision to suppress their emotions, depending on where you are in the continuity) and left the males to guard the universe alone.

How they reproduce: The Malthusians, known later as the Oans, are immortal and have no need to reproduce.

How it works: All goes well until a battle with Hal Jordan, under the influence of Parallax, destroys Oa and nearly all the Guardians. When Kyle Rayner, as the nearly omnipotent Ion, decides to resurrect the Guardians, he makes them male and female, deciding they could benefit from both perspectives.

Ethan of Athos by Lois McMaster Bujold (1986)

How it happened: Believing that women have a demonic quality that inspires madness in men, a group of men settled on Athos to lead a monastic (though not asexual) existence free from women.

How they reproduce: Athos receives eggs from female donors on other planets. The eggs are then fertilized with Y chromosome-carrying sperm from the intended father, and implanted inside and birthed from a uterine replicator.

How it works: Athos represents one of fiction’s rare all-male utopias. Strongly family-oriented, men in the agrarian society form both romantic and platonic parenting relationships and tight-knit family units. But this society is preserved through strict controls on information. Men are taught from an early age that women of evil, monstrous beings, and all incoming news is heavily censored.

You also might never guess that the metal he uses to create this intricate design comes from old drill bits and machine parts. Enoki's often categorized as avant-garde, but really, he's kind of in his own category. It's also hard to tell if this super-city is a utopia or a dystopia—on one hand, it looks like it could be Sheikh Mohammed's dream island, but on the other, Enoki deliberately positions it in a pitch dark room.

Enoki Chu via the Mori Art Museum