#utopia dystopia

[closetdystopia]

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I'm starin' down the lens, and it's like lookin' into an abyss that's swallowed the guy I used to be. These wires, they're not just connected to my body; they're tethered to whatever's left of my soul. It's a mental labyrinth, and every thought's a dead-end, every emotion's a flickerin' light about to go out. I keep pullin' on these threads, hopin' to find some fragment of me that's still real, still human. But the more I pull, the more they unravel, 'til there's nothin' left to hold onto. The last flicker of emotion, the last shred of hope— it's all gone. I'm just a shell in a world that's moved on, a ghost in the machine with no place to haunt.

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>> PJT36v7

[nestedneons]

By jilt with stablediffusion

Cyberpunk art commissions

Ko-Fi

My ai workflows

[imperceiveable]

bending unit

[alpaca-clouds]

Magically Healing Disabilities and the Road to Eugenics

Because this topic comes up again and again - and a lot of abled people just don't get it - let me try to explain this one more time:

If you create a SciFi or Fantasy world in which there are no people with disabilities, because all disabilities can be healed through magic or technology, you are creating an ableistic world, that favors eugenics!

Erasing disabilities from a world is something eugenicists would want to do, nothing else.

A lot of abled people will reply: "But I just want everyone to be able to live their lives at the fullest in my world!" What they do not quite grasp is, that with that they prescribe what "living a life at its fullest" means to people, not realizing that it can mean a whole lot of different things to folks.

Frankly: I do not think I could live my life at its fullest without my autism, thank you very much.

And sure, some might say: "But what is with people who cannot walk or cannot see?" And I am honest: I would be lying if I said that I could imagine living without my eyesight. But I know people with blindness who absolutely do live their life at its fullest and are perfectly fine the way they are. And it is not my place to tell them that they are not.

Yeah, there are absolutely people who totally would take the magical or technological cure - and I do not see any issue with creating a world that offers it to people. I mean, right now I am suffering from what in two weeks will officially be called long COVID, which makes me absolutely unable to bike and other stuff. And if you told me: "Here, take this pill and it goes away" I am going to take that pill ASAP. But forcing me to take the pill would be wrong, don't you think?

Then there is the other argument that comes along. Of: "Alright, some people do not want to be healed, but if there is a cure why should anyone bother to make the world accessible for folks who do not want to be healed? It is their own fault!" (Yes, I had someone argue this to me before.)

So, let me address it like this: Genetically speaking blonde and redhaired people have a higher likelihood to suffer from certain conditions (especially skin and eye related). So, should we say: "Yeah, well, we need to genetically make you dark-haired and darker skinned, or if you disagree we will not pay for your healthcare"?

Probably not.

Or what is with people who just hate eating their veggies, something that we absolutely do know carries health risks? "Either eat your veggies, or we will not take care for you?" That would be super out of line, right?

Or lets talk about something that left folks will hopefully care about: Trans healthcare. Like, sure, there are massive mental health benefits that come from it. But there are other health risks associated with it too. Should folks just not take care of those, because they are "self-imposed"?

Do you see how much of a slippery slope that is?

Not to mention once again: What is and is not considered a disability is at times pretty randomly decided. It is always an artificial line drawn in the sand. What is a "healthy body"?

And I also should once more note: Most disabilities are in fact disabilities people acquire during their life. Through accidents, through other illnesses, through simply aging. Should we criminalize aging to not have to create accessibility stuff for old people with walking aids? Do you really think that would be good?

So, yeah. Not only is a "world without disabilities because magic" fairly dumb if you consider all the aspects of disabilities - it also is very much eugenicist.

[quasi-normalcy]

The problem is that a hundred years of stories have primed us not to take utopias at face value. You come forward in a time machine and see a beautiful green Arcadia and you think "Where are the mentally regressed human descendants and the other group of human descendants who live underground and harvest them as livestock?" You wake up in the far future in a world with no poverty or war and you think, "Okay, where are the lobotomy machines?" You beam down to a hedonistic sex planet and think "Uh-oh; they probably have some arbitrary death penalty for stepping on the grass or something." You're always waiting for the other shoe to drop; it's not interesting or subversive anymore.

I think a more interesting twist would be to come to a society that turns out, upon detailed investigation, to be exactly as it appears. Or to come to a society that, at first brush, appears to be a dystopia, but upon analysis is actually utopian, just not in the way you were expecting. Or to come upon a society which could be either utopian or dystopian depending on what implicit values you carry within you.

[anoxthon]

This is me when i make my oc's live in a horrible anarcho capitalist dystopian hellscape

[lets-get-lit]

But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.

- George Orwell, 1984

[writtenroses1813]

Just putting this out here cause I had to explain it to my mom, but here are the types of fiction (sorry if I leave out any)

Urban fantasy aka “I live in a modern society but turns out the creatures of old live in the forest” Ex: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Paranormal (Romance) aka “My sexy neighbor is secretly a werewolf/vampire and I’m a human teenage girl” Ex: Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

Epic Fantasy aka “This is a crazy quest isn’t it my dear found family” Ex: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

High Fantasy aka “This is a crazy quest of prophecy isn’t it my dear found family oh look a dragon” Ex: The Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien

Dystopian aka “This future world is apocalyptic and quite obviously favors the rich” Ex: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Utopian aka “This future world seems peaceful on the outside but that just covers all the absolutely insane problems only this 16-year-old can fix” Ex: The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

[joethehoeee]

Week one of keenswimmers2023

Prompt: Dystopia/Utopia.

I personally decided to do Dystopia and I know I am late but I can explain-

No actually I can't...dosen't matter, It's there.

I uhm decided to do a world were Gunmar broke free in season one and actually killed Jim. Strickler obviously was shocked but we all know that season one him is a ...well...kind of a dick, wich means he "got over it"...until he realized how fucked up this actually is.

He did keep his promise tho, he protects Barbara. He eventually tells her that he is a changeling but he bends the truth how he needs it to be. Strickler leaves Gunmar after finding out that he will kill every human and he decided (after veeeeery looooong thoughts) that Barbara is more worth than his selfish plans.

Barb would eventually find out the truth after Strickler left Gunmar for her and he tries to survive or at least he is trying to keep her alive. Barb can't forgive him. She won’t forgive him.

How does it end...? They both probably die...

...

Anyways have fun with this :D

Close up from them just bc:

And yes...Barb has a stick...she couldn’t find her broom.

Ohhh and did Strickler broke off one of his horns? Yes he did. Wanna know how? Gunmar did it after Strickler refused to tell him were he hides Barbara.

Barb's scars are easier to see but Walt tends to jump infront of her. He fights for her as long as his body works.

He gives her food and water as much as she needs and takes what's left or eats trash. He refuses to sleep, to watch over her. He holds himself awake as long as nessecary until his body can't take it.

:D

[chasingqueerdreams939]

Remember kids, we are only a few steps away from the dystopian societies we read about in novels. Keeping track of legislation passed by our respective societies, makes that apparent.

Remember to fight for genuine freedom.

[closetdystopia]

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Amidst the cold fusion of metal and flesh, Cyra's eyes—part organic, part digital—lock onto the security camera, hoping you're watching on the other side. A tear, a rare anomaly in her cybernetic existence, trickles down her cheek. 'Remember me, 'kay?' she murmurs. Each word is heavy with the weight of a thousand deleted memories, a plea to preserve her essence in a world that's quick to overwrite the human with code. As if saying it out loud could anchor her soul in a reality that's constantly rebooting, she wants you to remember her—not as a mere assemblage of circuits and gears, but as a being capable of love, pain, and tears.

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>> Cyra

[thorne1435]

Don't nuance me, if your answer is ultimately yes or no, then it's still yes or no. Just explain yourself in the tags.

[wealmostaneckbeard]

We're going to a museum in a sci-fi setting!

[alpaca-clouds]

Cyberpunk and Solarpunk

Someone wrote a comment in a retweet under my last post about solarpunk. About how maybe Cyberpunk is more suited to motivate us to work for a better future, than Solarpunk is. Because Cyberpunk can show us, how bad it can get, it can be a warning.

My issue is, that for the most part it isn't.

Now, don't get me wrong. I adore Cyberpunk. I basically grew up in Japanese Cyberpunk especially (which I like a lot more than Western Cyberpunk - but the reasons are to complex to discuss here). But I think for a plethora of reasons it does not work as a "warning".

Part of the reason is, that the dystopia of Cyberpunk is not that far away from reality anymore these days. Even in effective Cyberpunk, that really goes into the Late Stage Capitalism... It shows a stark divide between rich and poor, state violence, rule of coorporations, end of ecosystems. Yes, it is more heightened than our reality, but it is all that we see in our reality right now and... we are kinda getting used to it. We are getting used to all the horrible things happening right now, because we feel powerless and our minds do not know how else to deal with it. So they will just chuck it of as "normal".

The other reason, why I think, Cyberpunk fails, is, that it is objectively cool. And a lot of people, who consume Cyberpunk media, do not engage with the dystopia, but just with the power fantasy of being a cool street sam with a lot of awesome augmentations. They want Cyberpunk to be real, not to prevent it. Because to them, it is mostly a really darn cool aesthetic.

And a last reason is, that in the end Cyberpunk does not offer solutions. Half the point of the genre is a sort of hopelessness. In most Cyberpunk there is no big happy ending. The happy end is, that the characters get to survive. Maybe, just maybe, the characters manage to bring down one coorporation or at least one corrupt CEO. But the most the characters get, is, to survive and maybe kiss a love interest. The point of Cyberpunk is the hopelessness.

But you cannot build a better world from hopelessness.

Which is, why I see Solarpunk as so promising - and am at the same time afraid of it turning too much into an "aesthetics only" movement. Because Solarpunk at its core is about reclaiming optimism for the future. It is not (only) an art movement, but first and foremost a genre of both fiction and activism.

If you look into the Solarpunk Manifesto, you will find that, it is about optimism and rebellion against the current system. About the things, that we so desperately need right now.

It is supposed to offer those solutions, that Cyberpunk does not want to offer - or rather that Cyberpunk thinks are out of reach.

Because here is the thing about Solarpunk: Yes, it is Science Fiction, but a lot of the Science it presents is available today. If states were actually to invest in it, we could have clean energy by 2035. That is not unrealistic. Because the technology is here, we just need to use it.

Degrowth, which is another core tennent of Solarpunk, is also possible. And it does not need to mean "live bad", as so many publications try to make it out.

Building local communities, too, is possible. The reasons we lost local communities, is, that the current system we live under, does not want us to have those communities - because communities allow us to organize and retake our power.

Those tennents have been there in Solarpunk from the very beginning. And it is quite frankly frightening to see, how the movement gets kinda taken over by people, only being there for green aesthetics.

This is not meant to be escapism. At least not just that. It is supposed to be a root of activism.

[quasi-normalcy]

[tiny-space-whale]

I think utopian literature (incl. solarpunk, hopeful future, &c.) actually makes me more angry than the dystopian variety.

I just keep thinking about how achievable it feels while I'm reading, then I have to snap back to reality. Reality where I have a degree and work 55 hours a week yet can't afford to fix my teeth or my car or live somewhere even remotely comfortable while the people that decide how much I get paid and how much a house costs and whether or not to invest in functional public transport or healthcare would rather donate a trillion dollars to fund a foreign genocide than fix anything anywhere. And I'm on the more fortunate side of the bell curve.

And we'll never get to the world I was just reading about in my lifetime, even if everyone starts working toward it right now. And it feels like there's nothing I can do to even nudge things in the right direction.

I'm already in the dystopia.

It's the dreaming of better that angers me.