🎇A Utopian Thesis🎇
Episode 0 of my new(ish) Building Better Futures series
Utopia.
Oh, you wily word you.
Are you good or are you shame?
Are you the dream we all hope for, or the nightmare we fear we can’t escape?
Is it possible to reach for your gilded skies and golden rain?
Or are we doomed to drown in this never-ending pain?
I dont know. And nor do you!
Because you dont exist. Not yet, at least.
You are my future children. My descendants stretching into the long horizon.
You are my hopes and dreams. My fears and anxieties come to fruition.
You are my legacy.
And so I shant expect you to already be what should be my responsibility.
It is I that gets to decide your fate. That is burdened with that love… or hate
That you will have for me should I fail to do all I can to create the life I wished to have
That I’ve gotten from my ancestors.
Perhaps they fought. Perhaps they won some. Perhaps they lost.
Perhaps they never even tried. Unfortunately, to me, their contributions are unknown.
That’s why I can’t sit back and just cry. That’s why I can’t crawl into a corner and die.
That’s why I fight and I dream and I strive.
Because I want you to KNOW all that I did for you.
Whether through selfish yearning for meaning in a nihilistic world.
Or for an altruistic burning of my self to seed the ground for your growth.
Maybe simply to spite all those that seek my failure, defeat, and submission…
Maybe it’s just to say fuck them.
I refuse to give up on me… on you… on us,
And our ability to be better than what I have seen;
Than the suffering my past futures have gifted to me.
Regardless… I am alive right now. And I get to decide what you mean to me.
What you end up becoming.
So I choose good. I choose better.
I choose a future in which I will be proud to have built.
That you will be proud to carry on to ever better futures,
And to descendants who will be ever more fulfilled.
Evermore free.
Evermore happy.
Evermore empowered.
Evermore loving.
I choose to be an ancestor to Utopia.
You beautiful being you.
INTRODUCTION
For those that don't know me; hi, my name is unimportant at this time.
But I like to call myself a technowizard and technoshaman… an anarchofuturist and Afrofuturist… an ambitious dreamer who wants to radically change the world for the better.
Here’s some background about me:
For as long as I can remember, I wanted to fly.
Since 3rd grade I've been obsessed with inventing hover cars and other flying vehicles.
Since high school I knew that I didn't like the world I lived in and wanted to change it to be better.
I wanted to solve poverty and hunger and transit, among other things.
Since my first corporate job at the age of 21, I knew I couldn't keep living this way. I wanted better for myself, my friends and family, the love of my life, and everyone else too.
Since my first forays into activism around the age of 25, I knew I wanted more. And that this type of organizing wasn't for me. I was too impatient, too restless, and too radical to be okay with the small wins and limited scope.
I needed to change the world, now… or at least within my lifetime.
So I began learning even more about how massive change happens. I endeavored to change my own behaviors and expectations. I worked to live the life I wanted to create.
Now I'm 30 as of writing this and I finally have the audacity to just go for it. To put aside my fears and worries and feelings of inadequacy and indecisiveness to just put everything out there.
So here I am.
I'm an autodidact, a bit of a gamer, a designer, a lover of technology indistinguishable from magic, a Luddite, an afro optimist, a binge reader of web fictions and audio books, a podcaster and listener, a philosopher and thinker of great unknown, a cat daddy, a cosmic spirit, a communalist, a black anarchist, and infinitely more.
I love long walks under tall trees, talking about better futures, dreaming about inventing magic, making intimate friends, loving my partner, reading far too much, and writing too much too, listening to dynamic music, learning learning and learning some more… amidst countless other things.
I don't much like talking about myself, but I hope this is enough to get you invested in me enough to check out these massive ideas I feel I am a channel for.
Welcome to my corner of the multiverse… where I hope to Build Better Futures with you.
THE IDEA
Better futures can and should exist. Utopia can and should be a real thing.
But perfection is not real. Perfection is a horizon we are always sailing towards but can never reach.
What does that mean for Utopia?
That means we can and should be aiming to create ever better futures, rather than arriving at some destination where everything is ‘perfect’.
Call it Protopia, Solarpunk, Anarchofuturism, or whatever… the point is that in order for us to truly build towards a better future, we have to actually Believe in that future!
We have to believe that not only is utopia possible, but that it does not have to be perfect!
It CANT be perfect.
It WONT be perfect…
It only has to be BETTER than today.
THE WHY
It’s not enough to just fight against the fascism, authoritarianism, racism, sexism, capitalism, fundamentalism, and other evils and idiocies of today… we have to also be fighting FOR something.
It’s not enough to just have a vague idea of things being better if we get through this… if the Revolution comes… or if it all collapses and we get to start from scratch… We can’t depend on any of that to create the space for utopia, because we wouldn’t have built any foundation for those better futures to exist!
Society has collapsed many times before. Humanity has nearly gone extinct before. And yet, here we are. For better and for worse.
This is not a call to misanthropes either, because MOST other animals on this Earth are probably even worse than humans when it comes to violence and power abuse.
No other animal has the capacity for the amount of pro-social altruism we are capable of. And no other lifeform should be saddled with the inevitable baggage of our passing on this planet.
That doesn’t mean we’re better and should be the ‘masters’ over other creatures though! That just means we have a unique role to play as conscious beings.
All that to say… we have to do better. For the sake of all life on earth, for our own, and possibly even for beyond.
We have to engage in the practice and the anarchist calisthenics of imagining what good looks like. Of truly detailing out various ways in which we could be doing things better.
It’s not enough to just critique the current systems. It’s not even enough to fight against them.
We have to also employ utopian propaganda. We have to provide stimulating, engaging, and desirable futures to attract people who are stuck in the mire of today.
We have to inspire people to WANT to fight the hard fight even when everything seems hopeless… even when they seem powerless… and especially when ‘the other side’ seems to be the only ones speaking to their concerns and their dreams.
We have to provide alternatives that seem SO viable that people of all walks of life wonder why in the FUCK should they settle for anything less?!
.
So that’s what I want to do.
I want to create spaces for people to hope, to learn, and to build as a true community.
I want to help Build Better Futures, together!
THE HOW
I plan to do this by sharing my own ideas around what better futures can look like. This will be done from the most accessible methods I have available to me on to more ambitious mediums that I one day hope to use.
That means starting with writing here on Substack (but eventually other places), and using these as (tran)scripts for podcasts and videos.
These videos will have to start as simple audio-only readings, but I want to add awesome art, music, and other visuals and effects to make them into incredible productions, hopefully sooner than later.
I also want to do streams with viewers where we workshop futures together!
Eventually, I want to create more interactive and immersive media like music, games, animations, webfictions, and even immersive virtual worlds that embody these futures!
Finally, and most importantly, I want to create tools and systems that people can utilize to create these better futures. I’ve listed a few of these in my past writing (which will be continued in this series!).
As for the makeup of the media; it will be a mix of sexy ‘propaganda’ (ie engaging infotainment), empirical data on what good looks like/what is possible, and radical sociopolitical ideas. Kind of like hard sci-fi but with a decidedly Solarpunk and Black Anarchist lens.
The series will start off with broad concepts, then drill down into more detailed topics and ideas later on, especially as I get comments, questions, and critiques about specific things.
I have a rough formula for how I want to break down each episode in this series into three parts:
Envision at least 3 different possible utopian futures
Explore potential conflict they would face in these futures
Explain possible action steps on how we might get there
Let’s review each part.
Part 1 - Envisioning Possible Futures
Each episode will focus on a specific topic (more on this later), and will start off with a few visions focused on the topic in discussion.
I want to share multiple futures to give people options (and practice my own ideation skills) as well as break people out of this deterministic idea of the ‘the future’. I think the way people talk about ‘the future,’ as if there is one inevitable outcome already set in stone, to be incredibly myopic, silly, and counter productive. It assumes that such things like (shitty) technological progress, or capitalism, or the persistence of the American power system, or the idea of ‘human nature’ itself, and whatever else things we were indoctrinated to believe are all out of our control.
Whenever we say things like ‘the future is looking grim’ or ‘AI will take over everything’ or ‘maybe the dolphins will have a better chance’ or whatever other doomerist take being normalized, we are giving up our ability to actually create the future we want to live in. We are saying that someone else… likely the billionaires and power-hungry politicians are the only ones who get to decide what the world will be.
Likewise, even more grounded assumptions of the future like ‘I’m saving for retirement’, ‘Im building wealth’, or ‘Im just trying to survive under capitalism’ is also fairly defeatist, or at the very least, settling for a future that is not AT ALL guaranteed.
Perhaps it was fair enough in our parents and grandparents day to assume that retirement, wealth building, and simple survival were enough to depend on, but we do not live in such a world anymore (and even back then, it wasn’t as guaranteed as they pretend it was… plenty of us probably know or have elders that did not get to retire like they thought they would). Today, we live in a world where human civilization, and possibly even all or most life on earth, may go extinct. Whether it be due to nuclear war, climate change, artificial intelligence, or whatever else… This is not to depress you, simply to show that we cannot take the future for granted.
Even if we assume nothing truly disastrous happens and life continues much the same as it has for the last hundred or so years… is this really all we can amount to? Is this all we, and our descendants, have to hope for in our future??
I say NO! I refuse to settle for this shit. I want more than this. I want better. And I think we must create the futures we want to see. I say all that to implore you to consider that maybe ‘the future’ being forced down our throats is neither desirable, nor necessary. That in fact, we should, can, and MUST demand something better.
Furthermore, we shant put all our hopes into one basket. It’s absolutely foolish to believe that we can convince everyone to believe in the same vision. There lies the road to yet more fascism and authoritarianism. To more of the same bullshit we see today.
Instead, we must build towards a future where multiple futures can exist.
A plurality of futures.
Hence why I want to start every episode sharing multiple ideas for different futures we can build. I want to show that we have options, and that they are unlimited in breadth and scope. I want to inspire and motivate people to imagine their own ideal futures.
I want to encourage people to want to work together to each create their own utopia amidst utopias.
The future is not a zero-sum game. Nor is any one future inevitable. It is a nebulous realm of possibilities where we all can win, so long as we strive to win together.
But it won’t be perfect!
Part 2 - Exploring Potential Conflicts
Too often do we only ever hear the word ‘utopia’ in conjunction with a ‘perfect’ society… that harbors a dark secret, or some other bullshit.
Thus, most of us find it hard to believe that such a thing could ever be possible. We therefore immediately dismiss any and all ideas of radical change for the better as ‘unrealistic’ or ‘naive’ or ‘impractical’. We thus give up on ourselves. We give up on our dreams… on even trying to dream.
Or worse, we believe the propaganda around nation building and capitalism. We believe their drivel that we live in the best time to ever exist.
We ignore the fact that violence is weaponized and systemized at unimaginable scales never before seen in human history. We ignore the fact that we are allowing people to die of hunger, thirst, exposure, and sickness in a world where we have so much food, water, housing, and medical resources that almost half of it is literally thrown out and wasted!
We ignore the constant dehumanizing treatment, the disrespect, the disregard, the apathy, and even downright sadistic pain we all suffer on a nigh daily basis.
We ignore our own depression, our anger, our frustration, our anxiety, our grief and loss and hopelessness, our boredom and fatigue, and especially our powerlessness we all feel on a regular.
We ignore the sheer ineptitude and primitive backwardness of our so-called ‘advanced civilization’ that forces us to work every single day while taking most or all of the actual value and joy of our labor. The fact that we are still living like cavemen… having to go out and scavenge for food and housing and safety in order to survive. Except unlike them, we don’t even get to learn more about the world around us! Instead, we get to be complicit victims in the constant destruction of all things natural, and beautiful, and mysterious just so that we can have fed back to us in the form of a meaningless ad or expensive product or exclusive service.
I could go on, but I’ll leave that for the series…
The point is, these are not good problems to have. These are not what I imagine ‘the future’ to be like. Especially not one where we’re supposed to be so far advanced beyond our ancestors.
I want to recontextualize these issues, and refine our understanding of ‘Utopia’.
I want to show that the problems we face today can and SHOULD be solved. And that utopia can Truly be better, rather than just dystopia in disguise.
We are already living that lie. Our world is already a cyberpunk dystopia masquerading as polite and ‘civilized’ society. This aint it. I want to show what truly better futures can look like, by grounding them in realities of the past.
Every episode will discuss a few potential issues people of these futures might have to face. These problems will range in scale and severity, but they will nonetheless be important issues.
I hope to show you what better problems we Could be having look like. To show how realistic utopian societies could be, by spotlighting the very real conflict they will probably face. But in doing so, I hope to convince you that such utopian problems, even when significant, would still be preferable to the bullshit we face today.
A perfect world is not one where all problems are solved, but one where its not perfect, and people are actually empowered to solve problems that are unique to them. And to truly be solving those problems leading to ever better ones, rather than just shuffling them around and making worse problems in the process.
I want to show that we should be aiming to have better problems to solve!
Part 3 - Explaining Potential Action Steps
Finally, each episode should end with a call to action.
If the visions shared excite folks; if I successfully convinced people that those are the types of problems they rather have, then I will invite people to actually make it happen!
I want to give various ideas on radical steps they can take. Things that go beyond just speaking to their local politician or protesting. Sure, those are always options. But plenty of people already call for that… and plenty of us don’t feel like they are moving the needle enough.
So I want to apply lessons from successful revolutions and utopian-like societies from the past, to inspire meaningful change into the future.
Much of it will seem disturbingly simple… like making friends, but I hope to describe the sheer scope and possibilities of these actions if they really commit to it… if WE commit to it.
I want to show people that changing the world really doesn’t have to be that complicated. Nor do they need to be in some position of power. I want to give people the mindset that they Always have the power to change the world around them.
A big part of this will be demonstrating how absolutely vapid these current power structures and systems are. When it comes down to it… a lot of our current society already runs on imagination and make believe. Concepts such as ‘value’ and ‘money’ and even ‘power’ to some extent are things that we create or reinforce in our minds.
By simply changing our perspective on things, we can change the reality of what we think we can and can’t do. Especially on a communal and intercommunal scale.
I hope to change the culture from one of scrolling and powerlessness, to one of communicating and empowerment. I think this will lead to more action, more community building, and therefore the possibilities of these utopian futures coming into fruition much sooner than we thought possible!
Last but certainly not least, I hope to also use this section to share requests I have for my own projects, enable opportunities for people to connect with other folks building better futures, and to spotlight progress and projects that inspire me in turn.
I want my comments to be filled with people actively working together to make the world a better place, rather than just talking about it (though even that will be better than not even talking about it!).
I am sick and tired of going online just to see things that make me feel depressed and anxious and fatigued and angry.
The internet should be a place to find hope too. And to connect with likeminded people. And even to expose people to ideas that turn them into the type of people you want to build with. So that’s what I want to do.
I want this series to kickstart, reinforce, and accelerate those people out there that are like me and want to fix the world.
I want people to feel excited to see my ‘content’ on their feed, because they know that its not just content… its hope… its a helping hand, from me to them, pulling them into a better future of one sort or another.
I want to inspire more people to take these ideas and build them. Or even to critique them… albeit with alternative solutions. Because if anyone thinks they’re just going to tear it apart and offer no better ideas, than I WILL fight back.
I’ve always been scared that my ideas would be ignored, or stolen, or corrupted… but I’ve finally realized that something worse is happening… people are having and being flooded with absolutely STUPID ideas! With batshit crazy ones. With terribly regressive ones that have NO basis in any reality I care to live in and with no respect to the lessons we already learned on why those shitty ideas were bad!
I’ve had to come to grips with the fact that mediocrity, myopia, and malignance is winning right now… because not enough of us who are actionably optimistic, forward-thinking, empathetic, holistic, and quite frankly better are speaking up enough.
We are letting ourselves, each other, and the vast realm of better futures down by being too scared and anxious and perfectionist to create, share, and market our own ideas.
I’ve always struggled with confidence for fear of being arrogant…
I’ve always struggled with speaking up for fear of speaking over others more deserving…
I’ve always struggled with asking for help or for more for fear of taking up space…
I’ve struggled to act more because I felt like I needed more information, more skills, more connections, more money, more power, more energy, more time…
No more.
I’m confident because I spurn arrogance and embrace humility.
I’m speaking up because I speak out for others and give voice for them to speak too.
I’m asking for help and demanding more to create space for myself and others to exist in a better world.
I’m choosing to act with what I know and what I have right now. Because I can. Because anything is better than nothing. Because I can’t keep letting bullshit proliferate nearly unchallenged.
What about you?
THE WHAT
If any of this excites you, then I encourage you to reach out!! I really want to do this together!
Here’s a list of all the possible topics and sub-topics I’ve been thinking about covering for future episodes:
Cities (This will be Episode 1!)
Micro Cities
Fractal Cities
Living Cities
Rewilding/nature
Half earth
Green belts and causeways
Blending natures
Spirituality
Death of Religion
Secular Rituals
Polytheism
Art
Exploratory music/art
Rise of Punk
Expressing ancestral pain/suffering
Consumption
Consumerism
Media
Commercial products
Business
Capitalism
Solving problems
Profit
Growth
IP, Property, and Ownership
Internet
Search
Browsing
Library system
Digital universe (Better Metaverse)/digiverse
Notifications
RSS
WUPFH
Technology
Design
Development
Open Source
Manufacturing
Space industry
Science
Space Exploration
Medicine
Psychology
Philosophy
Food
Production
Agriculture
Manufacturing
Distribution
Experimentation
Conflict
Personal
Social
Inter communal
War
Dealing with current powers
Things may not go in this order, and I’ll likely have even more ideas as I go. But if any of this sounds interesting to you, then Please reach out and say what you’d like to hear in these episodes!
If you are so inspired as to do this yourself, feel free! Here are some ‘spinoff’ ideas I have but may or may not get to work on anytime soon to give you more options:
Day in the life of Utopia (Heavily inspired by Srsly Wrong!)
Board games and video games
Anarcho fantasy and anarcho sci-fi stories/media
Immersive virtual worlds
Building utopia street interviews
Music/art to build utopia to
Finally, here is some of the people I need help from!
Editors
Audio engineers
Videographers
Animators
Visual Artists
Musicians
Game designers
Developers
Experts of any field open to interviews
Everyday people
Funding
I don’t have monies to spend right now, and I really want to create spaces where money is not the main way to get things done. So, I’m hoping to exchange services.
Here’s what I can offer:
UX Design services
Documentation services
Idea generation and/or critique
Worldbuilding
Advice on how to build (real) community (from my own experiences)
Writing services
Collabs on your content/projects
Resources I find, especially in Atlanta
Accountability partner
Potential community (starting with a shared chatroom for folks like us)
Physical hangouts (if we vibe)
Potential friendship (if we really vibe!)
And here’s a list of people and media that has inspired me to do this whole idea!
Solarpunk (The whole concept!)
- (See you in the sunshine!)
Our Changing Climate (Especially this video on Nebula)
And more Creators like Foreign, FD Signifier, Khadija, CJ The X, Nathan Zed, etc
As always, thanks for reading and please like, comment, subscribe, share, and all that good stuff!
There is SO MUCH more to come, and I will do my damnedest to make it happen.
And honestly, your participation will make it much easier to actually follow through. Otherwise, I feel like I’m just shouting into a vacuum… I rather feel like I’m creating futures alone.
Will you join me?
Hi Elijah, as my name suggests, I am of the same ilk. I am also an afofuturist from East Africa.
I will read more of your work but I would also love to chat with you since we share so much. I just inboxed you ♥️