Technological Visions of Utopia

Text Selections
Thomas More, Utopia
George Orwell, 1984
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
Ursula Le Guin, The Dispossessed
Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash

Course Description
Throughout history, philosophers have speculated about the nature of the “good society” and how to achieve it.  Although earlier writers had offered their own views, Sir Thomas More gave a name to this ideal society that has now become part of common language: utopia. In the almost 500 years since More’s Utopia appeared, changes in society — including enormous advances in science and technology — have opened up new possibilities for the utopian society that More and his predecessors could not have envisioned. At the same time, science and technology also entail risks that suggest more dystopian scenarios—in their most extreme form, threats to humanity’s very survival. This course looks at several works that consider how literary visions of society have evolved with the progress of science and technology.  The readings begin with More and continue forward to the much more technologically determined visions of the late 20th century. The course also considers one cinematic treatment of technology and utopia, Fritz Lang's film classic Metropolis.

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