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[lollardfish]

Ok sci-fi fans, what are your favorite science-fiction utopias? I'm thinking about teaching a class on utopias next year, and want to use some reasonably contemporary fiction (as well as Plato, More, Bellamy, Lost Horizon, SimCity, and other stuff).

Comments

[le-trombone.livejournal.com]

Sincerely meant utopias, or the "this is not as good as you think it is" utopias?

The Dispossessed is possibly the best of the bunch already mentioned, and LeGuin doesn't hide the fact that her utopian society has difficulties.

Wicked's society is becoming more and more oppressive, and the WWoftheW starts out with good intentions that go horribly wrong.

Not mentioned yet: "With Folded Hands" and The Humanoids, both by Jack Williamson. "With Folded Hands" is sufficient for finding the utopian-but-oops flavor that Williamson presents. Read the book only if you liked the short story.

Ian Banks has a series of books that contain, among other things, artificial intelligences that run a society known as The Culture, which appears to be genuinely utopian. Not all societies are part of The Culture though, so there are conflicts. Fair warning, I find Banks reliably loses my interest midway through a book, and I have to force myself to get past that to finish the book.

[lollardfish.livejournal.com]

Thanks!