- higher life expectancy
- possibly new mobility ⇒ autonomous public transport / cars
- mundane tasks will be automated
p. 282
Utopian novels portray future scenarious with ideal societies, whilst a dystopia portrays the opposite: future scenarios where current values like democracy or free speech are abolished and where may be a general unsafety unlike the current peace. Both of them often tackle contemporary socio-economic and political issues by either driving them to the extreme in case of the dystopian future or completely solving them in case of the utopian futures. Additionally, they may describe entirely societies to achieve the same effect.
Both utopian and dystopian futures are often combined with science-fiction, a fantasy-like fiction genre where the magical aspects are replaced with technology based pseudoscience labelling (currently) impossible things as technological advancements.
I personally can think of way more dystopian stories (1984, Brave New World, The Hunger Games, The Giver, Erebos, basically every Doctor Who episode that portrays an alternative society) than utopian stories (besides More’s „Utopia”, I can only think of Plato’s Republic). I think from a reader’s perspective, dystopian stories are easier to create conflict with which is much more interesting. In an entirely utopian setting, it is hard to find conflict which is needed for the story to become interesting. Additionally, dystopias can more easily parade and criticize our society which adds another layer for the reader to discover. This is why I think that most sci-fi stories that aren’t utopias just have the normal sci-fi technical evolution, but still have diverse societies with lots of issues (e.g. the Galactic Republik from Star Wars).
1.
- probable topics: dictatorship, totalitarian governments, no individualism, no opinion, remove ability to freedom of thought
- author’s beliefs: very pessimistic
2a.
- swapped around the letters of the time of writing, 48 → 84
2b.
- post-war trauma
- sickness
- close to death