kestrel

Prompt 032: Ideal Future

32. A supernatural being comes to you and says that it will give you the ability to design your ideal future. What world do you create and why?

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As per usual with these hypotheticals, I choose to "go big or go home."

An ideal future would permit government-assisted separatism. If an interested group of individuals wanted to cut them off from the general population and develop their own intentional community (based on any common denominator, but most common would be race or sex), they could do so and receive government assistance for the process. There would be taxes collected and other concessions made to the central government to maintain this privilege, based on the number of individuals that comprised this group.

If the separatist cell was successful, they could maintain and grow as needed. If they were not successful and/or were too much of a drain on the public coffers, they would be absorbed back into the general population. The cell would remain responsible for maintaining themselves, interacting with the general population as they see fit. These cells would operate independently, but still report accurately to the central government with census data and economic impact data. If their cell is based in an area with an abundance of natural resources, they would be responsible for maintaining the balance of natural resources, and would receive subsidies if their ecological impact was net zero or in the negative.

I would develop a future that provided 90% transparency in government and separatist operations. I would outlaw corporations and dissolve corporate power, instead providing incentives for collaboration, collectivism, and employee ownership within businesses. I would promote the skilled trades over advanced degrees in finance. I would decriminalize prostitution, and instead arrest and imprison the johns, the pimps, and the traffickers. I would castrate all convicted rapists. I would provide incentives for vegetarianism and veganism, and provide no more incentives for animal farmers. I would funnel funds into education, as well as research for sustainable technologies that do not poison the natural environment.

I would abolish religion, instead focusing on science and philosophy as guiding principles for the general population.

It sounds like a radical social change would be afoot in this ideal future. But I have the feeling I'd want it so in order to make a sea change to the dominant culture. I personally think molding culture is the most powerful action any institution can make, and were I in charge of crafting the future, that would be my focus. I like the slogan of "seventh generation," which means that any significant decision must be made in the interest of the people who will be here seven generations from now. This would be the prime directive of my ideal future.