This course examines the ways in which utopian visions of the future often critique human obsessions with power and perfectibility. It will explore the prevalence of Utopian narratives throughout history, focusing on how they have shifted with the advancement of 20th and 21st century developments in mass infrastructure and housing, ‘cheap’ nuclear energy space exploration, robots, artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, and big data analysis. It seeks to come to terms with the idea that while any society would reject social/political development which force them to give up free will though pain and torture, these same societies might be more tempted by a life of pleasure, peace and absence from fear even if they came at the expense of other social liberties. Using close reading of literature and film this course will discuss what such visions of the future say about the ever-shifting moral and ethical codes which accompany social and political change – change which seems to occur with increasing frequency during periods of rapid technological growth
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