Where Utopia is the land of dreams, Dystopia is the land of nightmares. Today, most sci-fi tales are depictions of chilling, dehumanised societies. Star Trek seems to be the only remaining defender of Utopia.

One explanation might be the forbidden charm of Dystopia, especially in cyberpunk litterature and cinema... Another explanation might be the world is turning faster. The acceleration of technology and globalisation removes all boundaries and makes it difficult to predict the future. Maybe we have reached an important turning point where our dreams as well as our nightmares may come true... Let's all pray those dark visions of the future are fantasies and not prophecies. Nevertheless, they might be warnings and perhaps we should listen to them. It is a bitter truth: It takes forever to realise a dream, but a nightmare can come true really fast. We better be vigilant and keep an eye on those in charge. Remember, Big Brother might be watching you this very moment.

The raison d'être of Exploring Dystopia is simply to promote dystopian fiction, thus stimulating people to think for themselves.

Dystopian fiction is quality science fiction: innovative and imaginative, political and critical, realistic and alarming. As such, it engenders intellectual growth, vivid imagination, political awareness and basic solidarity. It may tell us something both about our own time and days to come. In a nutshell, dystopian fiction may be a means to expand as a human being.

I also want this site to be, however pretentious it may sound, a battle cry for democracy and humanism. I believe we take these things for granted today and tend to forget what the alternative is." >from *Exploring Dystopia Manifesto by Niclas Hermansson*.

related context
> dystopia. from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
> glocal heterotopies: art, activism and technology. november 28, 2003

imago
> warning! biohazard zone

The dark side of digital utopia. "How would people act if they were freed from real life laws and social constraints? A new, interactive computer game offers just such a scenario - with some disturbing results. Alphaville and its sister cities in The Sims Online were supposed to be benign utopias that allowed people to discover who they could be when freed from the economic and social restraints that shackle them in real life. But it has not turned out like that at all. The dark side of Alphaville has been documented by one of its former "residents", Peter Ludlow, who in real life is a philosophy professor at the University of Michigan"... Quoted from 'Dot.life - Where tech meets life, every Monday' By Mark Ward (BBC News Online technology correspondent )

*utopies réalisables* - yona friedman

Pourtant, les mouvements marginaux d'aujourd'hui
représentent peut-être les solutions du futur...
La seule solution reste celle des petits groupes

L'analyse de certaines utopies sociales présentées dans ce livre implique, en sous-entendu, l'acte d'accusation et la critique des deux «méchants» de notre époque que sont: «l'État mafia» et la «Mafia des médias» (presse, télévision, etc.). L'existence d'un «État mafia» est la conséquence de l'impossibilité du maintien de l'État démocratique classique dès que les dimensions de l'État dépassent certaines limites, et la «mafia des médias» en découle directement, par suite de l'impossibilité de la communication globale» (mondiale). Internet peut être cité en exemple pour montrer que cette impossibilité n'est pas le résultat de difficultés techniques, mais vient plutôt de l'inadaptation humaine fondamentale à la communication généralisée (de tout le monde vers tout le monde). L'échec de ces deux utopies généreuses, la démocratie et la «communication globale» entre les hommes, entraîne logiquement la formation de ces mafias qui agissent en notre nom et contre nos intérêts. En même temps qu'un acte d'accusation, ce livre veut être aussi un acte d'encouragement: il s'agit d'encourager l'individu à ne donner ni son consentement tacite ni son aide, à ces deux mafias. Ce n'est pas là une invitation à la révolution, mais une invitation à la résistance.

see online book:
http://www.lyber-eclat.net/lyber/friedman/utopies.html