What is the ideal Society?

[John Eric Tiessen]

Over the centuries humanity has toyed with many different forms of government. All of these forms of government have their critics and in some ways have failed. So the question becomes is there such a thing as a perfect government?

[LoudlySurreptitious]

The ideal society? Redwall Abbey. Self sustaining, small commune. They all eat delicious, delicious food and then go on amazing adventures. Who doesn't want that?

[Abreo]

Communal living, anarchism. Preferably with some combination of modern (or future) life with some form of primitivism. I'm not entirely for a primitive lifestyle because to deny the benefits of technology is a bit ridiculous but there's certainly a lot of aspects about modern life that humans were not made for and I don't think we're adapting to it entirely well. I also know that many people are too lazy or afraid of responsibility to take it themselves all the time but seeing as I become happier the more independent I am even if I'm afraid of the next step. I think being almost entirely responsible for oneself is ideal. I say almost because as long as you have friends and/or family there'll be some form of dependency. 

Achieving the ideal anything though sure is a bitch. Lot of steps to get there, and lots of things to consider.

[Claire Sanner]

no, because at eventually there will always be corruption no matter how perfect it seem to start out

[patch]

Nope.

The best sort of government is a steady, ongoing work-in-progress. Constantly re-evaluating and adjusting, the ongoing balancing act between economic and social stability.
I imagine this sounds pessimistic...but I find it encouraging.

[Ian Gale]

Ideal Society... An Utopia.

lots of people imagine ideal world is one that perfect solution is to surround yourself with like-mind people and all you enjoy same activities with amount of interaction you wish to have without consequences for ignoring or spending all your time with these people. And you can live without anyone depending on you and vice versa without negative effect.  and/or  any (severe) conflict. With Social or Government stable.  Making a perfect  peaceful (unless you want some wars going )society/world.

I dislike this image of this kind of Idealism since it's boring. That world is perfect and thus nothing changes since It is perfect and no one needs another since everyone is perfect. World halts in stasis. Full of perfect people and not changing for eternity. And doesn't produce anything since it's perfect. With perfect smiles and perfect mindsets. 

;The world (that we live in)is inperfect. That is my ideal world; Despite our faults or faults of others. We need each other since we are all imperfect. We create things that works to help others or ourselves. Things that don't work because we can't always get what we wanted. or things that works better then previous inventions or ideas since it works for this moment. We work to improve ourselves to find our own perfection with help from others or help others to find theirs.The perfect world is frozen and never changes. This flawed world changes always improving itself to survive, to grow beyond it's expectations. Always striving to make it's better then it was previously. Working towards a goal like a perfect world is nice, But is it truly a happy world?

[KevinC]

The ideal society wouldn't have a government, for to have one group of people control another will always lead to corruption and fighting. The solution, although not perfect, would be a Resourced Based Economy (RBE) where technology is used to provide all the necessities of life, and more, to everyone on the planet.

 

A more detailed lecture on a RBE is done by Peter Joseph in 2009 while the Zeitgeist Movement was functioning as the activist arm of the Venus Project.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxPPnCW6sMo - Where are we going? Part 1 (43min43sec)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPmHaTirnCc - Where are we going? Part 2 (1hr17min13sec)

 

The Reality of Me (TROM) is a documentary made by Tio. He worked with Jacque Fresco to describe a Resource Based Economy in a different way for one part of the documentary:

http://vimeo.com/35598997 - TROM 3.2 Resource Based Economy (1hr16min34sec)

 

Something else I agree with is this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7AWnfFRc7g - RSA Animate - The Empathic Civilisation (10min39sec)

 

A Resource Based Economy is an empathic organisation of the world to free us from those secondary drives that are so common today. Anyone interested in a more empathetic world that cares for all living things on this planet should investigate a Resource Based Economic model, it's the best solution I know of to the troubles we face.

[Michael Lee]

i dont think there can ever be a perfect government. as for ideal society, i guess it would have good employment, healthcare, etc. you know, the stuff you want to live a decent life. 

[Eystein,]

Depends on where you live I suppose. Anarchy could very well be a good system for small rural communities, without incredibly complex economies and infrastructure requirements. But since most people live in communities that are not like that, I really think we need some form of authority to run and plan things more efficiently. But the political sphere should be transparent and inclusive and extend much further than the immidiate government. A resource based economy could also be a necessity, although it would have to be global and thus managed by some form of authority, since it wouldn't be able to compete against capitialism for short term profits.

[Shaquille Nelson]

A techno utopia. Post Scarcity, transformations in human nature, the abolition of suffering:basically when war, poverty(and hunger)and disease are eliminated and the government exists solely to insure that all individuals are equally valuable and seek only one thing in life-self-improvement.

[Alaska Is Beautiful]

I don't believe in ideal society. Ideal society--perfect society--would mean that all of society thought and acted the same. After all, only people who are exactly the same can respond positively to only ONE society. In our world today there are so many different views on life--religions, cultures, traditions, customs, etc. If the "ideal society" was set in Christianity, the people who didn't believe in Christianinty or the people who just didn't believe in doing some of the things Christianity required would be very unhappy and either try to move away or rebel. And, thinking about Christianity, there are so many different versions of it. Some people are more strict on the meaning of their religion than others. Some just kind of believe the fundamentals. Some do what their parents tell them to do...and so on. And that's just talking about one religion. And, within the society, that's just talking about religion. Imagine all of the other aspects that would come into play. What about politics and ethics?

Some would argue that you could take those things out of the picture or at least out of the hands of the immediate public and just have laws and rules to be followed. Who is to say what rules are right and what are wrong? What work and what doesn't? Who is going to have the nerve to know when something needs change and go about trying to change it?

Even if somehow a person managed to make everyone exactly the same...for the system to work to the best of its ability, there will have to be people who aren't affected by this "same gene" who can run and speak for the society. And those people should know (even if their people cannot tell it) that the system is not ideal. A system can never be ideal if the people who run over have reason to feel guilty at night. A system can't be ideal if the leaders know something that if found out would ruin the system.

Because ultimately, the ideal system is honest and crude but works. We don't know how to achieve that.

Most Utopian/Dystopian books give us a perfect insight into our inability to achieve perfection or idealism.

Or at least...the above is my opinion.

[Rasha Massara]

I don't think there is an ideal society. Governments, no matter how they start out, will end up having corruption, because humans aren't perfect. A perfect society will require perfect people, which don't really exist, so it won't work.

I know that's kind of pessimistic, but a functioning society requires geniuses and not-as-smart people. Not everyone can be happy all the time.

[Saroja Nalini]

I don't know if it exists. Would it be large, or small? I'm leaning towards the latter. Probably democratic, but how much? You can never get everyone to agree on something, even if it really is your definition of right. Honestly, I think any attempt to make an ideal society would turn into a dystopian novel. It'd end up being either The Giver or Fahrenheit 451.