Everyone acting in good faith all the time. Yeah, it’s impossible.

Star Trek

• democracy with citizens having more power and having the ability to revoke a representative by vote if they turn out to be a dick
• Mix of socialism / communism ideals that offer the best of both worlds that gives the people control while also supplying the needs of the people
• no scarcity
• equality
• No discrimination
• solarpunk
• capitalism is abolished
• high quality of life
• needs of the population met
• Complete automation of production, repetitive tasks and menial tasks so humans can enjoy life

All people guaranteed a baseline lifestyle. Housing, food, clean water, healthcare, electricity, internet. Everyone contributes to maintaining infrastructure in some way, would probably require 10-20 hours a week. Beyond that, people free to do what they want. Garden, make art, invent new things, whatever.

It is an egalitarian society where we all work for one another’s benefit. I can really dream can’t I. I like the idea of anarcho-communism in the style that was very much common in Native American societies prior to the racist/bigoted European settlers. This kind of society everyone was important and everyone played a key role in the success of the society. A leader acted more as a facilitator and less as an authority figure.

Income inequality would be lower in my ideal world. The income distribution should be more like the 50’s. A 4 day work week, and eradication of this “central business district” idea. There can still be offices for some people, but offices can be more geographically dispersed, with different sectors in different areas so half the city isn’t trying to get to one spot in the mornings, or leave that one spot in the evenings.

I’m deeply skeptical of any and all utopian ideas. They have this mysterious tendency to wander down paths to authoritarianism because we, as a species, are more defined by our ideas of who and what we are than by anything else in our existence.

When an idea becomes an ideal, people become willing to kill or die in attempts to bring that ideal to fruition, no matter how vain.

In fact, this is how I self-edit my own beliefs about the world and myself. “If the cards were all really on the table, would I be willing to proudly die in defense of this idea?” If the answer is yes, then I cling to that as an ideal that I strive toward.

All human lives matter equally.
It is important to lift up those who have less than I do.
Any small effort to alleviate the suffering of my fellow humans is meaningful.
There is always hope.

That is the utopia I choose to live in deliberately every day, and what I appreciate most is that it is resilient to the whims and chaos of this world that I can’t control.

Where the billionaires pay their fair share in taxes

A world in which everyone is able to freely pursue their interests and desires without constantly having to worry about their well-being or safety. A world untainted by incessant manipulation, greed, and narrow minded prejudice. A world with neigh unlimited access to education and information. Where ideas, beliefs, and scientific discovery can flow freely without political agendas or personal vendettas always getting in the way.

Oh, and no more mosquitoes, billionaires, or people that talk in the theatre. They get a special place in hell.

To add to some that the others said: A world federation.

After the European Union eventually grew together to the European federation, many nations pushed to cooperate against worldwide problems. This eventually resulted in the continuous strengthening of the United Nations. Over time, nationality became more and more meaningless until eventually the point was reached that any of us only consider themselves part of the United Nations of earth. At last, humanity united.

Meditation, study, gardening, self improvement are paid jobs. We’ve given freedom to those who are able to use it in a responsible manner. Hard labor is a 4 to 5 hour gig that we take turns doing, not because we are forced to, but because we understand the necessity and value of the work. Work is not seen as something we must do to have a house and food, but it is seen as participating in our society.

Compassion, tolerance, and freedom are primal virtues.

Personally I love work, I love the feeling of charity, I love learning how to better myself.

Our cities would be compact, walkable, jam-packed with quality transit, and nearly car-free. Cargo would be transported with cargo ebikes, barges along rivers and canals, local freight rail, and cargo trams. People would move by foot and bike and trams and metro and high-speed rail.

The surrounding countryside would be home to ecological, sustainable smallholder agriculture, preferably with plenty of technology for efficient precision agriculture. Instead of massive monocultures of corn, we’d have diverse polycultures of dozens of different crops, both annuals and perennials.

Nature would be abundant, protected, and rewilded. We would remove most roads into wild areas and replace with trains and velomobile trails, which would be much lower impact on wild habitats. Every city would have easy, rapid transit access to natural areas by rail, so anyone can go hiking or exploring or whatever they like.

Our economy would be centered around productivity, not rent-seeking and speculation. We would use policy to reduce barriers to entry to create highly competitive markets. We would heavily tax externalities like carbon emissions and fertilizer runoff and PFAS contamination.

We would tax people on what they take, not what they make. Income taxes? Nah, you did the labor; that value should belong to you. Carbon emissions? That materially harms others so you should pay tax on that. Hoarding valuable god-given land? You didn’t make it, so you should pay taxes on the land you deprive from the rest of humanity.

Our democracy would be reformed with a much better voting system like mixed-member proportional representation (MMPR) or single transferrable vote (STV), so we could have healthy multiparty systems.

Our society would publicly invest more in research and development, open-source projects, infrastructure, and anything else that generates positive externalities. You rewilded 100 acres of native grassland? Society should pay you for your valuable labor.

The balance of power between labor and employers would be balanced. A citizen’s dividend or universal basic income, subsidies on positive externalities (like rewilding), and the economic general growth spurred by elimination of rent-seeking would allow for an empowered working class that could capture its own productivity gains, demand better pay, and demand shorter hours. Much like how the professional class can demand good pay and good working conditions currently.

In short, the economy would be centered around Georgist principles, environment and agriculture around permaculture, and democracy around technocratic and representative democracy. A shared, sustainable prosperity for all.

Networked, autonomous local communities.

You never set a time frame. So here’s a far distant future vision.

Ideal? I think far, far greater scale.

Imagine a world where technology and science has reached its absolute zenith, where things we view as impossible miracles are a reality. Entire worlds appearing from nothingness, wholly formed and terraformed to perfection, in the blink of an eye, on a whim. The power to rearrange the stars of the sky like sand on the shores of an infinite sea.

Absolute immortality for all who desire it, unaging, with the ability to appear and become anything you desire - male or female, anthropomorphic or otherwise. Dysmorphia, sickness, hunger, disease, all forgotten concepts of a distant past.

The very fabric of space and time bends, and any child can travel at whim to the heart of a star without harm, walk effortlessly upon the surface of a neutron star, explore the vastness of distant galaxies with a single step.

Those with conflicting philosophies can craft their own worlds, experimenting with what they believe things should be like, and compare their findings.

A pipe dream utopia? The science is there in theory, though separated from us by countless eons of time. Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, as Arthur C Clarke once said. Utility fog, ship of theseus style immortality and more await, if we can come together as one.

Realistically? Something a lot like what we currently have, but with everyone having access to prompt healthcare, living in comfort. A focus on community and cooperation being more dominant in the culture, rather than competition and comparison.