A utopia is always a work in progress.
While dystopian societies are held together by violence, utopias are held together by work—the effort and action that brings us into cooperation. If utopia feels impossible, it’s because we tend to imagine it as a static fantasyland rather than the product of ongoing political labor.
One might assume that a utopia wouldn’t require that kind of work. Surely, living in a utopia would be easy, effortless, devoid of conflict, right? Utopias of that kind, however, mask the dystopia below the surface. The ease, effortlessness, and politeness are maintained through violence.
As a kid and young adult, I was a frequent reader of dystopian fiction. Today, I’m more drawn to utopian fiction. There’s a strong tradition of feminist utopian speculative fiction that explores the inevitable conflicts that arise even when everyone’s needs are met and groups are at peace.
Becky Chambers created the Galactic Commons and Panga. Ursula K. LeGuin imagined Anarres and the Kesh. Octavia Butler constructed her utopian community within a dystopian world.
The utopia I want to focus on today is Elizabeth Bear’s creation. Her White Space series, including the novels Ancestral Night and Machine, takes place in a galactic-level civilization known as the Synarche. The Synarche brings together thousands of species and various forms of artificial intelligence. Working together and sharing resources, this melting-pot society can ensure that everyone’s needs are met and that each citizen is free to pursue their unique contribution to the whole.
The Synarche is imperfect, of course. Both White Space stories explore the cracks and compromises within the Synarche. In a different literary tradition, that kind of story would have the protagonist expose the corruption and violence at the heart of the supposed utopia.
But—minor thematic spoiler—that’s not how either novel goes. Yes, problems surface. However, the protagonists in both stories never stop believing in the work of building a society in which all people have a right to safety and the freedom to pursue their lives.
These stories expose highlight the values, effort, and individual choices that go into building a society that’s always working to better itself. And that’s why I wanted to share a few ideas from these stories today.
The polls are open here in the United States.
For me, this election will result in either the highest of highs or the lowest of lows. While national politics isn’t exactly my beat, I believe that work and how we construct it may be our most practical and impactful conduit for positive change at the highest levels.
Work is inherently political. Every day, we navigate questions about how to distribute and exercise power. We use our values to determine a course of action. Work shapes our identities and how we understand our relationships to power.
Yes, it matters what the minimum wage is, how income is taxed, what incentives shape how the economy functions, etc. It matters how we participate in democracy and cast our votes. However, our daily work—whether as employees, small business owners, or freelancers—is a huge opportunity to shape material conditions and practice more equitable social relations. Work is a way to reimagine what’s possible, even on the level of the to-do list or client meeting.
Columnist Osita Nwanevu put it this way on Slate‘s What Next podcast this morning:
Democracy can also mean giving people agency and voice and a measure of control at work, making it easier to organize, but also creating policies that make it so that it’s not just investors and corporate executives who are in the driver’s seat of the economy. If democracy is a system of values that we should care about because it gives us some means of control of the conditions that shape our lives, that should also apply to the economy.
Bear’s White Space stories aren’t works of economics, political philosophy, labor theory, or personal development. Instead, they explore each of those stands of thought through the lens of purposeful, joyful work—the work of coming together to do our part in making the future.
1. Don’t thrash.
…one of the first things you learn in space is not to thrash. If you have nothing constructive to do, the most constructive thing you can do is often nothing at all. In a mindful sense, I mean.
Thrashing is the thing that gets people killed. Not sitting still.
In microgravity, thrashing is likely to produce a cascade of negative effects. The same thing happens in a crisis.
Like many anxious overachievers, my first impulse in a crisis is to thrash. A sudden, unexpected change in conditions will send me into a spiral of over-functioning as I try to reestablish control in some small way.
Unexpected change is the water we swim in today. Whether due to climate change, technological ‘advancements,’ financial speculation, or any number of other macro-trends, we can expect the unexpected at all times. If, like me, you find yourself prone to thrashing in those scenarios, let this be a reminder that nothing good comes from this impulse.
It’s often better to do nothing, to rest up, to fully assess the situation before making a move.
That said, the thing about expecting the unexpected is that we can be prepared with more constructive options depending on our resources, skills, and capacities. To use a different space-related analogy, when the Enterprise experiences a warp engine malfunction, Dr. Crusher doesn’t go to engineering to see if she can lend a hand. She goes to sickbay to care for anyone who got hurt when the engine malfunctioned.
Knowing how we’re most effective and what our responsibilities are helps prevent us from thrashing. Figure out how you can put your skills and capacities to the best use ahead of time so you’re not flailing about when a crisis hits.
2. Step up.
…I admit, it’s tempting to consider what it would be like to skip out on responsibility, accountability, and interdependence and live only for yourself—but the idea of being surrounded by people with the same sophipathology makes it somewhat less appealing.
In Bear’s White Space world, humans train in ‘rightminding,’ a process that enhances physiological and philosophical control of the mind. Rightminding helped human civilization integrate into the broader Synarche society.
Part of rightminding is becoming more aware of the work required to live and work together. The conditions of true freedom aren’t static or passive; they’re fluid and active. If we want to live freely, we have to be willing to step up. If we want to create workplaces (for ourselves or others) that are more generative and sustainable, we have to be willing to step up.
Funny how long it took me—how old I was when I realized that if something didn’t work, you could change it. You didn’t just have to live with the problem, work around it. You could adapt, improvise. And overcome. You could take steps to make a thing better.
We shouldn’t hope to be merely the recipients of a better workplace or world. We have to be active participants in it. Again, utopia is always a work in progress.
3. Look for the third way.
Maybe I could do that for myself, and do all these other things for society, and make it all work. I didn’t have to make a martyr of myself to be effective. And I didn’t have to give up one important thing because something else was important, too.
When the options are stark—as they are in this election—it’s easy to lose hope if things don’t go the way you’d like them to. Given stark options, a situation can feel like a do-or-die scenario.
Maybe a week ago, I saw Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on TikTok explaining how she thinks about voting for people who aren’t in complete alignment with her. For AOC, the next step is inevitably organizing. It’s always organizing. However, one election outcome produces far more favorable conditions for that organizing than the other. One election outcome makes it more likely that the demands of her organizing will be heard and acted on than the other.
Even if she doesn’t agree with Harris on everything (and she doesn’t), AOC knows there will be a much clearer path to progress if Harris wins than if Trump wins. Regardless, organizing for progress and justice is always AOC’s next step, always her third way. Organizing isn’t on the ballot—but the conditions in which that organizing will take place are.
It’s easy to get trapped trying to choose between two options. It’s easy to feel frustrated when either this idea/project/campaign/strategy works, or all is lost. But there is always a third way. There’s always an option that’s not on the menu.
Thrashing won’t help us find it. Stepping up might. The third way (or the fourth or fifth or sixth way) is the option that we reveal when we stop looking at a problem through status quo framing. It’s the option that makes us part of a positive change. It’s the option that demands something of us—but not everything.
This is as true for positive political change as it is for workplace and business change.
