This Moment Isn't That Special

Picture generated by AI based on the text of this post.

I'm a self-proclaimed optimistic futurist. While I've been adopted a wait-and-see or give-it-more-time approach to certain technologies, I've also been an early adopter of those technologies I see as most promising. At work, I am a problem solver and lead a team of problem solvers. In my personal life, I strive for a more perfect, automated, easy, comfortable life. I read a lot, I write a lot, I think a lot. A lot of what I study, think and write about is the future - technology, economics, culture, systems, everything that we humans can control and mold towards a more perfect protopian future. 

So it's no surprise the algorithms recommended to me a show about the future, and I obligingly watched it. Underwhelming is an understatement. But more than that, I had a visceral reaction to some of the claims made. Now, granted, this wasn't an expert account from a fellow futurist. It was hosted and organized by a futurist, but the interviews were with various groups of people operating at various levels of exceptionalism, including absolute normalcy. 

Many of the claims from the interviewees that bothered me the most was the repeated notion that we're presently at an inflection point - in technology, environment and political concerns, yes, but more so - in our actual humanity. The fear that AI will take our jobs and modes of artistic creation such that it robs us of our ability to perceive and create, and that we therefore need to decide what the minimal viable requirements are to call ourselves human, and defend those things, was a few steps too far for me. 

Rather than being compelled by these empowered individuals seeing an opportunity to seize this turning point and make the world a better place, I actually started considering that people in the 1970's probably thought the same thing, and people in the 1930's, and people during the Renaissance, and how many other times in our human history? 

See, fears about technology replacing humans has been around for decades or centuries. Is this time different? Sure, there are arguments for that. But different, how? We're already seeing a backlash against generative AI not delivering the promises of complete automation and replacement of people, and the ROI is in question across the board. It has great potential, to be sure, but we've also identified very early on its tendency to hallucinate and provide complete inaccurate information with great confidence. It's flaws and faults were seen before anyone even noticed it wasn't delivering those promises of employee displacement. So why in the world did we even let those fears build up, and why are we surprised now about the fall of the hype? 

The political unrest is a lot. But is it more than we've seen before? What were those hippies protesting anyways? 

Violence is actually down in many areas. 

Mental health awareness has grown in leaps and bounds. 

The last two thoughts may actually be connected. How cool is that? 

But no, I am struck by actually had ordinary this time is. So why do so many people think we are at a turning point? Is it empowering to this "now is our moment?" If so, if that's what you need to feel compelled to act in a way that will positively improve the future, then go ahead and think that. But will you be disappointed when it turns out it was just another year in another decade with another technology that was interesting? 

Sometimes when I tell people I'm an optimist, they respond that they'd rather be realists. I mean, I get it. I'm not blind to the problems, nor do I want to ignore them. I like to believe I am centered in realism, but with an optimistic direction, rather than a doomsday view of the world. But when I heard these proclamations that now is the time to change the direction of humanity, I felt like those pessimists parading as realists. 

Rather than thinking it's now or never, I believe we wake up every day with the potential of what that day could bring, what we could accomplish. I used to wake up long before dawn and go running or walking in the dark. There's a conspiratory feeling that would wash over me that I'm up before everyone else and therefore I got a head start on them today. I don't walk or run outside currently because I hate Texas, so I don't get this feeling as frequently right now. But I still hold the potential of each day we get in high regard. And a year from now, five years from now, two decades from now, I hope I will still wake up every day with a day of potential ahead of me. 

Arcosanti for Today

Just about an hour north of Phoenix, Arizona, is a little aspirational community known as Arcosanti.  The self-proclaimed urban experiment is, among people who do know of it, generally a bucket list item, something to do at some point in time.  Having lived in the Phoenix area for over 14 years, and knowing I'd be moving to the east coast in June, my visit to the place was long overdue.  Jaiman and I stayed overnight in the modest accommodations, where frugality is not only the name of the game, it's a point of pride.  The community, made up of about 100 residents and seminar students at any given point in time, survives on the sale of their products, namely the Soleil Bells, as well as tours, experiences and donations.  Having broken ground in 1970 in the hopes of building a community of 5000, their own film admitted that the experiment had barely scratched the surface of its original intent.  A proof of concept it is not, but that doesn't mean we can't learn from it. 

To give you an idea of how the community works, I'd like to share our experience.  I booked our stay via phone; I was hoping for the Sky Suite but that had already been booked for the date I wanted, so I settled for a small room with a shared bathroom.  The turn off the freeway was clearly marked, and soon we were on a dirt road headed to Arcosanti.  Being the Pokemon Go players we are, our phones were grabbing for signal and showing us what Pokemon sites awaited us - a gym at the fork in the dirt road, and a one Pokestop.  We checked in at about 4:30, just before the Visitor's Center closed at 5.  Since we missed the tours for the day, we didn't know much about the place, but the resident welcoming us at the Visitor's Center was warm and welcoming, and told us everything we needed to know for our stay.  Our room was a whopping $40, and she took my payment via credit card.  We were directed to drive further down the dirt road to the guest rooms, a road that my low-clearance Chevy Volt did not love, but ultimately handled sufficiently.  Our key was clearly marked with "E" for our room, and once we parked, we faced a

large auditorium-style structure cascading down from the rooms, each level having different things like plants, water features, etc.  An easier staircase was on the side, but we initially walked straight up the structure to our room.  Before even opening the door, Jaiman noticed a wasp on the inside of the window.  We managed to shoo the first one, but there were actually three more.  While trying to figure out what to do, I took stock of the room.  A small bed took up the majority of the space, with a small desk, a small wardrobe, and a small sink taking up most of the rest.  The door to the bathroom was open, so I initially didn't think it was a shared bathroom as I had thought, but then noticed another door going into the bathroom.  The bathroom was tiny as well, with just a curtain separating the shower from the toilet, and just soap in the shower.  There were towels on the bed for us.  I looked for a fly swatter, or a decent analog, but nothing suitable was to be found.  I decided that there wasn't much for us to do about the wasps, so we got ready to go to dinner.  As I was locking up, a resident/staff member came by and asked if everything was okay.  I pointed out our unwanted visitors, and he jumped into action, grabbing toilet paper from the bathroom and snatching the little buggers like nothing.  We learned that he was the head chef, which was a great example of how people at Arcosanti take on multiple tasks. 

Feeling relieved of our wasp problem, we headed towards dinner, and wandered around a bit since we got to the cafe early.  Dinner was an "honor code" $10 per person, so I placed a $20 in the honor box as we took our place in line at the

buffet.  Dinner was potroast tacos with rice, beans and lettuce.  It wasn't terrible, but I've definitely had better $10 meals.  There wasn't much in the way of drinks, but the water was fine and hydration is a good thing, especially since we had spent some time earlier in the day in the scorching sun.  There was wifi in the whole community, but it was definitely strongest in the cafe.  I noticed several people on laptops and phones, differentiating Arcosanti from the Amish-style perspective I had in at least this one way.  

One of the girls on a longer-term stay with a large group was celebrating a birthday, so the staff brought out "lemon lemony brownies" and we sang Happy Birthday to her.  As we cleared our plates, there was relatively clear directions to put napkins and food in the compost bucket, and then separate dishes and silverware into their own buckets for expeditious collecting and cleaning.  Very little actual "garbage" was generated, because the napkins are compostable.  Pretty cool!  But, while we were clearing our plates, Jaiman was questioned about paying, and he said that we had already paid.  So much for the honor system; there were definitely times when I felt like this place is just asking for money because it's clearly not getting enough to sustain itself. 

After dinner, we caught a few rare Pokemon and then went back to our room for a little down time.  No wasps this time around, but there was a spider and a few small gnats, as well as rolly pollies in the bathroom.  Ah well, "better than

camping" I always say, even if just marginally so.  While laying on the bed, I could better examine the custom roof pattern produced by painting the sand prior to laying the concrete, or something like that.  We walked around a bit more, and attempted some stargazing, although the moon was actually too bright to get a good view of stars.  I was struck by something I couldn't quite put my finger on, but my tour guide the next day described aptly: "You get a sense of both ancient ruins and space-age architecture."  Indeed, while the giant circular and spherical structures are so unique and modern-esque, there is something very sexy and inspiring about them, parts of Arcosanti seem to be crumbling and decaying. 

As we walked around, we encountered an animal noise that wasn't immediately familiar, and soon found the source: small frogs were singing noisily to one another.  I think that was Jaiman's favorite part.  We caught a few more Pokemon, then went back to our spider- and bug-infested room, where Jaiman, uncomfortable, never really settled in. 

A rough night of sleep past, and we got up to go to breakfast.  Though it was just a short hike up the hill to the cafe, I was a bit winded, which I blame on the high altitude combined with my allergies.  The food was minimal: toast, cereal, bagels, and OJ.  Jaiman noted that there was a fee and asked if we needed to pay or show our room key.  I figure, unless someone questions us, I'm not going to offer, because breakfast was included with our stay and I shouldn't have to justify getting breakfast.  Luckily, nobody questioned us this time.  We went back to our room, and opted out of showering in that awful little bathroom, but instead got ready and packed up.  Jaiman drove us back up the long, nasty dirt road to the Visitor's Center.  Handing my key to the gentleman at the front desk, I checked us out and inquired about the tour.  Now, again, I was pretty sure that the tour was included with a stay, but he emphasized that there's a "suggested donation" of $10 per person for the tour, which pretty much seemed like a requirement. 
The tour started with a 13-minute video about the architect, the theologies and the construction of Arcosanti.  Then we met our tour guide, Coleen, who works in ceramics and has lived there for 9 years, raising her 6 year-old-son and home schooling him here at Arcosanti.  Throughout the tour, it was clear that she was passionate about the philosophy and lifestyle embedded in Arcosanti, and was excited that "things are happening" - improvements are being made and new life is being breathed into the place.  There wasn't a lot on the tour that I didn't already know, but I did find some funny contradictions.  Having just raved about the great way the architecture cools itself during the summer and warms itself during the winter, she pointed out that the archived room did have an air conditioner because it was necessary to keep it at a temperature that could not be achieved with the Arcosanti ways.  She showed us the multi-use areas, where there would be store-fronts on the base floor, residential on the second floor, all around the ampitheater, but pointed out that the store-fronts were not completed.  The iconic apse, a quarter-sphere hollowed out to create a self-regulating climate, was actually much less effective than the vaults, so much so that temporary shade was added to the iron apse because it must just get too hot in that workspace otherwise.  I loved her passion, but she kept emphasizing frugality, and it just made me think that they were living like they were poor for the sake of being novel in their minimalism, rather than proving a practical, successful lifestyle. 

I was surprised to learn that employees / residents are required to work 40 hours towards Arcosanti, and then can spend their spare time on their own creative projects.  I realize that, with the lack of a commute, these people do, in theory, have more time, but the work here is generally much harder work, and it is a small hike to and from your residence, workplace and the cafe, so I would think it would be a pretty exhausting lifestyle.  I guess I was thinking that this place should be more efficient and have a higher quality of life, so work would be less than a typical daily grind in the city, but alas, it seems pretty brutal.  I've been moderately obsessed with the idea of using technology efficiencies to reduce the workweek, both in number of hours per day and in workdays. 

After the tour completed, we were pretty much over this place, and headed to our next destination: Rock Springs Cafe for amazing pie! 

I had several observations while staying and on the tour.  Our tourguide emphasized frugality in their lifestyles, but I don't think of urban life as a frugal

life.  In fact, urban life in my mind is quite the opposite: it's eating out at fancy places, going to the theater, taking taxis, and living in expensive properties.  At Arcosanti, they focused on recycling, composting, farming, using gray water, collecting rain water, and using solar techniques to warm and cool living spaces, in addition to using solar panels for electricity.  While most of those things aren't mutually exclusive from typical urban living, I don't think they exemplify the goal of the urban experiment.  Alternatively, I would propose that you use these things to subsidize a luxury life to make luxury living affordable to more people.  For example, if our city buildings could heat and cool themselves using techniques similar to those deployed at Arcosanti, with zero or minimal use of electricity, gas and firewood, then your high-end downtown apartment becomes that much more affordable.  Growing a few things at home could help subsidize groceries or meals out on the town.  You don't have to have goats, chickens and large agricultural fields to survive in an urban environment.  In fact, I'm motivated to grow herbs, lettuce and peppers at home mainly because when I buy those things at the grocery store, most of it goes bad before I use it.  That doesn't mean I'm going to settle for 40-year-old sofas and chairs that have been sliced up. 

One of the great benefits of this little community is that, because travel by car is discouraged by the infrastructure, we ended up walking a lot, up and down inclines and stair cases.  This is a great way to essentially force ourselves to increase our activity level without the need for FitBit competitions.  Indeed, I got more steps before breakfast than during a typical work day if I'm not intentionally getting up to walk.  By creating an environment that is accessible by foot, we naturally walked more, which is generally a very good thing. 
Another aspect that I liked about Arcosanti was the mixed-use buildings.  I think the best example was the ceramics apse, where obviously ceramics is the primary use, but the pit could be covered up and it could instantly transform into an ampitheater for performances.  The rooms immediately surrounding the ceramics studio were related to the ceramic making process, but the next level up was living quarters.  I would love to live where I could look down unto a theater and/or workshop of some sort, not to mention the great landscape beyond the immediate foreground. 

As life has it, there was a moment the day of our Arcosanti stay that was unrelated to Arcosanti - we were leaving the Aloha Festival at Tempe Town Lake, where my sunblocked skin was burning under the piercing sun (and it's only March!!).  As we were leaving, a lady behind us was commenting positively on the festival, with the caveat of that, "I'm convinced that the whole state of Arizona needs to invest in a giant sunshade over the state."  Obviously, it's an impractical recommendation, but the idea behind it is fair.  Here I was, having slathered on sunblock not two hours ago, and feeling my skin burning so bad that I needed aloe later that night.  The setting of the Aloha Festival just had too little shade, making it incredibly uncomfortable for thousands of people who

would have probably otherwise stayed longer, spent more money, enjoyed themselves more fully, etc.  What was probably the most novel aspect of Arcosanti were the vaults, which shaded the open-air, concrete-floored area in the summer and allowed sun light to penetrate the concrete and warm the space in the winter.  In fact, the lines on the ground showed where the sun reaches during the winter, summer, spring and fall solstices.  The advantage was immediately clear - we could get out of the sun when we need to, and soak up its warmth when we'd be chilly otherwise.  Tempe Town Lake could definitely use a structure like this, or at least, a massive shade to emulate it's effects.
Given that Arcosanti funds its construction primarily through its sales, and this obviously is not a prosperous means of funding given the lack of progress that has been made since 1970, it's easy to think of the experiment as a failed one.  But many of the ideas, primarily the fight against urban sprawl, are picking up steam in other places.  Fittingly, I had just watched this TedTalk about how to make our cities more walkable the day before our visit to Arcosanti.  This doesn't show signs of the frugality and hippie-esque culture of Arcosanti, but it does make for a better, more livable, safer and happier type of urban living. 

All of these ideas are giving me great inspiration for our move to Connecticut, where I am considering a car-less commute and day-to-day lifestyle, either taking the train to work or biking/walking (Jaiman will keep his car for his commute and/or road trips).  In this way, I plan to make my own, far less extreme, Arcosanti for Today, my own little utopia approximation. 

Utopia

I've been fascinated by the idea of utopias I think since around 4th grade when

I read The Giver (and btw, I'm soooo excited about it becoming a movie soon).  I loved books like Fahrenheit 451, 1984 and Brave New World that show an alternative view of what life could be like.  Maybe that's why, as an adult, I was so drawn to the Hunger Games series and really relate to the people of the Capital in those books, as well as the Divergent series.  I loved The Great Gatsby in high school and was thrilled with the recent movie adaptation, because the parties were just as over-the-top and out-of-control as I imagined them to be.  The current TV show by the name of Utopia I think is anything but that; it's more of a Real Life show meets Survivor.  The fact that the producers intentionally put people with very opposite extremist views is just the first hint that this mini society was meant to be a complete failure.  It's a little obnoxious how bad it is.  But there are some tidbits of interest that come out of it; Hex is by far my favorite character, alcoholism aside, because she can be level headed and talk to anyone, even if she disagrees with him or her, and ask them what their utopia is.  I think I also like her because she naturally looks like a real-life Katniss from Hunger Games, complete with being handy with a bow and arrow.  All literature, cinematography and bad reality TV aside, I still love the idea of a utopia and wondered what my utopia would be like.  

The problem with trying to create a utopia is that we're so used to what our norm is that there is a hesitation, if not outright resistance, to try anything or imagine anything different.  For example, the utopians in the TV show naturally formed a democracy without officially declaring it, and only a couple weeks in decided to formalize and modify the political structure.  One person on the show said that their utopia was one without money, but the economist in me likes the way money rewards efforts and can be spent on (somewhat) fairly equitable goods or services; an efficient market is the cleanest and best way to trade goods and services, keep costs down and drive innovation - not bartering or equal distribution.  So rather than trying to start with a blank slate and recreate a society from nothing, my utopia realization would come from removing the things I don't like and adding things I want.  

First to go: chores.  In my utopia, I don't have to clean dishes, mow the lawn, wash the windows, do laundry, sweep the floors, pull weeds, water plants, vacuum, feed the dog or even pick up after myself (let alone picking up after my roommates).  I have always related to the main character of Pippin, who believes he is just too extraordinary to be bothered by these types of everyday things.  I have these big ideas and crazy aspirations, but I have a pile of dishes in the sink that I have to attend to from time to time.  I know there are maids and landscapers available, but with three perfectly capable people living under my roof, I just have a hard time justifying spending money on simple activities that we could do on our own.  Still, chores bring me down; I like a clean house but I never enjoy cleaning.  Usually wine is the only way to get myself to clean.  If I could, like, dance and my house cleaned itself with the same effort that I put into my dancing, I think I would dance every day and never have a messy house.  That leads me to...

First to add: a better place to dance.  I have trained briefly in ballet and jazz dance, as well as performed in musicals in junior high, high school and college.  In college I also took hip hop and swing dance, and since then, I have been swing dancing on and off (with a stint of hip hop again when I went back to school for my MBA).  I love our swing dance community, but the venues never have the air conditioning capacity to support the hoards of people who come to dance.  It's a good problem to have, I suppose, but still, I think I would dance more if I didn't dread sweating in front of everyone so much.  The other issue is that I often want to dance at home to practice, and I just don't have my house arranged in a way that really supports that.  But I do like how my house is furnished, so I don't want to change it; I just want to add a huge room to the back with wooden floors and its own amazing A/C and mirrors and cameras so I can review my dance and improve myself, and a large screen (or four) to watch videos from the greats.  

Next to remove: human-driven transportation.  I know autonomous cars on a mass scale are still in the future, and it's going to be a long, long time before everyone adopts them or they are legally the only option.  But people are stupid, and driving is the most dangerous thing most of us do in our lifetimes, and we do it every day.  I personally despise driving, although I think I'm good at it (when I'm awake), and I have a problem staying awake behind the wheel at times.  Life would be so much better if I could get in a vehicle and use my laptop or watch a show while the vehicle transports me to where I need to go.  Some utopias are so small that they don't require powered transportation at all, one could easily walk or ride a bike to where they are going on a regular basis, but I don't think that's realistic, especially because I like to travel.  I don't think a small distance utopia could ever include everything I would want to do.  If we could just eliminate all bad drivers, that might make a big enough difference, but unfortunately, we all have dumb moments and I will still fall asleep.  So autonomous vehicles can't come soon enough.  Come on, Elon, I know you can do it!!  I'll be your first volunteer to test it, or your first customer, if you let me!  

Next to add: food that tastes delicious and is super healthy and exactly what I need.  This is one area where 3D printing has some potential, but its even further in the future than autonomous cars, and I'm not sure that 3D printing is really practical as the means of achieving this.  I think its a lot more of formulation and finding ways to flavor that won't cause cancer; I could care less about the shape. If I had a cheese-flavored shake that gave me all the nutrients I needed, I could switch between that and a chocolate-flavored protein shake and be pretty dang happy without solid food at all.  Ideally, certain tasteless substances could be made into several formats and textures, infused with the nutrients we need, and then flavored based on our tastes.  Imagine going to a party, having custom food made to meet your nutritional needs, but getting to try new textures and flavors that you've never tried before.  But alas, cheese is high in fat, along with pepperoni (even turkeroni, which I often eat in lieu of the real thing), and Ben and Jerry's just cannot be made healthy without taking away what makes it so amazing.  At least not yet, but I think maybe there's hope for some day.  

A big picture removal: political parties.  Okay, a lot of my items so far have been somewhat minor, personal preference type things.  But if I was designing a utopia, I would upheave the entire political system and replace it with an even more democratic process.  I wrote a whole post about this previously, so I'll only summarize it here: we would essentially vote for issues we are concerned about, establishing both the solutions and the priorities, and then voting for the people whom we think are most capable of making those things happen.  So instead of voting for a person because he is of a specific party or because she promises to do such-and-such, we vote for people based on our belief in their ability to make things happen, and we vote for the issues we care about, and we vote for what we want out of the political system.  Then its the politicians' jobs simply to execute on what the public voted for.  If they do a good job, they may get re-elected.  If they sucked a big one, we'll find someone else to lead the way.  Read more about this idea here.  

A big picture addition: more technology in schools.  I think it's a crime for people to graduate high school and college and not know more than the very basics of Microsoft Excel.  Most people don't know how to program.  With technology being so prevalent these days, I just don't think people should become professionals or go into the workforce and not understand how computer logic works.  I see people that are completely baffled by the computer programs they use every day, and that scares me.  I understand that college is more generally about learning and theories and not so much practical technical instruction, but a person with a college degree should be able to comprehend and repeat a simple Excel formula.  Kids, learn how to program; learn it early and do it often.  That will set you apart instantly, even if you don't go into programming (or I should say, ESPECIALLY if you don't go into programming), because technology is just not taught at a competency level required to be awesome in the real world.  Learning how to type should be mandatory in elementary school just like learning how to write.  Learning spreadsheets and presentations should be mandatory in junior high, just like history or science.  Learning programming, battery technology and computer maintenance should be mandatory in high school.  College should include photo and video editing, CAD or other 3D modeling, and more programming.

And more: more life skills in schools.  I consider myself lucky to have fallen into a musically inclined family, and have taken that into theater, as well as on the completely opposite end of the spectrum having a good understanding of finance and economics.  The idea of arts being pulled out of schools is appalling to me.  Even though I've never aspired to be an actress, the spacial awareness I learned in theater has had so many applications in my regular life, and I can tell instantly when a person does not have that skill.  How much better would this world be if everyone had spacial awareness, understood the financial impact of their money spending decisions, and learned not to be afraid of speaking in public?  School should not just be about memorizing dates and definitions, it should be about learning how to live life fully.  When I tell people what I do, there are a lot of people who didn't even imagine my career path existed, and I see people who fall into careers (I think) because they saw options that they were aware of included: doctor, architect, lawyer, musician, teacher.  There are so many more career paths, and people don't know about them.  Engineering is shrinking, and it needs to be expanding.  

Let's also take out: the legal system.  I'm sorry, it's crap.  Every time I've had to interact with it, I've felt burned.  I'm a good person, I shouldn't have to prove it.  We pay lip service to "innocent until proven guilty" but the legal system assumes guilt until proven innocence.  Meanwhile, I see people driving illegally all the time and not getting caught.  I know men paying child support to ex-wives who aren't doing a damn thing to improve themselves because then their child support would get reduced.  I've seen someone unable to perform his professional obligations because a nasty, bickering woman put a completely BS restraining order on him.  And I've been part of a jury that convicted a man of a crime for which the only evidence was technically "thrown out".  If it's going to be garbage, than let's call it what it is, and not pretend that "innocent until proven guilty" has anything to do with it.  In the case of having a restraining order on someone, I think if the complaintant knowingly puts herself in a place where the accused is going to be, the restraining order should be null and void; as it stands, if she shows up on his doorstep, he's breaking the law.  Better yet, let's let common sense prevail, and not evidence that is thrown out or assuming a woman is telling the truth because she's a woman, or assuming a cop is telling the truth because he's a cop.  I love the idea in Divergent with the people having aptitudes for selfless leading the government.  Let's have the justice system be filled with people who have the aptitude to read people and apply common sense, and not have to worry about covering their butts.  Today's judges don't actually judge anything, they're not allowed to, they just apply legal procedures and ensure those procedures are being followed through.  Let's have judges who are really strong moral judges, and make the case to the judge who is not incentived to rule one way or another, only to make the best judgment, and leave the peanut gallery of uneducated hicks and racists and prejudiced people out of it.  Maybe a panel of judges for each case, just to be sure the decision doesn't weigh on one individual.  Think of the case scene in Patch Adams, where a moral appeal can win.  Judges, like the politicians in my utopia, would be voted on based on their ability to make good calls.  In my utopia, people would take responsibility for their actions, and suffer the consequences, but they would understand the consequences going into it.  Better education and no way to cheat the system.  

Add to that: a more self-policing society.  Let's imagine that, without autonomous vehicles that obey the laws to the tee, our vehicles are equipped with cameras that watch around us in four or more angles.  If we see someone breaking the law, i.e. unsafe lane change or what have you, we simply hit a "report" button and the last 30 seconds of footage gets sent to a center of workers who decide if that footage is sufficient evidence to convict the driver, and then send a ticket in the mail similar to how they handle red light camera tickets today.  I've always wanted this.  I'm not sure where else it would apply other than on the road, because I don't witness law breaking in any other aspects of my life on a regular basis, but it could be applied to solicitors on door steps or other like cases.  Imagine how few people would drive recklessly and cut you off if they knew that anyone around them could report them and cause a financial burden for them?  

Another removal: the hidden sales tax and semi- and fully- mandatory tipping.  What I mean by this, is a menu or a price tag should have the price that it will cost.  It should include the tax, so there is no guessing.  When we have to split the bill, its clear exactly what we owe, because we don't have to add in the tax.  Along with that, we should not feel obligated to leave a tip.  A tip should be 100% discretionary based on extraordinary service, and not expected, and certainly not added to bills for groups of 8 or more.  It's hard to deal with a group of 8?  Tough, that's called your job.  I don't get tips at work when I have to go to a meeting with 30 people.  But I'm paid fairly.  So our wait staff should also be paid fairly to do their jobs, and not expect the customers to shell out the rest of their pay on top of the price of the food we're paying over priced amounts for.  Some other countries do this, so there is no reason we need to continue in this awful tradition.

Plus add: waterproof electronics.  It's a niche need, but do you know how many times I've carefully wiped my hands off while in the bathtub in order to access my laptop or phone?  It's a lot.  And I'm sure I'm not completely alone on this.  I just want electronics to be sealed up and safe from water damage so that I can comfortably use them in the bath or shower or pool without covers that inhibit the ability to hear or use the devices.  

Remove too: welfare and any type of government handouts.  This is the economist in me, and maybe the general population in my utopia would disagree and institute them through our superior voting system, and I'd have to live with it.  But how many stories have you heard of someone living in a nice house driving nicer cars than you, and not making a contribution to society?  I would vote for any movement that would bring us closer to the efficient economy that rewards effort and results, and that means not giving anyone a free ride.  

Another addition: Streaming of important athletic events.  Back to the nit-picking personal preference stuff.  If I graduated from ASU, I should be granted lifetime access to high-def, legal streaming of all football and basketball games for ASU.  At a minimum.  I think its despicable that we would need cable and a special channel to watch half the games.  Few of the bars locally have that channel, and when traveling, its impossible to find a bar with that channel.  I should be able to type in a code and wherever I'm at can have the game.  At a minimum.  I would much rather be able to watch all major games on regular cable or Hulu or whatever.  Make it accessible to everyone, and we will get more excited to go!  Make it less accessible, you might just start losing fans, or income because we'll figure out a way to stream it illegally.  

Another removal: 40 - 60 hour workweeks.  Companies should pay a person to do a job, not spend a certain number of hours in the office.  I truly believe that some people are better than others at their jobs, and yet we do this weird equalizing thing to require efficient workers to stay so many hours, while inefficient workers may not even get their jobs done but they put in their hours so they're good to go.  The reason we do this, I'm sure, is because it's far too difficult to quantify what the job should be in any other manner, so its simplest to just assume it should take about 40 - 45 hours per week.  There's also discrimination that might play in, presuming that most women can't physically lift and load as much as most of their male counterparts, and you don't want to be accused of paying women less in a discriminatory manner.  Then again, maybe a physical job isn't good for women who can't keep up with the boys, why is that wrong?  Maybe those women who can't keep up should go do a job better suited for their brilliant minds or physically less demanding.  Regardless, in my utopia, we would figure out how to quantify work effort and results, and allow efficient workers the freedom to leave after the equivalent of 40 hours of work, even if that's 32 hours for them, and they get Friday off, but they are paid as if they were there for 40 hours because that's how much work they did.

And add: more positive news journalism.  I know, they're based on ratings and the violence and awful stories get more attention than the positive stuff.  But kind of like in Divergent where people with a certain aptitude go into certain fields, I would mandate journalists to want to report on the positive stuff, and downplay the violent stories that lead to copycats.  Celebrate the heroes and the victories over disease.  Don't name the name of the killer in the mass shootings - don't give them any credit or attention whatsoever.   Also, let's not make stories about race if they aren't about race; hell even if they are, let's not focus on that because that only raises more racial tensions - a crime is a crime no matter what the (ignorant) motive may be.

Going back to my first point about chores,  I suppose if the help was cheap enough, it could be worth it to pay, but then there's trust issues and the weirdness of a random person coming into your residence.  I would prefer to just find a way to eliminate the need for chores altogether, like having a goat that eats the grass, or maybe just have robots do them.  A lot of these wishes require future technology or a full re-vamping of a country, and obviously I'm not single-handedly capable of doing all those things.  This is also why the TV show Utopia will fail, because they made those people become farmers and live off the land and removed much of the technology; without technology, you're not really allowing them the full utopian-creating potential.  Also, they're just a few people, not a whole society of hundreds of thousands.  It's more like a make-your-own summer camp than the building of a new society.  For me, there are a few things I can do in my own little world to make a partial utopia for myself, and that is what I will strive to do.  I've already made my house quite comfortable with excessively nice luxuries in some places (like my amazing bathtub).  There's always more to do, of course, but that's what it's all about for me.