Utopia for Realists

Metadata

• Author: [[Rutger Bregman]]
• Full Title: Utopia for Realists
• Category: #books

Notes

According to Oscar Wilde, upon reaching the Land of Plenty, we should once more fix our gaze on the farthest horizon and rehoist the sails. “Progress is the realization of Utopias,” he wrote. But the far horizon remains blank. (Location 402)

More understood that utopia is dangerous when taken too seriously. “One needs to be able to believe passionately and also be able to see the absurdity of one’s own beliefs and laugh at them,” observes philosopher and leading utopia expert Lyman Tower Sargent. (Location 438)

In that sense, I’m heartened by our dissatisfaction, because dissatisfaction is a world away from indifference. (Location 512)

What Ford, Kellogg, and Heath had all discovered is that productivity and long work hours do not go hand in hand. In the 1980s, Apple employees sported T-shirts that read, “Working 90 hours a week and loving it!” (Location 1820)

Call it the paradox of progress: Here in the Land of Plenty, the richer and the smarter we get, the more expendable we become. (Location 1999)