digital utopias

Some people think that these first years of the 21st century are being quite dystopian.

However, in order to affirm that we are in that apocalyptic future that many creators and thinkers drew for us a hundred years ago, such as Fritz Lang in

or Unamuno himself with

, we have to reflect on some important issues.

To begin with, I would like to present the contemporary dystopia of isolated bodies that communicate through screens.

The story

written by Emilio Souvestre in 1857, already tells us about this reality.

In this story the protagonist has hopes for him in a future of

That is why he allows the leprechaun Mr. Progress to put him to sleep and make him wake up in the year three thousand.

There he discovers that humans live isolated in their automated houses where they have no direct contact with the outside world.

Apparently, this is the perfect formula for progress, the one that links freedom with isolation.

Instead, in our 2020 reality we discovered that the confinement that isolated us from the world was not so fascinating.

The dystopia of hyperconnected bodies through screens became overwhelming in the days of the pandemic.

We have the proof in the decrease in the consumption of

content when we return to normality.

Freedom was understood again as the return to the streets to invade the terraces and share some beers.

I wonder if we are really living in a dystopian world or if it is just isolated elements.

According to Margaret Atwood, for dystopias such as confinement to be unbearable, the confinement order should come from a political framework that threatens our individual liberties.

This would not be the case in the case of covid-19 since the measure was the result of a scientific decision, although there would be much to debate on the subject.

Even so, the key would be in the fact that we are facing a true cultural change accelerated by some elements that could be considered dystopian.

report,

a typical internet user spends at least seven hours a day using applications and interacting with electronic devices.

If we sleep an average of eight hours a day, it means that we spend 40% of our lives

.

This would be the confirmation of Giovanni Sartori's “electronic loneliness”.

But this situation does not occur in a homogeneous way throughout the world.

Reflecting on the Big Other, Slavoj Zizek said that it is not likely that there will be a single Global Village as McLuhan predicted, but that the world will be made up of small villages, each with its own particular reality.

To give a curious example, the Republic of Kiribati is a place where 100% of the population has access to electricity and 78% to drinking water.

These are pretty good data on a global scale.

However, in Kiribati only 14% of its inhabitants have access to the internet.

This seems like a heavenly place to fulfill the utopia of a disconnected world.

But if someone is thinking of moving there,

Much has been said about the similarity of the events of the early 21st century with those of the first years of the 20th century to reaffirm the idea of ​​dystopia.

Surely the youth who had to live through the First World War and survived to know the Second, would also believe that they were plunged into an apocalyptic ellipsis.

The impossibility of a happy ending in the face of so much disaster should lead to deep pessimism.

In 1953 the sociologist Fred Polak proposed the end of the utopia of the design of the future.

Although the fears of that time were different, we can find similarities with those that we consider now.

Overpopulation and food shortages, the destruction of the environment and the risks that technology confronts us are some of those that we can share with our grandparents and great-grandparents.

Nonetheless,

Utopia managed to survive and materialized in youth movements and revolts that refused to accept the lack of alternatives.

From there arose the countercultural movements that are quite similar to the 15-M or the

.

These currents of mobilization against dystopia confirm Fredric Jameson's maxim that utopia consists precisely in breaking a prefabricated future with which we do not agree.

From this denial of the uncomfortable reality, some green shoots have emerged, such as basic income, or the need to guarantee an adequate interprofessional minimum wage.

In conclusion, it is possible to imagine a utopian future towards which to move forward.

Technology can be our ally if we design it judiciously and prioritizing the values ​​we have dreamed of for generations.

Inma Ballesteros

is director of the Observatory of Culture and Communication of the Alternativas Foundation.

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