The word "utopia" was invented in 1516 by Thomas MoreThe English lawyer, philosopher, and statesman is considered a martyr and venerated in the Catholic Church as a saint., who used it as the name for a fictional island country where everything was perfectly ordered for the happiness of its inhabitants.¹

The new word was a pun, from Greek: if read as eutopia it would mean "good place", but as outopia it would mean "no place".

Centuries later, some socialistsPeople who practise socialism, a political and economic system in which property and the means of production are owned by everyone. who were disillusioned with capitalismA form of economy characterised by private property and competition between companies. took More's word for their own. They tried to establish idyllic communities of equality and harmony.²

But they all found that their "good place" quickly became "no place", as residents squabbled and supplies grew short.

Today, it is the capitalists who want to set up their own utopian communities. Vitalik Buterin, a cryptocurrencyA digital currency in which transactions are verified and records maintained by a decentralised system using cryptography, rather than by a centralised authority. tycoon, wants to set up a town, which he will call Zuzalu, on the Montenegro'Black Mountain' is a country in Southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. coast.

The plan is simple. First, he will set up an online community of people with similar values. Then, collectively, they will buy a bit of land and set up a community with its own rules.³

Similar projects are springing up all over the world, an initiative known as the "network state". 

The argument is that our current model - where everyone pays taxes to get services that they may or may not use, and whose quality may vary - is outdated.

Instead, the world should be made up of microstates that compete to provide models that will attract consumer-citizens - microstates such as Zuzalu.

As for democracy, there will be no need for it. If you do not like the way your government is run, you can just leave to find one you like better.

Will it work? Some think it is impossible. PsychoanalystA practitioner of psychoanalysis, a set of psychological theories first laid out by Sigmund Freud in the late 19th Century. Jacques Lacan argued that trying to fulfil our desires always leaves us unsatisfied.⁴

If humans are incapable of living in a state of contentment, then the idea of a utopian society is futile.

But defenders of this scheme say what makes it different is that it does not want to make people happy, rather it gives them space to set their own goals, to strive and to innovate.

Sceptics say that is exactly the problem. These tech isolationists do not want egalitarianBelieving that everybody deserves equal rights and opportunities. democracies, but mini-autocraciesCountries run by one person or small group with complete power. .⁵

So in practice, only they would be the ones getting to pursue their dreams. Everyone else would be there to serve them.

Is utopia possible?

Yes: We live in an age of technological marvels. Nothing we do has any purpose if it is not working towards greater and greater human happiness. So we must believe in utopia.

No: Utopia has never worked in the past and it will not work now. The truth is that people do not like being happy all the time, or living in harmony and equality with each other. We need conflict and tension.

Or... Utopia may well be possible, but that is not what Zuzalu is. It is an attempt to privatise civil societyThe organisations within a society that work to promote the common good, usually taken to include state-run institutions, families, charities and community groups. itself and set tech bros up as our "benevolent" overlords.