How to recognize a dystopia - Alex Gendler
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-to-recognize-a-dystopia-alex-gendler The genre of dystopia – the 'not good place'– has captured the ...
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Have you ever tried to picture an ideal world? One without war, poverty, or crime? If so, you're not alone. Plato imagined an enlightened republic ruled by philosopher kings, many religions promise bliss in the afterlife, and throughout history, various groups have tried to build paradise on Earth. Thomas More's 1516 book "Utopia" gave this concept a name, Greek for "no place." Though the name suggested impossibility, modern scientific and political progress raised hopes of these dreams finally becoming reality. But time and time again, they instead turned into nightmares of war, famine, and oppression. And as artists began to question utopian thinking, the genre of dystopia, the not good place, was born. One of the earliest dystopian works is Jonathan Swift&...
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Have you ever tried to picture an ideal world? One without war, poverty, or crime? If so, you're not alone. Plato imagined an enlightened republic ruled by philosopher kings, many religions promise bliss in the afterlife, and throughout history, various groups have tried to build paradise on Earth. Thomas More's 1516 book "Utopia" gave this concept a name, Greek for "no place." Though the name suggested impossibility, modern scientific and political progress raised hopes of these dreams finally becoming reality. But time and time again, they instead turned into nightmares of war, famine, and oppression. And as artists began to question utopian thinking, the genre of dystopia, the not good place, was born. One of the earliest dystopian works is Jonathan Swift&...
