Features of the Perfect Society

I have given more devoted time this week to pondering the truly perfect society, as opposed to the entirely admirable Nordic model that would have to be adopted and followed for many years before societal perfection could ever realistically be pursued;  and I note here also that Taiwanese society has already gone very far in acquiring the most important features of the Nordic model and has many of the traits of communality and social cohesion to be attained as precursor to the advent of the ideal social formation.

 

Bellamy is interesting in predicting that the nations of the world would have since 1887 gone a long distance on the path to societal perfection by the year 2000.  And, for an individual nation to eliminate violence, war, and the need for a military (worthy aspects of the ideal society), the universal rejection of violence would seem to be necessary.

 

I return, then, to two chief endeavors:  identification of the societal and international precursors of achieving perfection;  and description of the truly ideal society.

 

My focus is on national sized entities that develop the prerequisites for societal perfection;  and on similarly large geosocial formations that develop individually and in confederation the truly ideal features of life.

 

The Nordic models have very good (if not excellent as defined by my tough standards) education systems, both pre-college/university and at the college and university levels;  universal, affordable health care;  long-term paid family leave at the birth of each child;  national, high-quality affordable child care;  and a communal, empathic societal spirit seeking a good life for each person with a high level of economic equity.  Those features constitute a necessary benchmark for moving toward genuine perfection;  and for any nation to attain perfection, that benchmark must be reached by all nations of the world.

 

Then the question becomes, if the preconditions for societal perfection are met, what would be the features of the perfect society?

 

Features of the Perfect Society   

 

>>>>>   The perfect society would feature absolute gender equality and recognize all gender identities;  no features of patriarchy would remain.

 

>>>>>   Egalitarianism would describe social and economic relationships:  social and economic class differences would not abide.   

 

>>>>>   Money would be unnecessary:  people would labor willingly for the good of society, giving of their labor in a manner consistent with their talents, skills, vocational inclinations, following a natural tendency to fill societal needs.

 

>>>>>   Widespread agreement would have for many centuries been achieved as to crops, industrial goods, and economic enterprises needed for the public good;  any changes, diminutions, and additions would occur via discussion in local, regional, and national forums.

 

>>>>>   Such forums would be all that would be necessary as to government, with leaders emerging organically according to obvious organizational and managerial ability;  no elections to formal office would be necessary.

 

>>>>>   Thus a pervasive spirit of cooperation would abide, developed over many centuries, far beyond what existed or could even be imagined by most people in the 21^st century.

 

>>>>>   Violence and war would have ended.

 

>>>>>   The need for lawyers or prisons would no longer exist.

 

>>>>>   Mental illness would be rare, only traceable in those few cases to genetic rather than environmental conditions, and treated empathically;  over millennia, natural selection would almost totally eliminate genetically produced mental illness.   

 

>>>>>   Education would emphasize the acquisition of knowledge across the liberal arts (mathematics [from arithmetic through calculus], biology, chemistry, physics, history [which would include the study of past forms of government and economy], literature, grammar, multiple languages, visual art and music);  and would provide training to all students in the manual and technological arts.

 

>>>>>   Pre-college/university education would proceed over nine grades, generally beginning at age five and lasting through age thirteen;  Stage One college and university education would proceed for three more grades (grades ten through twelve, generally for those at ages fourteen through sixteen);  Stage Two college and university education would then proceed according to vocational and professional inclination, with further, advanced study also in the liberal arts, generally for those seventeen to twenty-one years old.

 

>>>>>   By the age of twenty-one, therefore, a high degree of vocational and professional training would have been achieved for all people according to their greatest interest and talent;  and societal members would have great knowledge of all fields in the liberal arts, with considerable skill also in the manual and technological arts.

 

>>>>>   Members of the perfect society would have perpetual quest for knowledge and thrive on discussion with their fellows as to any improvements that might be made;  accordingly, they flock to libraries, museums, and public forums.

 

>>>>>   Those in the perfect society would have a heightened appreciation of nature, the visual and musical arts, and physical activity;  and they would pursue those interests along with vocational specialty throughout life.

 

>>>>>   Those living in the perfect society would have heightened knowledge of nutrition, physical exercise, and healthy life habits;  they are vegetarians who drink no alcoholic beverages.

 

>>>>>   People would organize themselves into nuclear familial units and monogamous unions;  they would generally cook at home but have a wide variety of options if they desire to eat in small establishments specializing in certain types of culinary options or to gather with their fellows in large communal dining halls.

 

>>>>>   Those living in the ideal society would sustain habits and live under felicitous conditions conducive to life spans reaching on average for both females and males to age 87, with many people living well past one hundred years of age.