Human Nature and The Impossibility of Utopia

The idea of utopia — of a perfect society devoid of suffering and inequality — is planted firmly in the human imagination and psyche. From pre-biblical times to Thomas More and communism and beyond, widely disparate groups have attempted to plan or create a utopia.

But is it achievable? And if not, why not?

Join the unconventional University of Toronto psychologist Paul Bloom as he makes the case for the impossibility of utopia given certain key features of human nature. We are not meant, he argues, for perfect harmony and equality. Paul Bloom is a researcher of perversion and suffering, so his perspective brings interesting insights on the question.

But what do you think? Can we ever achieve utopia?

(The video mentioned in the episode: Woman throws cat into wheelie bin)

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We will discuss the episode "Utopia and Human Nature" from the Philosophy For Our Times podcast at this meetup. Please listen to the episode in advance (27 minutes) and bring your thoughts, reactions, and queries to share with us at the conversation.

Listen here: Spotify | Apple | Listen Notes

About the guest:

Paul Bloom is Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto and Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Yale University. Bloom studies how children and adults make sense of the world, with special focus on language, morality, pleasure, religion, fiction, and art. His work is strongly interdisciplinary, bringing in theory and research from areas such as cognitive, social, and developmental psychology, evolutionary theory, behavioral economics, and philosophy. Bloom is the recipient of numerous awards and honors for his research and teaching, including, most recently, the million-dollar Klaus J. Jacobs Research Prize. He is past-president of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology, and editor of Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

Bloom is the author of eight books, including Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion (2016), The Sweet Spot: The Pleasures of Suffering and the Search for Meaning (2021), Descartes' Baby: How The Science Of Child Development Explains What Makes Us Human (2004), Psych: The Story of the Human Mind (2023), and How Children Learn the Meanings of Words (2000). He has written for scientific journals such as Nature and Science, and for popular outlets such as The New York Times, The Guardian, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic.

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Future topics for this discussion series:

If you'd like to suggest a podcast episode for us to discuss at a future meetup, please send me a message or leave a comment below.

This link here is my own (frequently updated) playlist of listening recommendations and potential fodder for future discussions (by default it's sorted from oldest to newest but you can reverse the order with the "sort by" button.)

Podcast episodes we've previously discussed:

• Why Cynicism Is Bad For You (and The Surprising Science of Human Goodness) from The Gray Area
• The Culture Map: Decoding Cross-Cultural Communication from ReThinking
• The Price of Neutrality: Why “Staying Out of It” Backfires in Moral Disagreement from The Stanford Psychology Podcast