No Spoilers Daverisimo's Dystopia Discussion

[Daverisimo]

So, dystopian fiction is popular as fuck. Easily more popular than utopian fiction. This is probably a byproduct of our deep-seeded need for conflict, but that's neither here nor there. I want to discuss people's favorite dystopia, and the ones they think would be the worst to actually live in.

My favorite at the moment is the Cyberpunk 2077 universe. I haven't actually played they game, but Edgerunners is fucking fantastic, and I think gives me some idea of what the universe is like. It's grim as fuck, but it's not completely hopeless, which is pretty much the sweet spot for me.

The worst is Harlan Ellison's "I Have No Mouth But I Must Scream". That story still gives me nightmares, years after I first read it.

 

[Flower2dPeople]

Blade Runner
Psycho-pass.

 

[ObsoleteSoul]

The “Wind-Up Girl” is one lesser talked about dystopias that deserves more recognition. Fossil fuels are mostly gone, and natural plants and animals are controlled via biological IPs that die out within many yields. Then, you have to go back to the license holder for material to purchase. Calorie companies.

It takes place in Thailand, one of the last free countries anywhere, with its own seed banks. Everything is based on calories. Just a bleak, desolate future with some lite body-horror/mod stuff thrown in for flavor. The universe has some short stories attached to them too. The author writes a lot of dystopian before he went to mainly writing YA, which I do not really have an interest in.

There are so many though, and many good ones. Wouldn’t want to live in Margaret Atwood’s “Oryx and Crake” future either. Interesting place though. No doubt about it.

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

Children of Men and The Road for sheer realism.

 

[Spam On Rye]

Utopian fiction is dystopian fiction. Thomas More, Huxley, and PKD.