Utopia for Realists by Rutger Bregman (Summary)

Living in a time of unprecedented upheaval, with questions about the future, society, work, happiness, family and money, it is not bad to take an analysing view at man’s work or developments in this world.

For centuries, man has looked for systems and solutions to govern the world in good order. Yet no political party of the right, centre, or left could provide us with answers. Rutger Bregman, a bestselling Dutch historian, explains that it needn’t be this way and shows that we can construct a society with visionary ideas that are, in fact, wholly implementable.

Every milestone of civilization – from the end of slavery to the beginning of democracy – was once considered a utopian fantasy. New utopian ideas such as universal basic income and a 15-hour work week can become reality in our lifetime.

The Herston Project

★★★★

Utopia for realists shows that we can construct a society with visionary ideas that are implementable. Every milestone of civilization was once considered a utopian fantasy, however, if we set our sights on new ideas such as a guaranteed basic income and fifteen-hour workweeks, we may just be able to achieve those ideals too.

Get the book here: Utopia for Realists: And How We Can Get There

Key Idea #1 – The scarcity mindset

To economists, everything revolves around the idea of scarcity. Our decisions and the way we act is determined by whether we can obtain things easily. People behave differently when they perceive something – either tangible like food or intangible like time – to be scarce. In the short-term, this scarcity mindset can provide benefits. It’s that survival mechanism which gets us moving to make ends meet. It provides that overworked CEO with…

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