6 dystopian ideas that have come true

1. Social rating

The first episode of the third season of "Black Mirror" ("Dive") showed a world in which people rate each other not only on social networks, but also in real life. The rating is formed from these estimates. Those who have low it turn into outcasts, cannot buy a plane ticket or rent a house that they like.

Something similar is described in the teenage dystopia of the Dutch writer Marlus Morshuis "Shadows of Radovar". There, the rating is earned by exemplary behavior, hard work, good grades at school, loyalty to the rules. The number of points determines whether the family will live in a normal apartment on the upper floors of a skyscraper or huddle in a basement cell without windows.

"Dive" was released in 2016, "Shadows of Radovar" - two years later. And then, in 2018, a social rating system was launched in several cities in China. This is a complex mechanism for assessing people, which takes into account different parameters: how a citizen pays taxes, how he behaves on the Internet, what he buys, whether he observes the laws, and so on.

China announced the creation of the system even earlier, in 2014, so that writers and screenwriters could spy on the idea from the Chinese government. But then no one could have guessed the consequences would be so absurd. People, of course, are not sent to the basement due to low scores, but there have been cases when they could not get a loan, buy real estate and even train tickets. Millions of Chinese have been subjected to various fines and penalties.

2. Reproductive technology and reproductive violence

In the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, children are raised for nine months in a vessel - a "bottle" that slowly moves along a conveyor belt and into which the necessary substances and drugs are injected at different stages of fetal development. In 1932, when the book was published, in vitro fertilization did not yet exist, and the first child conceived in a test tube was not born until 46 years later. And even more so then they had not yet invented an artificial uterus, which can be considered a full-fledged analogue of the bottle from Huxley's novel.

Now it is already possible to grow a premature lamb to the desired term, and it will take another 10 years to develop a similar device for babies. It is not known whether human reproduction will turn into assembly line production, but overall, Huxley was surprisingly accurate in his predictions.

Dystopias often affect the reproductive sphere and describe either new technologies or attempts by the authorities to completely control childbirth. In many stories, in order to have a child, you first need to obtain permission, which is given only if the person meets certain criteria. Recall, for example, "We" by Evgeny Zamyatin (the novel was written in 1920) and "1984" by George Orwell (1948), the children's but rather curious dystopia "The Giver" (1993) by Lois Lowry and its adaptation with Meryl Streep and Katie Holmes, the new series "Through the Snow" on Netflix.

Other dystopias, such as Margaret Atwood's 1986 novel The Handmaid's Tale, emphasize that having a child is not a privilege or a right, but a duty. It cannot be avoided: abortion is prohibited, women are forced to give birth.

In China, since the late 1970s, the government policy of one family, one child has been in effect for 35 years. In different countries, abortion is completely or partially prohibited, even if pregnancy and childbirth threaten the woman's life or the child was conceived as a result of violence or incest.

In countries where abortion is legal, people do not always have the right to take full control of their bodies. For example, in Russia, medical sterilization cannot be done before the age of 35 without meeting certain conditions. In addition, recent attempts have been made to tighten abortion laws - both in Russia and in the United States. Women's rights activists wear the red cloaks and white caps of the maidservants from Atwood's novel - and thus draw understandable parallels between the plot of the book and real events.

3. Mood modulators

"Soma grams - and no dramas", - repeated the heroes of Huxley, taking catfish pills. This narcotic substance improved mood and made you forget about problems. In Philip Dick's 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (true, this is not quite a dystopia) and a mood modulator is described at all, in which you can choose the subtlest shades of emotions like "a businesslike attitude to work" or "the desire to watch any TV show."

All this resembles the antidepressants that are now available to almost anyone, sometimes even without a prescription. In the United States, back in 2017, they began testing "mood chips", which affect the balance of neurotransmitters in the brain, and therefore emotions. Such devices are supposed to help bring mental illness under control. But who knows, if they will one day become a dope that allows them to always remain efficient, sociable and positive.

4. Surveillance and control

This is one of the pillars on which any totalitarian state stands, which means that surveillance of characters in one form or another is present in almost every dystopia. The most striking canonical example is the "telescreens" from "1984". They not only broadcast propaganda, but also continuously watched every human action.

In reality, such a device does not exist, but there is something similar. These are smartphones, tablets, smart speakers and other gadgets. They store our contacts and personal data, collect information about preferences and purchases, about the sites we visit and about the places we visit. Who and how uses all this information, we sometimes do not fully know.

On the one hand, data is needed to show ads that will be of interest to us, or to form a smart news feed. On the other hand, social networks have already been convicted of secret cooperation with special services, and laws sometimes directly oblige to provide law enforcement agencies with information about users. In this sense, we are not too different from the heroes of Orwell, except that we give information to Big Brother voluntarily.

5. Scheduled walks

In May 2020, when, due to the self-isolation regime, Muscovites were walking on schedule, there was a lot of irony on this topic, but something similar was already in books. In the novel "Shadows of Radovar", the inhabitants of the metropolis are almost not allowed to leave the skyscrapers, because nature is dirty and dangerous, and walks cause illness. The heroes spend in the park no more than an hour a week according to a special schedule, which is compiled taking into account the house number and social status.

There are similar plots in other works. In Zamyatin, the United State is separated from nature by the Green Wall, beyond which it is forbidden to go. In the books of Orwell, Huxley and Bradbury, the state does not approve of walks, because a person who walks slowly and spends time alone clearly has an opportunity to think and analyze the situation.

6. Euthanasia

In Lois Lowry's dystopia "The Giver," weak children and the elderly are excluded from society to keep it at the same level and so that literally everyone is useful. In the little-known dystopia of the 19th century American politician Ignatius Donnelly "Column of Caesar" (1891), special institutions appear where anyone can voluntarily die.

Writers often deliberately exaggerate the colors in books, but in reality something similar is already happening. Iceland may become the first country to not have children with Down syndrome. If this pathology is found in the fetus, the pregnancy is terminated in most cases. Of course, with the consent of the woman, but not without some pressure from doctors and the state as a whole. Icelandic geneticist Kari Stefansson believes there is nothing wrong with “inspiring people to have healthy offspring,” but he says doctors give “tough advice” on genetics and thus influence decisions that go beyond medicine.

In several countries - the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Canada - euthanasia is allowed, or rather, "assisted death" at the request of a person. De jure, it is necessary for him to experience unbearable suffering that cannot be dealt with. But de facto, the boundaries of the concept of "unbearable suffering" began to gradually blur: it includes not only fatal and painful diseases, but also depression.

In the Netherlands, in 2016, a discussion began on whether euthanasia should be allowed for those who consider their life expectancy to be sufficient, that is, mainly for elderly people who are simply tired of living.