If you could live in any fictional world, what world would you live in and why?

[jack]

If you could live in any fictional world, what world would you live in and why?

First, a clarification.

I interpreted the question as what society you want to live in, which seemed the right way to rule out stories where the main characters have an awesome time because they're special (eg. where it's good to live as a noble, but not as a commoner) or because they narrowly achieve a great victory (but it would be much more likely to be overrun by the dark lord's forced).

But that allows you to choose one society out of a world that may have multiple, eg. if there's a book about planet X, you can choose to live on planet X, even if there's a whole galaxy of other planets the books don't say anything about.

Of course, how good the society is is almost independent of how good the book is. The book naturally focuses on the conflicts to be as interesting as possible, and the society is mostly the background to that.

So what would I look for:

* A society with good technological or magical health care. Unpleasant diseases are relegated to the history books. Eg. Discworld doesn't mention this, but given that medicine is practically non-existent, and magic is rarely used to cure diseases, people must die at medieval rates. Whereas in Harry Potter, it seems most things can be cured overnight.

* Preferably good options on immortality, so long as I'm choosing

* An emphasis on progress, on society progressing and discovering new, exciting things, and opportunities to achieve something rather than just sitting around eating lotuses. Maybe even kicking ass.

That said, it sounds like one of the technological utopias, such as Iain Banks' Culture or maybe Startrek, would fit best.

I'm also intrigued by the suggestions of Gallifry. We know almost nothing about it, but it's presumably very advanced, you get 13 lifetimes, and you may (not sure) get to play in time.

Or also Narnia, which involves taking a lot on faith, but is presented as very very magical, in the "wonderful to experience" sense.

ETA: You may also want to read a discussion on "is Brave New World a good/bad place to live" at the original post: http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1418312.html?thread=70522184#t70522184

Comments

[forestofglory]

I don't think you'd like Gallifry. There are a few old Dr. Who stories set there, and the place is full of stuffy bureaucrats. They do get some very silly hats though. Most of the old series Doctors are avoiding the place, so it rather amuses that the new series Doctors miss Gallifry so much. Plus I don't think they have very good mental health care.

[andrewducker]

You might enjoy this, if you can get ahold of it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Also_People

[atreic]

Clearly the right answer is beta colony from the Vorkosigan books. The science! The technology! The sex! The pretty topless people in sarongs! The universal right to comconsole access and the lack of any povety! Although I think the being perminently underground thing would drive me crazy.

[onyxlynx]

Whee! Two minds, one groove!

[jack]

The pretty topless people in sarongs!

:) I'd forgotten that.

I considered listing Beta colony: it's good example of a technological utopia, and one which is not so very far removed from our own society, one where there are the usual human problems, but we've advanced far enough that decent shelter, food, and internet are universally available. (After all, come to think of it, the UK is damn close to that. We probably could achieve it if we tried hard enough, I think there's enough resources for everyone to have food and shelter, it's the logistics of getting everyone on the streets into them which is lacking.)

Bujold describes Beta and Barrayer (and other planets) so, so well, because she's able to show Barrayar's view of Beta, and Beta's view of Barrayar without seeming contradictory.

But there are a few hints that Beta DOES have significant drawbacks every so often. When I first read Shards of Honour, I saw Cordelia's persecution by the Psych services as a one-off disaster, driven by the politics of the war. But elsewhere there's a few hints that many people who don't fit in, may suffer similar persecution. It's not clear how prevalent it is, it maybe only hits a few people, and may or may not be better than the UK, but it does hint there's a bit of a creepy "fit in or else be arrested for 'psychological problems' and 'fixed'" vibe that there's a lot more of in actual dystopias.

[onyxlynx]

At the moment, I'm liking Beta Colony, even though Cordelia Naismith ran up against one of its disadvantages. Also Whileaway.

[rysmiel]

In the absence of people care about who would not not wish to join me, I would emigrate to the Culture without a second thought.

Star Trek, otoh, never in a million years. Comparing the Prime Directive to the philosophy of Special Circumstances tells me all I need to know about which one I could construe as politically acceptable.

[palfrey]

Definitely the Culture for me. I can live without time-travel, and with the Culture I've got effectively unlimited lifespan and resources, plus an outgoing and interesting society.