The Transmigration of Utopia

The Transmigration of Utopia
Utopia has roots dating back to the Hellenic period and whose literal translation means “no place.” Lewis Mumford writes in depth about utopia in his “Utopia, The City and The Machine” starting with a philosophical description and ending with a more historical explanation of the concept.
Lewis Mumford shows the utopias have generally been relatively unimaginative considering the emancipated class of the Hellenic period and questions why they found such problematic regimented models, as stated by his example of the humane More. Though Mumford thought of More as being tolerant and magnanimous on the subject of religious convictions, More eventually succumbs to the limitations of other utopian authors namely: isolation, stratification, fixation, regimentation, standardization, militarization. He continues that the reason for this failure is do to the individuals inclination towards self preservation or greed, thus abandoning the "liberating sources of unpredictable and uncontrollable creativity." Interestingly the quest for a perfect place for all humankind turns out to be an exclusive club Med with servants to fight your wars to boot.
On the other hand, Mumford questions this premise for a more grounded historical explanation in the sense that utopia, particularly in Plato's case, may have not been sterile, but rather looking towards the historic city. It is sort of like combining the best of both worlds by taking a republic, minus its' failing politicians, and an ancient city, minus all of the often forgotten hardships. Interestingly enough, he dives deeper than these philosophical assertions to back his reasons for the rise in utopian ideals as coming from establishment of the city by a king that represents God and who is constantly trying to "hold chaos at bay and ward of inimical spirits." The establishment of the cities infrastructural eternal order and its' mark as a sacred place for the Gods create an otherworldly appearance. The final conclusion is that modern philosophers like, More, Cabet, and Bellamy all reverted to the kings urban organization as a reaction toward their new free market economy.
The final conclusion is that we eventually reach utopia through science. Kings and Gods are all rejected by the elite and machines through science have improved and explained the physical world. Mumford notes astonishingly however that the collection of these machines in a totalitarian system has become society’s God, and therefore has crushed the notion of utopia. Further he asserts that the only people that can see the destructive nature of the Invisible Machine are the scientist and the artist. While the they arrive at their conclusions differently, the resultant is dystopia.