[eep_social]

I think reading a broad swath of sci-fi might be the best way to engage this topic.

For fairly positive takes — Asimov had a take in the robot novels, Accelerando by Charles Stross touches on reputation-based currency (among a deluge of other ideas), Iain M Banks’ Culture novels have a take, and I cannot find it but there was a short story posted here recently about a dual-class system where the protagonist is rescued and whisked off to a utopian society in Australia where people do whatever they like all day whether it be fashion design or pooling their resources to build a space elevator. There are plenty of dystopian tales as well but they’re less fun to read and I don’t have a recommendation off the top of my head.

To answer your question directly, my opinion is that our our base nature probably leads us towards dystopia but our history is full of examples of humans exceeding that base nature so there’s always a chance.

[nurbl]

Maybe the story you're referring to is https://marshallbrain.com/manna1

[bamboozled]

Actually I think you’re right. I got my stories mixed up ?

[eep_social]

This was the one but thanks for the add to my reading list!

[bamboozled]

I'd say the book you're talking about is "The Machine Stops", it's a really fun/albeit scary read.

I won't say anything more in case you decide to read it, but it's amazing how the author managed to predict the future the way he did.

Thanks for the response and fingers crossed.