It is the year 2084. While the rest of humanity exists in AI-controlled incubators, living virtual lives, Eric Smed remains on Earth, penning an essay on the history of our species. It's a dire and sobering account, punctuated by climate change, endless conflict and our eventual?and willing?retreat into the arms of Artificial Intelligence. Humanity has proven itself incapable stewards of the planet, and in order to save both ourselves and the natural world, our only option is to remove ourselves from both Earth and each other, and live out our lives virtually. In our virtual dreams, we have all that we could wish for, in our own individual ways, without
harming each other or our world. That is the utopia. But they are merely dreams. Dreams of something that we, as individuals and as a species, could not achieve on our own. That is the dystopia.

Part speculative fiction, part true history, The Dystopian Utopia takes the reader through centuries of the human story, charting constant technical advances, wars, the deterioration of our environment, and our constant inability to work together to effectively create change. It is a warning for humanity; a grim look at where our species is headed?but a hopeful reminder that right now, it's not too late for change.