Bregman's book makes for enjoyable reading, and it is packed with colorful factual asides.
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Maybe free money and a three-hour workday won't, either, but it sure seems like it would be more fun to try." That doesn't seem like it will get us there. Now we don't really even try, and mostly just scream at each other on the Internet.
We're a country that was once rich with social experimentation.
#Utopia for realists how to#
Utopia for Realists argues, with humor and sympathy, that we've all suffered from forgetting how to dream of a better world.What's so interesting about modern America is our hostility to the mere idea of trying to create an easier and happier life. "Both a fun read and a breath of fresh air to anyone who lived through the ghastly experience of last year's presidential election season. "A more politically radical Malcolm Gladwell.To the extent that bookish economic historians can rampage, Bregman is on one.He combines a detailed approach to economic policy with a utopian vision of a better future.Bregman argues that it is only by dreaming about what seems to be unachievable that society can make good things possible."- Patrick Kingsley, New York Times Praise For Utopia for Realists: How We Can Build the Ideal World… Being unrealistic and unreasonable can in fact make the impossible inevitable, and it is the only way to build the ideal world. Bregman's book, both challenging and bracing, demonstrates that new utopian ideas, like the elimination of poverty and the creation of the fifteen-hour workweek, can become a reality in our lifetime. From a Canadian city that once completely eradicated poverty, to Richard Nixon's near implementation of a basic income for millions of Americans, Bregman takes us on a journey through history, and beyond the traditional left-right divides, as he champions ideas whose time have come.Įvery progressive milestone of civilization - from the end of slavery to the beginning of democracy - was once considered a utopian fantasy. Utopia for Realists is one of those rare books that takes you by surprise and challenges what you think can happen. It's just one of the many utopian ideas that Bregman proves is possible today. A quarter of a million views later, the subject of that video is being seriously considered by leading economists and government leaders the world over.
Rutger Bregman's TED Talk about universal basic income seemed impossibly radical when he delivered it in 2014.
Rutger Bregman, a Dutch historian, reminds us it needn't be this way - and in some places it isn't. "A more politically radical Malcolm Gladwell." - New York TimesĪfter working all day at jobs we often dislike, we buy things we don't need. Does it sound too good to be true? One of Europe's leading young thinkers shows how we can build an ideal world today. At worst, Bregman wakes us up from our dogmatic slumber, encouraging us to ask important questions about 21st-century life.Universal basic income. The crisis of our times, of our generation “is not that we have it good, or even that we might be worse of later, but that we can’t come up with anything better… Notching up purchasing power another percentage point, or shaving off our carbon emissions perhaps a new gadget – that’s about the extent of our vision.”Īt best, Bregman provides us with a desirable and achievable vision of human progress a world with no borders, 15-hour work weeks and a universal basic income for everybody. Arguing for new utopian ideas such as a fifteen-hour work week and universal basic income, Utopia for Realists has been translated into over 30 different languages, making headlines and sparking movements across the world.ĭespite the fact we’ve never had it better, says Bregman, here in the Land of Plenty, we lack the desire and vision to improve society. Rutger Bregman is a historian and author, best known for his bestselling book, Utopia for Realists: and how we can get there. Welcome to 'Episode 56 (Part I)', where we'll be discussing Utopia for Realists with Rutger Bregman.
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