Nick Bostrom – the same Nick Bostrom who gave us that “Disneyland with no Children” image from earlier – also wrote what he called a “letter from utopia”. The full text is long, but in it he writes:
editHave you ever experienced a moment of bliss? On the rapids of inspiration maybe, your mind tracing the shapes of truth and beauty? Or in the pulsing ecstasy of love? Or in a glorious triumph achieved with true friends? Or in a conversation on a vine-overhung terrace one star-appointed night? Or perhaps a melody smuggled itself into your heart, charming it and setting it alight with kaleidoscopic emotions? Or when you prayed, and felt heard?
Yet a little later, scarcely an hour gone by, and the ever-falling soot of ordinary life is already covering the whole thing. The silver and gold of exuberance lose their shine, and the marble becomes dirty.
And so, the door that was ajar begins to close, and so the sliver of hope wanes, until nothing remains but a closed possibility. And then, not even a possibility. Not even a conceivability.
Quick, stop that door from closing! Shove your foot in so it does not slam shut.
And let the faint draught of the beyond continue to whisper of a higher state. Feel it on your face, the tender words of what could be!