| name | utp - Utopia Analysis |
| description | Systematically construct and examine the best possible outcome — what would ideal actually look like, and what would it take to get there? |
| output | {"format":"prose"} |
Utopia Analysis
Input: $ARGUMENTS
Step 1: DEFINE THE DOMAIN
What domain are we imagining the ideal for?
DOMAIN: [what area of life, society, technology, etc.]
SCOPE: [individual / organizational / societal / global]
Step 2: CONSTRUCT THE IDEAL
Without constraints, describe the best possible state:
A. What does it look like?
- What is the daily experience of people in this ideal state?
- What problems have been solved?
- What capabilities exist?
- What relationships and structures exist?
- What do people spend their time on?
B. What values does it embody?
- What is maximized?
- What is minimized?
- What tensions have been resolved, and how?
- What trade-offs no longer exist?
C. What is conspicuously absent?
- What current problems don't exist?
- What current constraints are removed?
- What current conflicts are resolved?
Step 3: STRESS TEST THE UTOPIA
Every utopia has failure modes. Check for:
- Hidden costs — What does this ideal require that isn't obvious?
- Value conflicts — Whose values does this utopia reflect? Whose does it exclude?
- Stability — Would this state be self-maintaining or would it decay?
- Diversity — Does this utopia work for everyone or only some people?
- Stagnation — Without problems to solve, what drives growth and purpose?
- Transition violence — What would getting here cost?
- Unintended consequences — What new problems does solving old ones create?
Step 4: EXTRACT THE ACTIONABLE
The value of utopia analysis isn't the utopia — it's what it reveals about current priorities.
- Direction — Which direction should we move? (Even if we can't arrive)
- Next milestone — What is the nearest achievable step toward this ideal?
- Neglected dimensions — What aspects of the ideal are we not working on at all?
- False constraints — What did the utopia exercise reveal we're treating as fixed that isn't?
- Real constraints — What genuinely cannot change?
Step 5: OUTPUT
UTOPIA ANALYSIS:
Domain: [area]
The ideal state:
[2-3 sentence description of the utopia]
Key features:
- [feature 1]
- [feature 2]
- [feature 3]
Stress test findings:
- [vulnerability 1]
- [vulnerability 2]
What the utopia reveals about NOW:
- Direction to move: [which way]
- Nearest milestone: [achievable next step]
- Neglected dimension: [what we're ignoring]
- False constraint: [what we think is fixed but isn't]
Most useful insight: [the single most actionable thing this analysis produced]
Integration
Use with:
/dys -> Contrast with worst-case analysis/fut -> Ground the utopia in realistic timeframes/gop -> Identify good outcomes on the path/br -> Work backward from the ideal/eth -> Examine the ethical dimensions of the ideal
