Utopia

THE 10 RULES OF PUPPYTOWN

1. When each citizen turns 25 years old, you must take on the duty to adopt a puppy. Your puppy is your lifeline! Every 1 year your dog lives represents 7 years of your own life. (So, if your puppy lives 10 years, you will live to 70 years old). These puppies are genetically modified and do not have any mutations that would cause disease, cancer, or anything that would cause your puppy to die early. They are also hypoallergenic to prevent any sneezing or negative effects to each owner.
2. LOVE and take care of your dog. Your dog is not only your lifeline, but you must truly love him/her. You must feed him, take him to vet appointments, and meet your dog’s survival necessities. However, do not take care of him just so you get more years added to your life! You must show compassion, kindness, and love towards your puppy.
3. In the case your dog dies at a young age due to a tragic accident, such as getting hit by a car, you can apply to adopt another puppy to get a longer chance at life. The situation will be evaluated by a panel of judges consisting of 100 random citizens from society to vote on whether the dog’s reason of death is excusable and if the citizen can get the opportunity to adopt another puppy. Careless puppy-caregiving will not be overlooked!
4. Don’t harm any person, your puppy, or another person’s puppy. This would interfere with the lives of other puppies and humans, which is prohibited because it is similar to committing murder or shortening the life of someone else.
5. Each citizen of Puppytown must go to 15 years of school, ending at their 2nd year of college. This is mandatory in order to gain education that would allow each citizen to be a productive, compassionate, and decent member of society. Education also includes puppy training and care classes which would increase the lifeline of citizens.
6. All citizens must respect and accept others, no matter what race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, political viewpoints, etc. This is to prevent conflict and violence, and so that others never feel like they do not belong in society. With this rule, everyone will feel respected.
7. Every citizen must think of everyone in society as an equal. No person should act or express words that would show superiority to another person. This would prevent conflict and the bullying or oppression of others. The only exception is if parents are advising their child from right or wrong.
8. Each citizen must make a decent contribution to their society and be willing to have a job once education has ceased. If someone is not employed, they are not positively contributing to society and are considered a “free-loader”. If someone is unemployed and unable to find a job, a job will be assigned by the government.
9. There will be no infringement of freedom of speech. Every citizen of Puppytown has the right to express their thoughts, opinions, and views, but cannot push them upon others. No one is allowed to force someone else to view something a specific way, but everyone is allowed to express their own viewpoints. This is to gain a well-balanced society where there are no limitations in speech and thought.
10. If someone is living in the community illegally, they will have the opportunity for citizenship of Puppytown. However, immigrants are welcomed until the age of 50 years old. The age is capped in order to have ample enough time for education and to take care of a puppy. Immigrants must be willing to go through 6 years of education (high school and college), including the puppy courses, and be willing to abide by all rules of Puppytown before gaining citizenship.

 

EDUCATION

As long as each citizen follows the 10 rules of Puppytown, they receive free education. Education is free due to the taxes that each working citizen pays. It is mandatory that every citizen goes to 1 year of preschool, 5 years of elementary school, 3 years of middle school, 4 years of high school, and 2 years of the university to complete their degree. 15 years of education are necessary for each citizen to be a well-educated, knowledgeable, and ideal member of society after they graduate. If one wishes to continue their education after their 2-year university, they must pay for excess education using their KIBBLE$, a form of currency that is given to students as allowance. Students may also work part-time, where they can earn extra KIBBLE$ to pay for extra education. All educational services will be public. Private schools, loans, and high tuition costs are eliminated in order to create a more balanced opportunity for education. People of all backgrounds, ethnicities, race, socioeconomic status, gender, sex, and sexual orientation will receive the same opportunities to learn and grow from educational experiences.

Everyone will receive identical educational classes. Each student’s curriculum will consist of common educational courses, such as English, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, a foreign language of their choice (Spanish, American Sign Language, Japanese, French, etc.), Art, and History. Although teaching the History of the world is a controversial topic to be taught to this perfect utopian society, it is important that the citizens of Puppytown understand the background of the world so that they know this society is the way that it is. It would not be a utopian society if all of the citizens were shut off from the world and were not educated on events that occured before the creation of Puppytown. Of course, educational courses also consist of how to take care of, train, and perform emergency CPR on dogs, as these are important skills needed to expand someone’s lifeline. Puppytown also takes a holistic approach to education, where there is a foundation on morals. Throughout education, students will learn the importance of compassion, empathy, and treating others how they would like to be treated.

 

RELIGION

 In Puppytown every individual has the freedom to express their own religion. They cannot be prejudiced for their religious or spiritual beliefs, and people are very understanding of beliefs that differ from their own. As a result, children are raised to be more “worldly”, and learn about different religions in school and at home. There will be safe environments for people to worship, and violence based on religion is strictly prohibited. Although Puppytown is accepting of all beliefs and systems of thought, bigotry and “negative” religious practices will not be tolerated. “Deviant” behavior will be determined by the cultural norm at the time, and there will be a popular vote to determine what is deemed as “bad” or “negative”. This system ensures that the government will not single out certain religious organizations, and allows the people to have a say in the rules that govern them.

 

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

One thing that our group likes about our current society is the freedom of thought and self expression. After reading dystopian novels where thinking and personal expression is strictly regulated (or even prohibited), we have come to learn the importance of being an individual. Individuality not only generates new ideas, but also allows people to thrive. Because of this, individuality will be emphasized and celebrated in our new society.

Even though our society has had many great advances, it discrimination towards certain racial/ethnic groups has broken our trust. The extreme rise in hate crimes has created a culture where people are fear for their lives because they identify with a certain group or belong to a particular race. These incidents do not exclude government organizations, as there have been numerous incidents that implicate government officials. This has inspired us to create a society where understanding and acceptance of differing viewpoints (religious, social, political…) is a social norm. Infringing on this idea is punishable, as we believe that non-acceptance is extremely dangerous to society.

Our group feels the need to create a more perfect society because we deserve to live in a world where our rights and freedoms are protected. We have taken a stand against prejudice and bigotry, and feel that the society we have created will foster personal and intellectual growth. This new society has similar aspects of our current society, but the main difference is that people are held accountable for their actions. This is monitored through the puppy system, as the puppy that people are assigned is a direct reflection of how they treat others.

 

LAW AND ORDER

The law enforcers in Puppytown would be known as the Paw Patrol. The Paw Patrol would consist of humans who work together to make sure that no harm is done to any puppies or members of the community. However, crime is not a common occurrence in Puppytown because if any harm is done to another person or their puppy, then their own puppy is harmed. Thus, affecting the offenders puppy and their life line. For example, if someone intentionally harms another person or their puppy, then their puppy could get months or years taken away from their own puppy. If the offense is very dangerous or serious, then the remaining lives of their puppy could be taken away. Firearms and explosives are not found within Puppytown because the Paw Patrol does not want to risk the lives of their citizens. They would rather eliminate firearms and explosives so they do not pose a threat on the safety of their society.

The Paw Patrol mandates that everyone loves their puppy. People must treat their puppies well and take care of them. If people take care of their puppies and do no harm to another puppy, then the person is able to retire at at 70. For the rest of their life, they can relax until their life line is up. It was also important that the Paw Patrol allows for immigrants to gain citizenship more easily. Puppytown is accepting of all people from all over the world. As long as the immigrants obtain citizenship and follow the laws of Puppytown, then they will live a long and happy life.

 

ECONOMICS, WORK, & LEISURE

In Puppytown, the accepted form of currency is called KIBBLE$. KIBBLE$ is money that is made out of paper and is cut in the shape of bones. KIBBLE$ can be used throughout the utopian society and is considered the highest value currency in the world. Everyone in Puppytown is mandated to get a job. People are able to choose their jobs based off their passion. However, their source of income (KIBBLE$) is not based off their job, rather it is based off how well their puppy is taken care of. At the end of their puppy’s life, someone will evaluate the puppy to determine how well they were treated for. The evaluator gives the puppy a score, and that score is converted into the amount of KIBBLE$ that the person gets for the rest of their life. As long as people treat their puppy well, they will have a long and happy life.  Puppytown’s economy will not rely on the rest of the world. The government in Puppytown has all the resources that they need to survive and have an enjoyable life. They have areas of high crop yields, education, industrial and manufacturing factories and an ample amount of water. Puppytown was able to learn from other countries from all over the world and combined all of their skills into one utopia.

 

GOVERNING BODY

Within Puppytown the governing body will mainly follow a democracy. This system of government will be run by the whole population and elected officials. The elected officials propose the laws or changes that need to be made, but they are not authorized to make any of the decisions alone without the communities approval. With a group of 25 elected officials, they are re elected every 4 years. Although, an elected official can be overthrown by the others within their group if 88% (22 of the 25) of the elected officials vote for it together. Everyone will have a fair vote towards overall laws and proposals in order for them to be passed. We want everyone to feel as though they have a say rather than appointed people making decisions for us. The age group of voters starts at 18 years old and ends at age 90, if one reaches that age. Different political parties will be implemented as there is today, though instead of such malicious arguments we will encourage openminded-ness and unprejudiced discussions amongst people. In fact, we applaud people who state their opinions but we want people to do so with respect and care.

 

WAYS IT COULD GO WRONG

Though there will be lots of research and development that will be put in to generate these hypoallergenic and perfectly produced dogs, there will always a chance that the dogs can malfunction. If we find a flaw in the dogs then there will be a big issue- our R&D team will have to work quickly in order to find a resolution before the doggie lifeline starts affecting people’s lives. For example, it could disrupt the amount of kibble portions that people get. Another issue that could take place is mutant puppies. The puppies could turn evil and their wiring could cause mayhem. They could go absolutely crazy, kill their owners, and tear apart anything that gets in their way. But, that’s just thinking of the worst possible outcome. Something else that could go wrong is that there could be accidents that affect the puppies or the dogs lives. For example, if someone is forced to swerve their car in order to save human lives, but they by mistake run over a dog. What happens then? Does the owner’s lifeline vary dependent on the accident? Do they have to start over with a new dog? Or is there going to be a way that they can start from the dog they left off; as if the dog were to come back to life? The research and development team would be the ones to find a stable solution for this matter.

Created by:

Natalie, Erin, Izzy, and Alee