根据一本新书《乌托邦的用途》，自 2016 年以来，英文单字 "utopia" 的使用频率一直在下降。作者 Joad Raymond Wren 追溯了历史上的虚构乌托邦，重点介绍了例如 Sarah Scott 于 1762 年创作的小说《千禧堂》（关于一个避开男性的女性隔离社区），以及 Hamja Ahsan 于 2017 年创作的《羞怯激进分子》（关于一个试图逃离西方文化中外向者霸权的羞怯者社会）。这些例子展示了几个世纪以来乌托邦思想的多样化表达。

乌托邦类型的演变显示出显著的历史转变，特别是在 19 世纪，当时技术在改善社会生活方面变得至关重要。一个著名的例子是 Edward Bellamy 于 1888 年出版的极具影响力的小说《回顾》，该书设想了实用的发明，如街道上的可伸缩遮蓬，使市民在下雨时不需要携带雨伞。这一文学愿景直接启发了建筑师 George Wyman 设计位于洛杉矶的布拉德伯里大楼，该建筑后来被 Ridley Scott 用于电影《银翼杀手》中。

相较于当代对反乌托邦的著迷——反乌托邦对糟糕的居住环境提供了明确的道德判断——Joad Raymond Wren 认为乌托邦是质疑我们智力极限的重要工具。乌托邦文学并非描绘一个人是否真的想居住在那里的场所，而是鼓励我们反思自身思维的边界以及我们社会假设的隐性代价，这种实践在 2020 年代已经显著减少。

According to a new book, *The Uses of Utopia*, the use of the English word "utopia" has been declining since 2016. Author Joad Raymond Wren traces fictional utopias through history, highlighting works such as Sarah Scott's 1762 novel *Millennium Hall* about a secluded community of women who have renounced men, and Hamja Ahsan's 2017 *Shy Radicals* about a society of shy people seeking to escape the extrovert supremacy of Western culture. These examples illustrate the diverse expressions of utopian thought over the centuries.

The evolution of the utopian genre shows significant historical shifts, particularly in the 19th century with increasing interest in how technology might be used to improve lives. A notable example is Edward Bellamy's massively influential 1888 novel *Looking Backward*, which envisioned nice little inventions like retractable street covers so that when it rains, citizens do not have to carry umbrellas. This literary vision directly inspired architect George Wyman to design the Bradbury Building in Los Angeles, which was later used by Ridley Scott in the film *Blade Runner*.

Compared to the contemporary obsession with dystopias, which offer unambiguous moral judgments where they are simply bad places to live, Joad Raymond Wren argues that utopias serve as a set of tools for asking questions and reflecting upon the limits of our own thinking. Rather than focusing on whether one would want to live in these imagined societies, utopian writing encourages us to examine our own presuppositions and their costs, a practice that is rarely seen in the 2020s.