For those who are trying to bring about a glorious transhuman utopia with the help of hopefully-aligned ASI, I think it's worth thinking explicitly about what utopia might actually look like and where it's likely to fall short.

To that end, some have helpfully written depictions of utopian (or utopia-adjacent) worlds: The Adventure, Just another day in utopia, The Culture, The Gentle Seduction, The Gentle Romance, Machines of Loving Grace, Friendship is Optimal, Dath Ilan, The Maker of MIND, Failed Utopia #4-2.

Unfortunately, the best utopian story I've ever read is also a massive spoiler, since it appears at the very end of a much longer story (see below for the title and author):

Worth the Candle by Alexander Wales

Inspired by this tweet[1] and with the original author's permission, I adapted the epilogue of that story so it can be enjoyed without 1.5 million words of context!

What I love most about this depiction is its exploration of the inherent imperfection of utopia: even when you have literally unlimited power, flaws will remain, and some (many?) people will even prefer the pre-utopia world.

The primary purpose of this adaptation is to recontextualize the epilogue so it's accessible and [...]

The original text contained 1 footnote which was omitted from this narration.

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June 3rd, 2026

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/to9cSGgD6nALByKjg/my-favorite-depiction-of-utopia

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.