The Utopia Experiment Short Film

Very interesting, is the community still in existence?

you know you got the application " automatic caption available in your language" to the down right corner of your video , THANK'S YOU TUBE !!! je suis français mais je te l'a fait en anglais !

are you kidding ?!

Why would I be kidding? What a strange thing to say.

...they bought their milk??

I work in the Oil Industry, and it isn't going to peak for at least a few hundred more years.  I can say this with confidence.   What I also can say is that without Oil, many of us wouldn't be alive today.  I'm thinking of many situations in my famalies past where we had to go to hospitals and such.  Had to get treatment for disease and bacterial infections and such as society went along.  It wouldn't have been possible without the oil industry.  Our ancestors could have died working out at the farm before any of us were born.   Understand oil is just one of many stepping stones that humanity will take.  I am a little surprised at how we don't use Nuclear to its full potential seeing that even the worst nuclear disasters are no where near as impacting as the entire oil industry for the same number of years going.   Don't Protest.   Be change.  Be a scientist, not an activist.  Nobody wants to hear what sucks...they want change, and we need to promote those that can lead by example instead of those that contribute nothing but anger.   Cheers!  

just listening to this as book of the week on radio 4...very interesting psycologically...bit short sighted of you tho dylan.

should have grown cannabis or vallerian herbs...something to just take the edge off.

and seems you were a free lunch to so many.

hand over the button? ahhhh that old saying...10,000 b.c proved that we cant handle self reliant existance as hunter/gatherers

It's quite amazing to be half way through reading a book, with all your own little mental images, and then to be able to see a video of the reality. Very glad I decided to search for this video after the little reference in the book!

I just heard this guy speaking on NPR today in an interview, i think he has a new book out or something. I love this idea but he was a terrible person to do it. He admitted that if the world he lived in crashed and technology was lost he would be dead, so would a lot of people, but for some reason he thought, mistakenly, that his intelligence would be enough to get him through, this was a lesson in arrogance. He is a very bright guy and is used to deeply knowing his material and focus. But he obviously has no experience in anything related to this type of living, he isn't assertive or knowledgeable enough to be a leader, and honestly I just don't think he's tough enough. He said he had a vision in his mind of him being some sort of Guru that everyone would ask advice from, lol. Bad choices on his part; Not screening volunteers enough, selling all of his belongings and house, not getting any experience before starting the project or otherwise preparing. I mean if he's willing to put so much on the line to do this experiment you would think he could have at least stayed on a farm and worked, or had a survivalist mentor him for a few months or better yet both! Maybe learn some techniques on preserving foods or gardening? Perhaps toughen up a bit physically? In the end I think he just had no idea of what this kind of life means, and the whole thing ended up making him depressed and anxious to the point that he left and committed himself in the hospital. To some being out away from everything is a boon, to others its hell. He unfortunately decided to jump in head first without a clue about the situation. The funny thing is, that people like him would probably be more common and I image a lot of folks would be feeling depressed and lost if their whole way of life was suddenly out of reach, and in a way he more accurately shows what it would be like, making the experiment weirdly successful still. A brave but ill thought out experiment gone strangely wrong, but still right.

Haha. He thought the way to get to "utopia" was to start living in poverty. Then he sold his house house to try it. For a fraction of a cost he could have experienced that lifestyle in poorer countries.

Guess what: if poverty made people so happy they wouldn't struggle to get out of it. It's funny that no one experienced poverty in the first world for long that people have no idea what it is any more.

Regardless this is a good example of what the societies that people call "utopia" are like.

Just finished Evans' book.I think he makes the best case against the experiment himself when he notes that whether we like it or not, civilisation is the result of thousands of years of trial and error. To think you can divorce yourself from it 'like that' is unrealistic. I think it's important to experiment in different ways of living though. I've visited a few functional communities that exist largely independent of the rest of society, but they don't pretend that they can exist 100% autonomously either. That said, if society did fall apart, they'd probably be in a better position to adapt.

Dylan's account of the Utopia Experiment is one of the best books I've read - definitely one of my favourites. It's gripping, entertaining and very honest. He did everything wrong - but he did act on his beliefs and not just talk. Thanks for posting this video.

What a wonderful thing that existed.

This film is great if you are also reading the book, but the reality was so much worse than the film portrays. As a survivalist / prepper Dylan was completely out of his depth. At least this ill-fated experiment made him realise the enormous benefits the modern world offers us.

I'm just reading the book... Interesting to get a sense of the bigger picture. Also funny to watch this and see a much younger me during my short stay😊 I still look back on it fondly, it's a shame it took such a toll on Dylan