The twenty-first century has not begun well. H. G. Wells in the quotation above argues at the beginning of the twentieth century for a world that places freedom at its core and envisions never-ending technological and creative advances constructing a modern utopia. A century later Michael Marder and Patrícia Vieira introduce the collection Existential Utopia: New Perspectives on Utopian Thinking with an almost despairing cry:

An almost despairing cry, because the new perspectives on utopian thinking promised in the title indicate that such thinking has not disappeared, and indeed might be useful and necessary in a world in which alternatives otherwise seem foreclosed. The label ‘existential utopia’ admits the need for grounded proposals that take account of realities while offering imaginative and progressive options, Robert Albritton describing his contribution as ‘A Practical Utopia for the Twenty-First Century’ (141–56). Typically, Marder and Vieira rate Nineteen Eighty-Four as symptomatic of this chronic dystopian outlook. Chapter 3, however, argues that Orwell's novel need not be dismissed as a purely negative and despair-inducing text. In terms of its depiction of surveillance, the novel presents a more variegated representation than is often acknowledged, and its warning against the excesses of state (and by extension, commercial) monitoring has made it an important activator of public and academic awareness on the topic.