I love some good utopian storytelling. I like Star Trek, for crying out loud.

But there’s a problem with utopian stories that tell you that utopia is possible as an endpoint, as something that can be reached and, once reached, cannot be lost—like reaching Heaven and being blessed and content forevermore. That utopia is static. It’s locked in place, unchanging. And because this promised ‘utopia as an endpoint’ is so stable, so permanent, so inherently capital ‘g’ Good, you can justify any action to reach it.