While paying heed to the shortcomings and dangers exhibited in the utopian thought of these authors, de Geus highlights the insight and inspiration that a critical reading of their works may yield. Utopias of sufficiency are not all cut from the same green cloth. They vary dramatically on a number of scores, including the individual liberties they celebrate and the forms of social control they advocate. In 1516, Thomas More published the first depiction of an ideal, ecologically attuned state. Its inhabitants achieve happiness and spiritual fulfillment by way of harmony with nature, adherence to a strict work ethic, and puritanical ethical standards.
Ecological values are pervasive, but so is a lack of personal freedom.
As de Geus observes, More's utopia is largely modeled after the monastic community. While underlining its originality, de Geus rejects More's vision because of the stifling social control it promotes. Although the inhabitants of Skinner's community are not subject to coercion and are much more open to technological progress than the citizens of More's ideal state, they are made equally compliant to social and ecological norms. Henry David Thoreau published Walden, or a Life in the Woods in 1854. In this paean to the simple life, personal freedom is the foremost concern.