The Limits of Utilitarianism Theme Analysis

The Lathe of Heaven takes place in a dystopian future where climate change, overpopulation, food scarcity, and global conflict wreak havoc on the world. Meanwhile, George Orr, a man who possesses the strange ability to have “effective” dreams that change reality, finds himself increasingly at odds with Dr. William Haber, the psychiatrist Orr solicits to cure him of his peculiar condition. While Orr is a passive man who thinks it’s wrong to use his effective dreams to play God and meddle in the natural order of things, Haber adopts an opposite stance, arguing that Orr has an ethical obligation to use his ability for the greater good of humanity. Haber’s reasoning draws heavily on Utilitarian ethics, which argue that people should strive to act in ways that maximize well-being or happiness and minimize suffering for the greatest number of people. Motivated by an exaggerated Utilitarianism, Haber increasingly exploits Orr’s powers, using hypnotic suggestion to make Orr dream into existence a utopian world—or, at least, what such a world looks like to Haber. However, Haber’s attempts to maximize universal well-being often backfire, creating new, previously unimaginable forms of suffering to replace the old forms he wished to eradicate. For example, Haber’s attempt to eliminate overpopulation results in Orr dreaming of a deadly plague that effectively murders six billion people. The novel uses Haber’s failed attempts at altruism to criticize Utilitarianism—specifically its failure to account for the unpredictable consequences of even well-intentioned actions—and the inability of any single person to define what happiness and suffering mean for the totality of humanity. 

Orr’s interpretations of Haber’s hypnosuggestions show that Haber’s vision of a better world is oversimplified, and that happiness is relative. Orr technically follows Haber’s hypnosuggestions, but he does so in roundabout ways that reveal how subjective Haber’s suggestions really are. When Haber gives Orr a vague hypnosuggestion to improve the quality of life by eliminating overpopulation, Orr’s unconscious responds by creating a deadly plague that kills six billion people. Orr’s macabre solution to overpopulation emphasizes the suffering Haber’s well-intended vision imposes on a significant portion of the population. While eliminating six billion people from the planet improves the quality of life for those who survive the Plague, the opposite is true for those who perish. In other words, the maximized happiness the Plague creates for survivors happens at the expense of victims’ suffering. This consequence shows that Haber’s Utilitarian ideology requires a person to make uncomfortable, highly subjective decisions about whose happiness matters most, and when the amount of happiness achieved is great enough to justify the suffering that also results. Calculating the utility of an action (in this case, eliminating overpopulation) is highly subjective and not as unambiguous as Haber would like to believe.  

Haber’s attempts to make the world a better place, which just so happen to disproportionately improve his social position, suggest that his supposedly objective vision of a better world is biased toward subjective self-interest. At the beginning of the novel, Haber is a mediocre, not particularly well-known sleep researcher. His relative unimportance in the medical world and society at large is reflected in the unimpressive state of his office in the Willamette East Tower: he’s not even important enough to snag an office with a window. However, all this changes once Haber starts influencing Orr’s effective dreams, feeding Orr hypnosuggestions that improve Haber’s status. Over the course of several sessions, Haber acquires an office in the HURAD Tower, the most important building in Portland, which features an enormous window overlooking downtown Portland and distant Mount Hood. Haber becomes a well-respected doctor with important government connections and, eventually, the director of HURAD (Human Utility: Research and Development), which makes him the most important man in the world. Though Haber might pretend (or really believe) he’s using Orr’s effective dreams to make the world a universally better place, the fact that Haber benefits most from the changes Orr’s dreams bring about suggests that Haber is conflating what’s best for the world with what’s best for him. Haber’s vision of a better world can’t be objective since it’s so clearly influenced by his thirst for power. Beyond this, Haber’s dream of making the world a better place is itself self-serving, since it’s (at least in part) motivated by Haber’s desire for fame. “We’ve made more progress in six weeks than humanity made in six hundred thousand years!” Haber excitedly tells Orr after Orr confronts Haber about exploiting his dreams. Haber frames the role he plays in saving the world as a personal accomplishment rather than a selfless act of humanitarianism, which serves as additional proof of self-interest’s influence on Haber’s Utilitarian ideals.

Haber’s Utilitarian aspirations rely on the impossible premise that one person can quantify happiness to determine what’s best for the masses. That Haber’s initial altruism ultimately becomes corrupted by greed and self-interest illuminates not only the subjectivity of happiness (Haber’s idea of maximized happiness for the masses and maximized happiness for himself are mutually exclusive), but also the inability to predict that the consequences of one’s actions will correspond to one’s intentions. In the beginning, Haber really does strive to make the world a better place, and he sporadically succeeds in doing so. However, Haber’s actions nearly culminate in the destruction of humanity, creating an irreconcilable asymmetry between Haber’s intentions and the consequences of his actions.