Walden Two

In Walden Two, B.F. Skinner outlines a modern "Utopia". A perfect society is created through social engineering. People are trained to not have "hard" feelings towards each other. They also are required to work, but have the option of choosing what they do. There is a mixture of "hard" and "soft" labor, with the manual labor required by everyone and used as a form of exercise. People have to pass a medical physical to be admitted. (Oops! That will not be allowed to pass muster today.) They also have a basic form of eugenics, with the unfit encouraged not to reproduce. (Another thing that will be regulated out.) Children would be raised by society, rather than families. Young people are encouraged to marry and have children at a very young age. However, they do not often have too many children. They are not encouraged to have bonds to their particular children. The work week is very short because people are all dedicated to efficient, productive work that they enjoy. People make use of all the latest innovations to make work more efficient - and then spend more time in personal pursuits. The society is slowly replicated in other Waldens (Walden Three, etc.) The pace of growth is deliberately slow as to not experience growing pains. It is also specifically part of the modern world.
The book uses some of the visitors to Walden Two to voice objections. Some of the visitors are just not convinced. They believe that Frazier, the "founder" has just created himself as another dictator. (The book was written shortly after World War II). They even accuse him of deifying himself - a claim that he acknowledge is somewhat grounded in truth. He does not deny religion, but sees science as a similar, great power. Tehy also object to Frazier's denial of freewill. The primary narrator, however, is convinced and decides to go live in Walden Two.
Science is seen as a savior that can eliminate all hardships. Behavioral engineering will allow people to live productive lives without experiencing harmful emotions or bad experiences. In theory, it sounds great. However, a half-century later, science is still not up to the task. With many supercomputers we can now predict the weather a week into the future with accuracy a little better than random guessing. As for behavioral sciences, scientific advances seem to help us understand how little we understand. I doubt we could engineer a few willing participants to behave in the utopian fashion. Add in the necessity of dealing with rebellious, unwilling participants and actively hostile "outsiders" and you are set for an impossible task. It makes for a nice dream, but is no where near practical.