Distopia or Utopia?

So I've already written about freedom briefly before, but there were a few things I wanted to add to my last rant. Here we go:

It's non controversial to claim that our environment and culture shapes who we are; especially our personalities. I see it all the time, in almost any category. 1) In fashion Australians want to look strong, the Dutch want to look fit. 2) In daily conversation Americans need to constantly engage in conversation, but the Polish are often quite and reserved. Obviously this doesn't describe everyone, but there's clearly a bell curve centered differently for each country with a surprisingly small variance.

The question I think we should naturally ask ourselves after observing this is: what does freedom mean in a society where at least almost all of your desires and decisions are determined by your genetics, environment and culture? I don't know the answer to that question, but I think the only answer can come from an objective moral theory based on utilitarianism.

I think freedom is a highly prized (and bizarrely undefined) concept in all Western countries. But what if it turns out that having too much freedom conflicts with the greater good? What if we can prove mathematically that more well being is gained by tactically making someone suffer before rewarding them? What if we have the means to drug ourselves into a blissful oblivion? Is a slave with purpose happier than the individual? Sadly, I've found these types of questions can't even be asked because there's too much emotion around the subject. One of the culprits of this entanglement of emotion in my mind is the brilliant George Orwell. In 1984 he presents a straw-man perception of a world rich with surveillance, technology and limited freedoms.

I know this is going to sound crazy, but maybe a world like that minus the ridiculousness could be a real utopia. Maybe maximizing freedom is a dead end that's no more compassionate than overfeeding a dog with unlimited food. 

Every human has been dealt a strange hand; we've got hundreds of evolved mental dispositions that can drive us in a direction that we can objectively tell is wrong. We need to build a moral compass to stop us from wandering off the edge.