Obviously we can't know exactly what Heaven is like, but I believe the core of what makes Heaven Heaven is the Beatific Vision. Being with God is all you need in the end. It goes without saying that the Beatific Vision is unimaginable. I tend to think of it in a platonic way though.
I find it strange when people talk about Heaven like it's a really good version of earth. The idea of ice cream, pets, xbox and rollercoasters in Heaven really misses the point. I don't believe Heaven is chock-full of instrumental goods.
True, but don't most Christians believe the final afterlife will be on a "New Heaven and a New Earth"?
I had this very intense dream/vision once... and it was of people in the "afterlife."
People still lived in the same universe we do now, they just can't (usually) be perceived by those alive now. So they're still in THIS world/universe, just in another layer of it that we the living can't sense right now.
But also in this "layer", God can be directly sensed and known wherever you go, your perspective has really changed, and God's direct presence is filling you with blissful joy no matter where on Earth or throughout the atmosphere and the solar system/galaxy/universe our spirits travel.
And God can also always "physically" appear in person by your side, like a friend, when you wish, in addition to an eternal presence even more constant than light and gravity are to us now.
With all the spirits (humans and nonhumans) reuniting with each other in loving joy but also exploring the universe, forever learning and loving and enjoying eternal life and continuing to spiritually grow.
As for an Earthly Paradise or Political/Philosophic/Socioeconomic Utopia?
For me it would be us working together on Earth to achieve post-scarcity economics (really post-economics)...
advanced AI/nanotech and advanced automated resource gathering/shaping and abundant clean energy and advanced healthcare and similar tech...
that's all decentralized so each individual has access but without being able to threaten others or public lands & ecosystems...
which would then allow us to no longer need money, mandatory labor, government, laws, etc. ...
where people only do "work" for fun, for creativity and the arts, for spiritual/religious or public service reasons like education, or with new generations trying to challenge the system and find ways to improve it even more...
and everyone would finally free completely free, except that it would be physically impossible (almost like new, man-made laws of physics) to injure/murder/rape/steal/trespass/vandalize others or spoil public spaces and natural ecosystems (and that these changes would happen, everyone would be happy, and there would NOT be any humans seeking cyborg parts or genetic enhancements or superhuman babies).
