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The Myth of Universal Love
Social implications caused by technology
Social implications caused by technology
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Recommended: The Myth of Universal Love
“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history.” (Aldous Huxley) Although not a very catchy quote, it is a quote that can be applied to anything from today’s world to Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Huxley’s perspective applies to about everything in society. There’s wars that result in more wars, revolutions that spark a leader into eventually becoming a dictator, couples who don’t learn from their fights and end up breaking up, and even people who don’t learn from prior mistakes and don’t grow up.
Science is the basis of every world and the mindset of many, but how much science can one take? In the dystopian “brave New World” of Bernard Marx and Lenina Crowne, science was the reason of their life and how they act. When John the Savage, a boy from the society outside of their world, see’s that there was no freedom between the people, everyone following under the designated path handed to them, he wants to change the life of many. Along with the freedom stripped away, individuality of oneself is also thrown to the side. Life is an idea of being able to become what life thinks is right, but if one was to alter that thought, everything can change for better or for worse.
As human beings, it is in our nature to desire a life lead by prosperity, bliss, liberty, justice, peace and brotherly love (p. 1). Although this is a universal dream that seems to never be attainable; a great number of leaders have tried to direct men onto this road of riotousness but have failed. These failures are due solely to the opposing beliefs of how to reach this perfect life style. When two opposing beliefs collide, the sight of such dreams merely vanish and the idea of peace and love a drown out by war and rage. Aldous Huxley digs deeper into these goals in his book, “Ends and Means: An Inquiry into the Nature of Ideas”.
In the novel, Brave New World, the characters discuss about how in their “new world,” the authorities want to ban books. Huxley thinks there should be no reason to ban reading for those who wanted to read. For some people it’s difficult to learn how to read and know how to process it into learning how to cook, create, draw, sing, etc. Without reading how will you know how to do a task, or how to solve a problem. Therefore, Reading has a big impact in people’s daily lives.
Huxley begins with this idea with his imitation of the four principles of communism. The principles were created by, the father of communism, Karl Marx. They are simple regulations in a communistic society created to equalize the masses of people. The rules include no family, no religion, no private property, and no
Without innovations in technology, the world would not be where it is today. From the old, bulky computers to supercomputers capable of sending man to space, technology has shaped the lives of everyone by creating a globally connected world. The advancement of technology, however, also advances the threat of oppression. George Orwell, in 1984, cautions that society will be oppressed through the restriction of information. Conversely, Neil Postman contests Orwell’s dark dystopia, stating that Aldous Huxley’s vision in A Brave New World, where the overload of information and distractions captivates contemporary society, is more applicable today than ever, a view that is true today.
In his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business, Neil Postman argues that Aldous Huxley’s vision is more reflective of contemporary society than George Orwell’s. Orwell and Huxley wrote differing predictions of a future dystopian society. Orwell warned of censorship and tyranny; whereas, Huxley warned of passivity and egoism. With the ubiquitous nature of technological devices, modern culture has entered an age of entertainment technology. The Internet, smartphones, and augmented-reality games have fueled the human desire to be amused.
Huxley brought economic classes, children in society, and women in society to the attention of readers, but the modern world still faces some of these issues today. Social classes were a major issue in Huxley’s time. Classes included the under-class, the working-class, the middle-class, and the upper-class (“1900s”). He was familiar with the higher classes when he was growing up because he was born into a “well-to-do-upper-middle-class family” (“Biography”). The under-class was “generally ignored” the working class held physically demanding jobs that
“People believe in God because they've been conditioned to” (Huxley 235). Brave New World, a novel by English author Aldous Huxley, showcases a revolution in religious beliefs as part of a new civilized world known as the World State. The new World State emphasizes promiscuity and detachment of feelings in order to create a fraudulent feeling of happiness among citizens in order to increase submissiveness. Having this false sense of happiness, citizens are ignorant of the oppression they face believing to be completely free to do as they please even if they know that they have been conditioned to believe in the propaganda. Propaganda has played a major role in converting citizens from traditional religions, such as Christianity, to worshipping historical figures such as Henry Ford and Sigmund Freud.
Professor and Biochemist, Joseph Needham, artfully directs his review for the novel explaining that “Mr. Huxley’s orchid-garden is itself an exemplification of the contention that knowledge is always good, for had it not been for his imaginative power, we should not have seen so clearly what lies at the far end of certain inviting paths. (205) . As Needham praises Huxley, he provides the exposed truth of the novel. Had it not been for the eye opening revelation of the future and the potential of medical technology, Huxley’s negative perception of loss of identities would fail to be taken seriously. However, a well educated man and the grandson of the famous biologist, Huxley incorporates his ethos in Brave New World.
Humans are no longer viviparous. They do not have families or lovers or children; no one is significant anymore. This is Huxley’s first appalling blow to his readers; his second comes soon after with conditioning the infants. Starting from young ages,
Does your mind ever get manipulated by outsiders such as peers, media, and the government? Would you say that the manipulation of the minds of the people in the world state is a bad or good thing? Take an attempt to read the book “Brave New World” and it is promised that you will agree that this act of conduct is a bad thing. No one wants to be mentally controlled to do everything that everyone else does.
Aldous Huxley’s novel, Brave New World, brings forth countless themes that leave his readers occupied with the thought of a foreseeable utopian future. However, a topic well worth noticing is that of Huxley’s own envisions with his novel, showing how the evolvement of science and technology has affected the individual person. In the foreword to his novel, Huxley states, “The theme of Brave New World is not the advancement of science as such; it is the advancement of science as it affects individuals”. The novel Brave New World incorporates a great deal of themes and concepts within it, however, the most prevailing theme in BNW is science as it affects individuals.
Brave New World is both, utopia and dystopia. The author Aldous Huxley intended to depict an imagined new world after Ford, an industrial era, where all people would be happy and extremely satisfied or as content as the ideal society would let them be. Yet, to determine utopia and dystopia in Brave New World, we have to look at the new world from our own time and from the time before Ford, seen through the eyes of John the Savage, our predecessor. The world we observe herein reflects a futuristic world, a world that is to come, and a happy world we can imagine with an amount of disbelief. People of our world, the world which is happier than the savages' world, still not as happy as the Ford's world, will have to consider all the facts that make the new world look happy and brave.
Huxley shows that the development and scientific complications in the early chapter would fail to make an utopian society as he drags and hints it throughout the whole novel of it becoming a dystopian society instead. Also, the ending of the novel was another perfect portrayal of where the utopian society truly show themselves off as they get an adrenaline rush off violence and adultery. Lastly, Huxley ultimately conveys to his readers that the free independent thinkers have freedom compared to the enslaved utopian society who do not have freedom. This is why an utopian world would fail to happen as people sooner or later would come to question the society of
