...“Freedom or Perfection?” Conditioning and technology have become exceedingly common in many first world countries. Most individuals do not realize the effect conditioning and technology has on them and how it shapes them and their future. The world of technology has drastically grown over the past century, allowing mankind to accomplish feats deemed impossible in decades past. In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, conditioning and technology play an enormous role in society. In the World State, the state of affairs is preserved through conditioning and technology, causing a lack of humanity to be evident. Technology controls many aspects of one’s life in Brave New World, resulting in limitations of freedoms. Throughout the novel, Huxley displays many situations where the implementation of technology has been used to create stability. The reader is introduced to “Bokanovsky’s Process” at the start of the novel; the process essentially allows 96 babies to be born from one embryo. This procedure produces “[m]illions of identical twins. The principle of mass production at last applied to biology,” (Huxley 5). Mass production is an invention which allows consumer goods to be created faster and sold cheaper. Therefore, consumer goods are easily replaceable, implying that children and the population as a whole is easily replaceable, thus diminishing the value of life. The significance and uniqueness of any one individual is abolished, causing everyone to be viewed as equal before the...
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...Brave New World Response Essay In Brave New World, Aldous Huxley takes us on a journey through a utopian society, known as the world state. This society allows its citizens to experience no pain, no suffering, and no unhappiness. They achieve these utopian qualities by distributing soma, a drug that is given out on a regular basis to all of World State’s citizens. Soma is used as a cure for everything, keeps the citizens “sane”, and enslaves everyone in the world state. I disagree with the use of soma in this utopian society. I felt very distressed that soma was used to cure everything and anything that could possibly happen to the citizens of world state. Lenina says to Bernard, “I don’t understand anything, why you don’t take soma when you have these dreadful ideas of yours. You’d forget all about them. And instead of feeling miserable, you’d be jolly. So jolly” (Huxley 92). The fact that soma was taken to get rid of even the slightest feeling of unhappiness was alarming to me because it is very normal to feel unhappy during some times of your life. Unhappiness is just one of the hundreds of emotions that humans are supposed to feel, these emotions are what make us who we are and without them, what do we become? We would become machines. As great as it may sound to be happy all the time, I think that experiencing other emotions is a part of life that the citizens of world state would never get to fully experience. Moreover, I felt saddened by how the citizens of the world...
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...Brave New World: Methods of control Tiffany Yeung All around the world, there are different figures of authority with different methods of control in order to prevent chaos from rising within the society. “Brave New World”, is a dystopian novel written by Aldous Huxley and in the brave new world society, we witness a futuristic approach to a variety of methods of control in order to maintain stability. In our society today, many countries use fear as a way to manipulate and to control, however in the world state, they take on a different approach and use different methods to suppress rebellion. The world state uses scientific development and technological advances to manipulate human behaviour into making the citizens happy with their predestined roles. Specifically, the use of conditioning, the controlled reproduction and medical labs, and the use of soma is all used as different factors in order to manipulate the citizens and create a society based on science and technology, consumerism and happiness. By having the citizens being manipulated to enjoy their lives and be happy, there is little room for rebellion resulting in maintained stability and order for the world state. The use of classical conditioning is thoroughly described and used in the book and is a major factor that contributes to the manipulation of the citizens. This process was first discovered when a young boy recited an entire broadcast that was played during his sleep...
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...a seemingly perfect world is often anything but. Every utopia has its flaws and cracks, and few novels make this point more clearly than Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. The futuristic setting of the story exposes the reader to a world dominated by technology and complacency. People are no longer born; they are made in laboratories all around the world, and have their destinies chosen for them before they even leave their test tube. Sexuality is treated in a very flippant manner, and self-gratification is the primary driving force for the actions of nearly every single person. History is no longer relevant, and people never question what they are told. The key question regarding the nature of this kind of world is a question to which the answer is yet unknown. The question is something any reader of this novel should ask himself or herself, and that is simply this: Is it worth it? There is no crime rate, and peoples’ desires are rarely left unfulfilled, but is it worth the giving up of free will and of choice? There is no clear answer to this question, and there will likely never be one. Although this question has no obvious answer, the logic behind this world is fairly easy to understand. Perhaps Aldous Huxley himself summarizes it best in Brave New World Revisited when he states, “Permanent crisis justifies permanent control of everybody and everything by the agencies of the central government. And permanent crisis is what we have to expect in a world in which over-population...
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...These have proved both advantageous and detrimental to society as a whole. Technology has helped connect the world and help make everybody happier. However, at what cost? When does technology cease to be beneficial and begin its destruction? Technology has led to the illusion of multitasking, the chronic and widespread abuse of prescription drugs, and the downfall of society as a whole through virtual realities. The article “Why the modern world is bad for your brain”, by Daniel J Levitin shines light on many of the societal norms in Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. “Multitasking has been found to increase the production of the stress hormone cortisol as well as the fight-or-flight hormone adrenaline, which can...
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...Companies & businesses have thrived being able to increase fast production for a lower cost and also decrease the chance of human error in the process being able to store and share information with ease. In the novel Brave New World the author Aldous Huxley tries to demonstrate the dangers of when humans and the society they live in make technology a god. Right from the beginning, the Bokanovsky and the Podsnap technique are introduced to explain the production of the humans. These humans are then placed in a group called castes and participate in a method called sleep teaching. Of course, these humans still go...
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...In Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World, a dystopian society clouds the minds of its inhabitants. In fact, the entire novel is bustling with characters who are eager to follow the rules of the society because they are forever afraid of the repercussions they would encounter if they do not. This eagerness has gone to the extreme to the point where the individuals are following rules out of lack of knowledge of the truly moral options that are not provided. In dystopian societies like the one in this novel, the detrimental effects of escapism can be widely discussed to show the impact the rules have on the people and eventually the impact the people have on the rules. Once one looks deeper into the complex hierarchy and mechanisms of such a...
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...Sometimes in society it feels as if we are pressured to feel or act a certain way by the government and that we are not in control of ourselves, but they are. The two novels Brave New World and 1984 are both good examples of complete government control but when comparing the two it is evident that the governments have different views on the control of sex and morality. In the novel Brave New World it is obvious that the government is in complete control of its society. Within this government it control the thoughts, actions and fate of all citizens starting from before the human is even born. "We also predestine and condition. We decant our babies and socialized human beings, as Alphas or Epsilons, as future sewer Workers or future...He was going to say future World Controllers, but correcting himself, said Future Directors of Hatcheries instead" By stating this, the impression is given that the government has ultimate plans for every human, they choose those plans and abide by them for their own benefit. From even before a child is born they are categorized and have a job chosen for them. By choosing these jobs the government in the long run is also controlling the future of their society and their hope was to have many World Controllers also known as Future Directors of Hatcheries, which is a job that will continue the idea of ultimate control. Similarly, in the novel 1984 the government also attempts to have complete control of the minds and bodies of its citizens. One...
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...In Aldous Huxley’s novel, Brave New World, the use of soma is encouraged in order for civilians to be preoccupied from discovering the government’s secrets & preventing them from ruining their perfect utopian society. They are conditioned to take soma whenever they are feeling sad, angry, or stressed because it makes them apathetic about their issues. Without any motivation, they will carry on with their lives without questioning the government's motives, living happily. Intimate relationships are banned in order for the society’s individuals to advert from developing vulnerable emotions because it could lead to unhappiness. For example, when Bernard tells Lenina that he wishes for a deeper connection with her, instead of only having sexual relations, Lenina expresses, “‘why you don't take soma when you have these dreadful ideas of yours. You'd forget all about them. And instead of feeling miserable, you'd be jolly. So jolly”(92). By making intimate relationships a taboo subject, such as having parents and being with an...
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...The World’s State’s motto “Community, Identity, Stability” states the values that the Brave New World holds true. Each of these values contribute to the happiness of the World State citizens. One can not work without the other and the government has done well to make it so. Community is the result of identity and stability. In order for society to propel forwards, everyone must work together for the general happiness of the state. This aspect of community has worked so well that there is at almost no one time where anyone is alone. Happiness is shared and “everybody belongs to everybody.” For example, fro Lenina’s point of view, when Bernard wanted to be alone, she started to worry. In fact, she was distressed to the point of crying. “It’s horrible, it’s horrible. And how can you talk like that about not wanting to be part of the social body.” (Chapter 6) It’s unheard of to not be in the presence of another. It’s shocking and terrifying. The citizens of the Brave New World are conditioned to believe that each and every existence is necessary in a joint effort to improve society. “Everyone works for everyone else. We can’t do without any one....
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...things.” He persists that happiness only comes when one is free from materialistic desire.. The monk also suggests suffering is crucial to perceive true happiness. Brave New World embodies the same concept, does true happiness exist without suffering? Aldous Huxley purposed soma to be the object that eliminates suffering and, consequently, the characters think they are happy due to soma and conditioning. In the consumer utopia of Brave New World, citizens are conditioned to be happy, but do not experience true happiness because they are not willing defy the utopia, are not suffering, and are not liberated from soma. Defying the utopia is not in the best interest of the citizen considering genetically breeding requires little to replace them, but they are conditioned to believe they are in the best situation. “One believes things because one has been conditioned to believe them” (Huxley 234). In chapter two, the Director used a mild-electric shock to condition the children to not like books. If the children would have not been shocked, they would...
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...A pill that guarantees happiness “If anything should go wrong, there's soma.” Does this sentiment explored in Aldous Huxley’s classic novel Brave New World now reflect current attitudes towards legal drug use? Have we become a society of self-medicating pill poppers desperate to avoid extreme emotions? Ashlie Hodges examines drug use in our society. Huxley’s novel challenges contemporary social values and expectations, while remaining relevant to the 21st century. The classic dystopian novel Brave New World was published in 1932 and is set in the year 2540. The title is a nod to William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, as the play directly features the words Brave New World. The message of taking legal drugs to avoid mental illness and emotions...
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...Genetic engineering is the “altering of genetic material”, typically deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA (Parker 4). This is a relatively new science that has only been studied “for the past 150 years” (Hodge xix). Today it can clearly be seen as a success in the agriculture business because of our year round access to a multitude of fruits, vegetables, and other crops. However, the use of genetic engineering on humans is a controversial issue which forces “politicians and the public [to] face tremendously important choices about how genetic engineering...should be used” (Hodge xx). In the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, the practice of human genetic engineering is the basis of their society but it is still a controversial issue in parts of our...
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...Brave New World and The Time Machine Critically explore the extent to which the personal themes in Well’s THE TIME MACHINE (1895) and Huxley’s BRAVE NEW WORLD (1932) responded to the prevailing ideologies of social class that were present in England at their time of writing Keep in mind Wells wrote/rewrote The Time Machine, on and off, for around 12 years before it saw publication. Brave New World was apparently written in 1931 (and so the sharp change in ideas caused by the Great Depression could have shaped the novel.) Society is defined as “the aggregate of people living together in an ordered community” (http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/society). Every nation on this planet is comprised of many societies which all differ in their own ways. As time passes, society itself changes. The morals or beliefs that a society once stood by overtime, radically change to form a newer, revolutionized set of ideas. Fields like science and technology reach their most advanced states. Members of a society can also change. In most cases, members develop according to the new rules or ideals that are of the norm. Some changes are for the betterment of society while others prove to have more negative impacts. These are all changes one can expect when time travelling. Although, one cannot prepare themselves for the societies I have recently seen. Throughout my time travelling I have never come across two societies so strange. Both societies were of terrifying living conditions. One can...
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...the time. It was controversial through some literature authors who were against such text. Brave New World is set in future-London 632 A.F. (After Henry Ford). The society is set as utopian times. Humans are produced in assembly lines and are manipulated right away after being born. They develop a hatred for books and flowers or anything that is ordinary in our world that brings...
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