Here is the interview with Mike Wallace (of eventual "60 Minutes" fame) and Aldous Huxley.
In an essay-let (essayito? 1-3 paragraphs) comment to this post, please cite five ideas from the talk to support your validation or refutation of the following claim:
We are living in the Brave New World.
Are we really in the Brave New World? (Kind of, and not really.)
ReplyDeleteEvidence that we are not:
1) Huxley cites that communism is the "only" organized political power that he deems the sole heir to the global infrastructure. Knowing modern politics and international events, this is obviously inherently false. While superpowers like China are communist, they are not the "only", neither are they the "most" out of all the nations.
2) Freedom is "diminishing" according to the video. However, the advent of internet culture and perhaps other means of media-escape have become increasingly prevalent especially in our socioeconomic recession. The likes of which, have provided much more freedom even to nations where such activity is outlawed and deemed illegal (Google: "Pirate Bay in North Korea" for info).
3) As technology advances, higher levels of organization is a must. This, in turn, may lead to a reduction of freedom as a cost as more and more begin participating in the hierarchy of technological organization. While this is, undoubtedly true in an age of mechanical process, Huxley's vision of what the man's subordination under such an organized mechanical process may seem like slavery; but, in fact, this so-called "subordination" in the organizational process is another exemplification of man's freedom in the advent of the technology and information era. Since the engineer/ operator is part of the means through which the device/ apparatus functions, he keeps technology under check through his hands.
Evidence that we kind of are:
1) Birth control and death rates are definitely as they are the way Huxley describes them. Although less controversial now than in Huxley's time, the usage of Birth control has become somewhat of a necessity as both a medical precaution and social hazard (insert: "teen mom"). In addition, death rates are now declining and are probably at one of their lowest rates in history, which inevitably contributes to booming global population and, in turn according to Huxley, social unrest and mandates from leaders in an attempt to remedy this.
2) Freedom threatened by bureaucracy of businesses and that of government. This is most certainly true nowadays. A frightening example of bureaucratic control is information copyright on popular social media websites. The most appalling, and perhaps infamous, of these websites is Facebook. It is not well-known, but Facebook provides personal information on individuals it has in its servers that it distributes to commercial companies as targeted "potential consumers". The results of these information distribution, however, often result in graver outcomes such as identity theft and account hacking; which, reduces the ability of the victim to express their freedom since they are inhibited by technological flaws, bureaucratic greed, and human anonymity in the internet culture.
Based on living in this generation, watching this video and listening to what Huxley has to say reguarding the then-approaching Brave New World, I feel that we are living in it. Huxley and Wallace spoke of a wide range of subjects concerning the Brave New World, and what it appears to be. I chose to cite five ideas these men discussed to prove my point.
ReplyDeleteSome of the first things the men discussed were the impersonal forces and the advancing technological devices we are experiencing. We as a nation have become so lazy and rely on technology for everything. I am guilty! Instead of reading and searching for an answer in a book, we type it into google for an easy fix. Do we not have the motivation anymore? Imagine if tommorrow technology was taken away from us. Many of us would be useless.
The men also discussed propoganda and the subliminal messages that may be involved in them. Today, we live in a world where half-naked women make up the majority of Calrs Jr. commercials. Honestly? That has nothing to do with the damn burger in the first place people! Before advertisements were family friendly and appropriate, now they are completely foul. They have terrible implications, none which should be on public television.
Lastly, I'd like to acknowledge the mentioning of drugs in this interview. All I would like to say is that Huxley has it spot on! He stated that "mind-changing" drugs exist and will continue to. So true! Look at many of the recent shootings. Murderers were on various prescription and illegal drugs that made them think that shooting others at a school or movie theatre was rational. The interview with Huxley and Wallace conpletely foreshadowed what drugs would do to our world today, this Brave New World we live in.
“We mustn’t be caught by surprise by our own advances in technology,” Aldous Huxley replied to a question in a 1958 televised interview. Is that what has happened to us in the modern age? Have we allowed ourselves to be caught off-guard by our own advances, so that we are living in Huxley’s proverbial “Brave New World?” It seems that we have been plunging deeper and deeper into a world of strained resources, questionable freedoms and electronic anesthetization—perhaps we are, but just not in the same exact world as Lenina and Bernard…Not yet, at least.
ReplyDeleteDuring the interview, Mike Wallace inquires about the forces and technological devices that Huxley spoke about in his recent essays, which he claims to be imposing control on society and taking away our freedom. Huxley claimed that one of the forces that is causing us to “go away from freedom” is overpopulation. Not only does overpopulation put major strain on resources, but it is a cause for more government action and responsibilities. The increased involvement of government causes social unrest, and that involves more action and retaliation…As birth rates increase and death rates decrease, our freedom is being sapped through pressed natural resources and social turbulence. The author also identified “over-organization” as another force pushing away our freedom. He claimed that the more technology that was developed, the more organization of society occurred and the easier it became. Over-organization seems highly unnatural, and when that element of natural order (or disorder) is removed, so are our natural freedoms. Too much organization seems to be just as bad as a complete lack of regulation; certainly, nature abhors a vacuum, but it also despises areas in which things have been overdone. Television, of course, is also something that many of us (including Huxley) are (and were) wary of (and most likely should be wary of). Television (and in this day in age, social networking is included) is a quick and easy way to impose the will of a single person or group on large amounts of people (just as Huxley said that Hitler had done with his propaganda). Imagine what TV and advertisements are doing to us now, if in 1958, Mr Huxley had claimed that television was being overused as a general distraction. Television and all methods of advertisement, just as Huxley mentioned, aim at our subconscious feelings. To surrender our subconscious is to surrender our freedoms and give our consent to whomever wishes to control us and our emotions.
All of these aforementioned forces are in the process of tearing at our human freedoms and subconscious beings. In a way, we are in fact living in the Brave New World. It may not be precisely what Huxley visualized in his novel, but we might be heading towards that world if we aren’t careful in this “Brave New World” that we exist in now.
No. We are not living in the Brave New World. I believe that we are still in the position that Huxley saw us at decades before.
ReplyDeleteHuxley gives many examples of the "enemies" of freedom, and the power that they have to destroy it. There was the Catholic Church pushing for the ban of contraceptives, third world countries being pushed into the arms of Communism, the untrustworthy people whispering things into the ears of the highest authority figures. Yes, these were problems that could destroy freedom and what it stood for. But has it truly happened? Our freedom hasn't been taken away, even if the tools that can take it away are arm's length away. Sure, communication devices and propaganda can be a little threatening to our own freedoms, but they have not made a move to destroy expression.
We are in the same position as we were during Huxley's time. The Brave New World could be on the horizon, but the tools aren't being used to a dangerous extent. We're safe for another day.
1) "religion drives us toward communism"-- in a way this is both true and false. Many people in this day and age, especially youth, have become less diligent about attending mass. Individuals have become less singular on who they vote for. Individuals no longer vote all democratic or all republican because they can vote for a democratic president while also voting for a republican senator. I think people are just being more liberal in a sense that they are no longer confined to just a singular option. The people want equality because that is the foundation of our government and how everyone should treat each other. So I think communism is meant more as social equality than economic equality.
ReplyDelete2) "advances in technology require more regulations" -- Also Huxley insinuates that with each leap and bound through technological frontiers means people will buy product without even knowing how to use it or what the purpose is. For instance, iPods are relatively everyhwere but there are certain gadgets that the Ipod has the people don't know how to use. With new technology comes more responsiblity but people aren't really being responsible. If anything, technology has made it relatively easy for people to do illegal things, such as downloading music or hacking account and taking money. Yes, there should be more regulations but there aren't many so chaos will continue to ensue.
3) Birth-control- This is definitely something that has risen in the past few decades. Over population means productivity slows down because there are too many and too few jobs. People in BNW sleep around, a lot, so they must have contraceptives because a natural birth is seen in our world as a birth out of wedlock or even worse than that depending on the culture.
Over twenty years after the fall of the Soviet Union and its tyrannic and misanthropic infrastructure, there still exist arguments that the world, or rather its human population, has fallen prey to the dictatorial society of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.
ReplyDeleteIn his 1958 interview with Mark Wallace, the political and social zeitgeist of the period foster direct comparisons between Huxley's fictional society and that of the Soviets or Communist China. He notes two main impersonal forces of freedom diminishment: overpopulation and hyper-organization. Essentially, these factors persuaded and prepared the populations of the communist societies to welcome a political regime devoted to increased productivity and removal of consent from the governed, just as the government of the Brave New World had accomplished through express deification of Ford and the assembly line. Huxley also stated that the devices such societies will use to achieve this goal are propaganda, terror, and "a chicken in every pot." Just as soma is consumed under suggestion of the government to increase happiness, the communists promised their public enough to eat and fair labor.
Re-analyzing today's society presents similar conditions to fear. There are certainly more assembly line industries, including those we buy our food from and more people use drugs than in the 1950's. Are we in a position to deny that we have avoided the Brave New World? Considering the frequency and intensity of the aforementioned devices' of individual restraint use, we have moved closer towards a puppet society. The natural human desire for power stands timeless and the technology, as Huxley warned in the video, seems to be passing us by. Soon, or perhaps now(in secret), 3-D printers will be used to create anything from writing utensils to weapons. Coping with the unemployment and resource consumption of such a revolutionary technological development would cause appears to draw the likelihood of the Brave New World as well as a curtain on the last act of individual thought.
First of all I would like to point out that they are smoking on national television!!! My how times have changed. Anyway...
ReplyDeleteFrom what I gather from the novel Brave New World as well as this interview with Aldous Huxley, I have concluded that we are in fact living in the Brave New World. One of Huxley's first points on this matter develops from his belief that the world as we know it has started to become simply overpopulated. He refers to the landing of Columbus as the point in which the population of the entire world doubled. When making the connection to the novel Brave New World it is easy to see that we are heading towards a population that planet Earth will not be able to provide for in the years to come. A second large point that Huxley refers to in his interview is that he believes Communists will take power if the world was to become like his acclaimed novel. This only makes sense since the base principles of Communism mainly consist of mass equality and limited independence which prove to be the basics of society in Brave New World.
Huxley also mentions his idea of "over-organization". In the world we live in today we are constantly demanded by the schedules we create. Society makes it seem as if success only grows from a life filled with an immense passion to overwhelm oneself in work. This can be seen in Brave New World as well in that all the characters are deeply involved in a life in which there is no freedom to do what, in their hearts, they really want to do. I believe Huxley also wanted to make a reference to our present government. The people have always fought for limited government interference however it seems as though the path we are on will only deface this process. Ultimately Huxley might have warned us of our forthcoming future.
Finally Huxley made the point that technology as well as propaganda has affected the way human beings interact amongst each other. We see that in the novel Brave New World, the youth is taught morals as well as the values of life through the use of advanced technology. In today's world, are constant commercial ads any different? The simple answer is no. Huxley understood that technology played a powerful role in society then, and would play an even greater role in the future. As we look at modern technology, it seems as if there is no way to refute his precise prediction. For all of these reasons it is without any doubt that I believe we are currently living in the Brave New World.
COMMUNITY, IDENTITY, STABILITY.
ReplyDeleteThat motto in Brave New World prominently dispays what Huxley was messaging through this 1958 interview. The growth of the community, the mindnumbing process of wiping our identities through television, and the overorganization tipping the scale of stability. He also mentions our advancement in technology as well as comparing Hitler's use of propaganda towards our advertising methods.
Overpopulation can prove to be a problem in the near future. Huxley points out that the amount of people being produced has doubled since the landing of the May Flower. The bigger the population, the more government control there will be. The government will start to regulate control and take action towards the increasing number of citizens. Government control is what starts to turn this Brave New World into a Communistic lifestyle. This begins to limit our freedom with the government taking total control of natural resources and societal means. Overpopulated communties allow society to become chaotic and jaded in time. And I take note on how this is happening today. Scary.
Overorganization, which doesn't sound like an entirely bad thing, refers to the daily routins we are constantly following. This works in Brave New World with the community acting much like drones; ants all following their line of order. Huxley stated that the advancement of our technology makes it easier for society to take the reins and organize themselves more efficiently. However, overorganization restricts our freedom so that the reins simply slips from our hands. Control is everything, and Huxley predicted that with the limited amount of our own control away from the government, a Brave New World is simply around the corner.
At last, the lost of our true identities, which happened to be in cahoots with television. Advertisements as well as propaganda usage through technology, have stunted our individual thought process. Honestly, the way it's used today has become worse through the years. We can hardly think on our own when constantly being shoved against a wall of blurred entertainment we can't keep our eyes off of. Minds slowly become consumed and we obtain a "robotic" personality that we adopt through propaganda. The depressing side of it is that most don't question it. They have no reason to question it. What has it ever done to them? Much like the drug induced drink, soma, television puts us into a state of serenity and optimism most of the time. This is where we really lack freedom; through losing ourselves and our subconscious thinking as well as surrendering our identities to this Brave New World we now live in.
Do we live in a Brave New World?
ReplyDeleteWe do, in a way.
According to what was now 40/50/60 years ago, this is a brave new world. They couldn't of guessed the technology we have now, the leaders, the people. Technology has pushed us so far ahead of the game, we are losing our perspective of the world.
1) Propaganda. The way we get the word out through mass media relatively recently.
2) Communism. It may seem small but it has the potential to grow.
3) Over organization. Teenagers may seem disorganized but the world is over organization.
4) Birth Control. We, as humans, are coming out with more efficient birth control medications. Working towards the novel in my eyes.
5) Freedom. Something we all take for granted is slowly being taken away.
^ Paragraphs ftw
I belive that we do live in a world similar to Brave New World. It is overpopulated, it is somewhat communist because we are limited in our independence. The world is also over organized, I personally have a daily routine which is wake up, go to school, go to work, do homework, and sometimes go to the gym. I feel like not a lot of people are spontaneous now, they are more robotic. Like I said we don't have full indepence which means that we also don't have full freedom. We have the freedom of mind, but not action.
ReplyDeleteI think we are close to the Brave New World than ever before; and I cannot deny the possibility that we will eventually get there one day.
ReplyDelete1. “Overpopulation, the mounting pressure of population pressing upon existing resources”—in today's society, the mass productions significant the advance in technologies and human races. As we know, the mass production of the particular product will cause a decline of the price. In this case, the overpopulation creates a scarcity in resources. Not only is the natural resource, the social resource scarce as well. Let's links it to today's unemployment issue and the environmental issue; yes, it seems solvable from perspective we have today. How about the future generation? As the population keeps doubling, tripling...the environmental issue will definitely expand proportionally. In the novel of Brave New World, they tried to solved this problem by not allow women to have babies. And they make embryo babies to attain their needs of new substitutes for different social classes to make a stable society.
2. “Propaganda-persuaded below the level of choice and reason”—it is the hypnopaedia or the sleep-teaching process. In the novel, directors planted those ideas as a part of subconsciousness of the babies. They were teaches to hates book and natures with painful memory-the electric shock; and teaches Alpha to dislike the epilson etc...Takes the election campaign as example, why candidates spent about two third of total spends on TV ads, Radio ads? It is the similar process.
3. “Overorganization; It's now possible to make organizations on a larger scale than it was ever possible before, and so that you have more and more people living their lives out as subordinates in these hierarchical systems controlled by bureaucracy, either the bureaucracies of big businesses or the bureaucracies of big government.”—Advance in technology, I don't know how many people are trying to get themselves out of habit of be a “subordinate” of any type of new technology; Ipad, calculator, laptop...etc. In 20 century, we are considers as the “lazy generation”; everything can be done in few clicks, why bothers? Now, people are relying on these technologies and couldn't ourselves out the situation. In the interview, one of the point Huxley made is that “This has happened again and again in history with technology's advance and this changes social condition, and suddenly people have found themselves in a situation which they didn't foresee and doing all sorts of things they really didn't want to do.”
Are we living in a Brave New World? I think the question should be rephrased: Are we living in a Brave Fahrenheit 1984? To answer the question, yes we are living in a Brave New World. For example: Propaganda. Otherwise known as the military. The military, by far, is the biggest culprit of propaganda on the planet. And yet no one opposes it.
ReplyDeleteAnother problem: overpopulation. The Earth, scientifically, can sustain 5 billion humans. We are nearing 9 billion. More people plus limited resources can only lead to problems. Perhaps the world may be something like Brave New World, where there is a population limit of 2 billion at once and people die at a certain age.
Over-organization, or what I like to call bureaucracy. It's inefficient, limits freedom, and is commonplace everywhere you go. Hence why it takes two to four weeks to get a photo ID. So much bureaucratic BS just to get something done.
Social interaction. Thanks to the wonderful world of Facebook and Twitter, people don't hang out like they used to. Instead, they go on Facebook and message each other. Same goes with text messages. What ever happened to a decent conversation through word-of-mouth?
And finally, efficiency. One only has to look at our food industry (or Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser) to see how dedicated our society has become to efficiency. If you're inefficient, get out of the kitchen.
Obviously, we don't live in a literal Brave New World in that children are genetically engineered then hypnopaedically conditioned, but Huxley's writing is not to be taken literally. In the interview, Huxley raises many points (some more valid than others).
ReplyDeleteOverpopulation is undeniable. No matter what angle one looks at it, world population is growing quickly, and available resources are not. Some countries have had a government enforced "two-child policy" for quite some time (China is among them, which is interesting given Huxley's discussion of communism). If neither population growth or resources available change drastically, it is not unreasonable to imagine global government policies on the matter.
The idea of over-organization goes hand-in-hand with the discussion of propaganda. At the core, organization of people is about control. Structure tells people what to do. Most of the time this is a good thing, as it prevents chaos. On the other hand, over-organization means an over abundance of control. With too much control, structure becomes less of a guideline and more of a demand. He immense level of connectivity modern technology facilitates is trending toward that extreme level of organization. Across the nation, people watch the same commercials and follow the same online trends. This is not inherently harmful, but has the potential to be so. When everybody is more or less consuming the same entertainment, everybody has a tendency to think along the same lines. When everybody is thinking the same thing, nobody stops to think where that thinking will take them. Of course, the argument could be made that society will always have independent thinkers to speak out against cultural decline. This is probably true. At the same time, it is false to think that the existence of these people will necessarily make a difference. Bernard is one such independent thinker, but at the current point in the novel he has not attempted to make an impact beyond antagonizing the DHC. My favorite point of Huxley's is when he talks about the way advertisement is contrary to democratic principles. It is difficult to find commercials nowadays that actually appeal to any sort of rationality. For a few minutes everyday, viewers a blasted with rapid fire messages with questionable relevance to the product. "My car insurance is better because it has a funnier commercial!"
Do we live in Brave New World?
ReplyDeleteOverpopulation can prove to be a problem in the near future. Huxley points out that the amount of people being produced has doubled since the landing of the May Flower. The bigger the population, the more government control there will be. The government will start to regulate control and take action towards the increasing number of citizens. Government control is what starts to turn this Brave New World into a Communistic lifestyle. This begins to limit our freedom with the government taking total control of natural resources and societal means.As the population keeps doubling, tripling...the environmental issue will definitely expand proportionally. Overpopulated communities allow society to become chaotic and jaded in time.
Huxley also mentions his idea of "over-organization". In the world we live in today we are constantly demanded by the schedules we create. Society makes it seem as if success only grows from a life filled with an immense passion to overwhelm oneself in work.Now, people are relying on these technologies and couldn't ourselves out the situation. In the interview, one of the point Huxley made is that “This has happened again and again in history with technology's advance and this changes social condition, and suddenly people have found themselves in a situation which they didn't foresee.
“Propaganda-persuaded below the level of choice and reason”—it is the hypermedia or the sleep-teaching process. In the novel, directors planted those ideas as a part of subconsciousness of the babies. They were teaches to hates book and natures with painful memory-the electric shock.We can hardly think on our own when constantly being shoved against a wall of blurred entertainment we can't keep our eyes off of. Minds slowly become consumed and we obtain a "robotic" personality that we adopt through propaganda.
We are living in a version of a Brave New World but we are not really living in it to the extent that Huxely has described it... yet. It is true that there is the threat of over poputation, and our government is slowly and gradually starting to show over-organization, however the "enemies" of our freedom have not completely taken over. Another threat he described was the increase in development of new technologies. It is true that become a big part of our lives and some may say that it has taken over to the extent that we need it to function in our society and for the most part it has. We use it as distraction and 'time-passer' but we have also applied it and used it to our advantage and so it doesn't completely control our lives.
ReplyDeleteWe as a population as a whole have definitely shown signs of leaning into a Brave New World and eventually, in the future, it may become a reality. But right now we are safe and I believe that in order to finally enter a Brave New World there will have to be a worldwide disaster that will give us that extra unwanted push into the world that Huxely describes in his novel.
I would have to say that we are and we aren’t. Some things point to yes while others point to no. One way that points to no is Television. With television we have no real choice on what is shown. There are always those catchy commercials that are played over so many times that you begin to memorize them. Aldous Huxley called television a “powerful instrument”. I agree with that statement strongly. Kids(mainly) are exposed to all these horrible images and wrong examples of living life. This goes into education. In school kids are taught certain things without getting a say in what they are being taught and are getting to learn. When high school comes around, students are preparing for the “real world” but they are not really taught the skills that will help them. I am not saying that they should teach us step by step into great detail on how it will be and how to go through it all but some guidance would be nice. The next topics that points to us not living in a “brave new world” is things like industrial production, birth control, and over population. Overall, we are just a big society so I don’t think that individuality is possible so we all just need to stop complaining about it and learn to deal with it.
ReplyDeleteThe setting of The Brave New World is very extreme and specific and we are not at that point obviously but the point is we are heading towards that kind of society. Ultimately what the society Huxley made was a communist one. Complete government control over a brainwashed humanity. Huxley compares his book several times to communist regimes like the Soviet Union and China and their use of brain washing and propaganda.
ReplyDeleteAmerica may not be The Brave New World but it is heading towards nation under government control. This will lead to Huxley’s prediction. We are already being brain washed, not as forceful as China or the former Soviet Union, but it’s still happening. Liberal ideology is in favor of larger government and a centralized system to govern. Our education is currently dominated by liberal teachers and as such most students are raised in public schools to believe bigger government is a good thing for its people. So through education students are not being completely brain washed but they are raised on these liberal influences which encourages a mindset for larger government. This will ultimately lead to a society similar if not like a communist one.
There are other factors however that lead to a society described in The Brave New World. People in The Brave New World want to live where the government controls everything. They want the Alphas to make all the scientific advances and make society functional. Technological advances are neither good nor evil like Huxley said which means it’s up to us on how we use technology. The problem with The Brave New World and communist regimes is if only a select few are making these technological advances than we create an unstable foundation for a society to stand on. If these select few people make all the wrong choices than the whole society falls apart. It’s like genetic variation in a population of animals. If you have low variation one disease can wipe out the whole population but if you have plenty of variation than part of the population will be able to survive and continue its species.
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ReplyDeletewe are living in a Brave New World but not as what Huxley described.
ReplyDelete1.Overpopulation-World population is growing very rapidly that nations are having hard time catching up. Some country has some policy about giving birth (like in China, only allow to have one child). This is causing many problems in many countries.
2.Technology- Because of new technology, this generation is getting lazy and lazy everyday. Now everyone is relying on technologies that they don't even realize that they are controling over our brain. In the interview Huxley stated " This has happened again and again in history with techology's advance and this changes social condition, and suddenly people have found themselves in a situation which they didn't foresee and doing all sorts of things they really didn't want to do.
3.Social interaction-Smartphone, facebook, twitter and more. With those social networking system, people interact very easily. However, their conversation cannot be very deep through texts. In old days, it was just normal to hang out with friends and talk with them for hours. But now, even if you are hanging out with your best friend, you play with your phone at least half of the time.
Although the Brave New World that Huxley describes does not mirror our society, certain aspects of it do describe us and concepts he talks about in the interview do accurately describe the world we live in today.
ReplyDeleteAdvertisement is everywhere in this society and with the internet so wide spread, we can see ads before bed and once we wake up. Consumers are constantly being bashed by advertisement companies in order to influence them to buy something, or to vote for someone. Huxley is correct in saying that money and coaching is all that is needed to win a campaign because we've seen it in this last election and it has been true since Nixon vs. Kennedy. When he speaks of this influence becoming a danger to democracy, I completely agree with him because then it doesn't become our choice, it become the choice they have severely influenced us to pick.
Drugs are, as we said in the discussion, becoming much more available and common just as soma is in Brave New World. Anything and everything that hurts, even mental problems, are treated with drugs. Some people can't function with out their daily dose of drugs and this has lead to dependence of drugs to feel healthy or happy when there are methods of curing pains with much more natural resources. Drugs, illicit or prescribed, are used to numb pain, numb reality or anything else that might hurt which is what the characters in BNW seem like, numb and controlled.Therefore, I see our society increasingly "worshiping" drugs as a way to seek pleasure and numbness but in the long run we are not "awake" in reality.
Technological Devices like TVs, Cell Phones, Tablets and anything else with a glowing screen, seem to have a grip on us that we can't (or really don't want to) loosen out of. Just as the people in BNW don't want to change anything, feeling content with the way life is, stuck in the repetitiveness of it all. Truly, everything on the TV is repeated, movies have the same format, Facebook has the same, predictable statuses so truthfully we are stuck in this technology and we are somehow "happy" with it. We even get mad when something happens (wifi stops working) and we are temporarily cut from our addiction.
The need for individuality seems to be diminishing but I love that he touches bases on the topic in his book and in the interview. We all want to be individuals but with this kind of society, it is becoming increasingly harder to establish a sense of self. I think, I hope we will always have a need to be different because diversity is what makes a society a great one.
READING NOTES:
ReplyDelete(Little Extra Note): In this whole video Huxley very rarely makes eye contact with Mike Wallace during the time that he is actually discussing his ideas.
• Huxley born in England (moved to California)
• Essays : Enemies of freedom
• Enemies in U.S. : impersonal forces such as :
Over population: (dissipating resources, puts central Government into a greater role within society) = such an incident (as seen in under developed countries) leads only to one stable Government … COMMUNISM. (Religion puts us in the hands of communism because it does not agree with abortion)
Over organization: (the advancement of technology leads to a greater need for organization) We develop what we do not fully know (Potential misuse of these tools)
o EXTRA FORCES :
Drugs :(SOMA) Causes a variety of side effects with differing doses ( today we have various drugs that do those independent acts but not all at once) …. It changes our mind but not the state of it (without harm?)
Dictatorships: Using terror as a tool, appealing to subconscious of man. Man ends up loving his own slavery ( happiness due to fact that he is ignorant of all others ideas)
• Huxley strongly believes a totalitarian government can come out country within the next century (from date of this interview)
• “Start thinking about these problems, do not let ourselves become surprised”
• We are able to fore see, why not stop the problem before hand?
• Advertisement (general mind control?)
• If it works, it can improve
• Advertisement plays a necessary role yet affects democracy. You see a democracy depends on individuals voters making an intelligent , self interesting choice. Propaganda affects this through reaching humanity’s inner psych and bypassing their rational consciousness )
• Commercials /Children : Able to be molded more efficiently then adults with their own opinions
o Example : Hitler uses “brain washing” with in children to keep his methods alive
• Training can let to a break down
• Even the right men can use ( Politics, Television, atomic energy ) for evil = all instruments can be used to obtain power (greed)
• How in such a society do you preserve integrity and reassert the value of the human individual? ( TEACH INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM) .. being aware, in the know, educational growth
• Society requires more of us (could not possible decentralize)
• Freedom required through life … without creation we would not be plausible
• Even though you are trapped within society there is always individual freedom (you just need to look … perhaps even with in yourself)
Essay Prompt:
ReplyDeleteplease cite five ideas from the talk to support your validation or refutation of the following video.
Essay : Mike Wallace Interviews Aldous Huxley
Validation or refutation? Well first allow me to abbreviate my stand point on Huxley’s prediction. In which case I agree with most of what he believes except one or two main points. Including his idea that our state has the possibility of being ran by a totalitarian government. In all honesty California is more democratic perhaps then any other. As Huxley admits this democratic system relies on individual people voting through an intelligent and self guided choice. Thus, leading to one of his points I do agree with. The point that propaganda, money, advertisement, all comes down to bypassing that intelligent choice and reaching down to a further subconscious that it can control. In which your vote or appeal, etcetera, leans more towards whatever the government wants you to believe. Another idea I actually strongly believe in would be “Over Population”. Here is where we run out of resources and economic abilities due to too many people. Yet as an opposing thought I do not agree with his furthering on the matter. As he stops to say religion (who is against abortion) puts society right into a communist system. That being because the only over populated, under developed, countries that have survived this way have been ran through communism. For if we do end up in any sort of situation like this, it will be humanities problem as a whole. Not one specific area of life. Same as with technology. If we cause the issue at hand then we should be able to predict (As Aldous says) upcoming events involving these things. Lets not be surprised by our own downfalls. This on another hand leads me to a great point of over organization. We must be able to set up our lives involving technology in a more professionally set way. With out such precautions we will surely be confused by the advances soon to come. Exactly like the idea of drugs Mr. Huxley has. One day we may have one drug that does multiple side effects with varying doses rather then multiple drugs with all one purpose. Advancements are going to happen in our life. It is our job to know those and be prepared. Independent freedom, this is where life begins.
Its not that we are living in the Brave New World Huxley created as much as we are creating our own. We are creating technology so is this considered self-destruction? We are no becoming slaves to our own creations as much as becoming lazy. We can stop it if we wish but making like easier is so much more appealing. Not everyone is falling into this abyss. Some use what they create to their own advantage which was the point for technology in the first place. The world described in Brave New World seems so barbaric. It seems unreal but is it really? Its only a representation of what we live in. A more drastic one of course but still one none the less. Its only rules. Its organization. We have that now. We have rules. We have social classes. It may never turn as severe as Huxley thought it would but still it isn't such a negative thing. Its only control over ourselves. What would be be without rules? Society only works because we are controlled. Its our own Brave New World.
ReplyDeleteWe are living in the Brave New World.
ReplyDeleteI think we have come a long way since the day that Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World. Anybody who doesn’t believe that we are not living in a Brave New World, is probably living in a reservation in New Mexico.
We are indeed living in a Brave New World.
There are several ways in which I can support my claim that we are living in a Brave New World, one is the sudden and exponential rise in the use of prescription drugs to treat supposed “mental illnesses.” As we can read, one of the most obvious apparatus used to control people in Brave New World were the use of mind altering drugs, such as soma, the system in Brave New World also utilized Psychiatry and Psychology, both which have been controversial sciences. The use of drugs, psychology and psychiatry to control people was also used in Soviet Russia, during Stalin’s reign, through a system of phcyiatric hospitals and slave labor camps called the “Gulag Archipelago.” These days people are being given mind altering psychotropic drugs that are affecting them in dangerous ways, at last, addiction to prescription medicine and pain killers is a growing epidemic in most developed nations.
Another reason why I think we are living in a Brave New World, is the sudden rise and prominence of personality centered politics, were demo gauges and charlatans often manage to get elected during times of economic distress. The rise of the Tea Party and the Christian Right is one example of what can happen when people loose their ability to distinguish fact from fiction. During the last few years political issues and topics often seem to take on lesser importance for the people voting in candidates who use their personality. Cults of Personality often emerge within Fascist totalitarian movements, for example Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Mao, Peron. Etc…People do not care about the issues any more, they are more likely to vote for a candidate who has mob following or a popular personality, rather then focusing on the issues of the day.
The last reason why I think that we are living in a Brave New World, is the sudden and over dependent use of technology, by our modern society. The rise of technology and widely distributed information networks, has had destructive effects on many of the most primitive cultures around the world. People from around the world are sort of stuck in between a rock and a hard place, they can either choose to adopt western culture or they can choose to turn isolationist and this would put them at odds with western corporate influences. Thus cultures from around the world are really beginning to crumble due to the onslaught of the technological age.