Each is conditioned to be happy as what they are. Thus humanity has physically enforced castes created to fulfill different levels of society. Humans are created via an in vitro assembly line process that involves constant sleep conditioning (which continues throughout childhood).ĭifferent groups are deliberately stunted to prevent mental development (alcohol is added to their in vitro bottles) so they will be happy and productive, if mindless, workers. Dating is based on the date of the Model-T, all crosses have had their tops removed to make them into large ‘T’s, and people say “Ford” (or sometimes “Freud”) where we would say “God” (as in “my Ford” or “dear Freude”). The novel is set in 2540 AD, or 632 AF (After Ford). The god Ford is conflated with Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), whose ideas about classical conditioning and the importance of sexual activity in human happiness are crucial and central aspects of Huxley’s Brave new World. In Huxley’s future, God has been replaced by Henry Ford (1863–1947), whose beneficence brought the Model-T (in 1908), the assembly line, and the general philosophy, Fordism, of mass production and consumption. Brave New World clearly takes place in a future quite different from the present. Something similar happened with Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, but the similarities of the latter to current oppressive regimes seems to blunt the perception of it being science fiction. It’s almost ironic that Brave New World became such a cultural icon. I’m basing this on his Wiki bibliography.) (Full disclosure: Brave New World is the only Huxley I’ve read. Much easier to just accept what people tell you.)Īldous Huxley (1894–1963) was not really a science fiction writer, although he certainly seems to have dabbled in some fantastic or surreal ideas. (Because learning stuff is hard, and thinking clearly is even harder. The biggest part of this equation is the willingness of humans to exist in that Ignorance Bubble besotted by whatever palliative strokes their dopamine system. An educated informed electorate is, from a politician’s perspective, a dangerous one. A key reason governments don’t devote much energy to education is that it often leads to their own downfall. What does work (and work rather well) is wrapping your citizenry in a huge Ignorance Bubble and keeping them stupid and stoned. Either the citizens - who inevitably vastly outnumber the power structure - rise up in revolt, or the system collapses under its own inherent contradictions. What Judge and Huxley understood about humans is that dystopic totalitarian regimes eventually end badly, one way or another. Much more recently (and far less seriously, but no less presciently), a long-time favorite of mine, the Mike Judge film Idiocracy (2006) predicts a near future with some eerie immediate similarities to current events. Indeed they believe themselves to be happy. So far it appears Huxley had the right idea - his future is in reality no less awful, but its inhabitants are far less miserable. Unserious fiction, if at least well-written, is just fun - a ripping good yarn.)Īmong serious works, we can also include the Fritz Lang film Metropolis (1927) for its depiction of a dystopic industrial future (with robots).Īll three of these works feature dark dystopic high-misery futures that stand in contrast to the bright, busy, satisfied, brain-washed future Huxley imagined. (In general, serious fiction is always a reflection of the human condition. In this case the distant future of Eloi and Morlocks is more intended as an analog of ills Wells perceived in his own time.Įven so, in serious science fiction, one way or another, the future is always a reflection of our present, either as prediction or analogue. There is also The Time Machine (1895), by one of the first science fiction writers, H.G. In contrast, Orwell’s world is a dark and awful Yin to the soma-soaked Yang of Huxley’s. As with with Brave New World, the story takes place in a future extrapolated from our present. Perhaps the more prominent (and obvious) companion is Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), by George Orwell seventeen years later. Last week I finally got around to reading the classic science fiction novel, Brave New World (1932), by Aldous Huxley.įor a novel written 88 years ago, it’s surprisingly prescient and relevant.īrave New World is one of several notable novels that depict a human future that is either a metaphor for current human culture or a prediction of a future given the current culture. I suspect all serious readers have a classic or two they’ve never gotten around to. ( Lord of the Rings is an ultimate classic - all Medieval fantasy since is in reference to it.) That is part of what makes these works classics. In every literary genre (in every type of art, really), there are classics that stand out and often participate in forming the language, or at least some of the territory, of the genre.
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