Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

For decades society has been obsessed with the idea of creating a perfect world. One in which humans live in an environment of equality. However, what society has failed to notice is the progress towards conformity within an attempt for a utopia. Deeply interested in the use of science for progression, Huxley curated a fictional perfect world. One in which babies are grown, humans are engineered, drugs are used to achieve happiness, and intimacy is sacrificed. In “Brave New World”, Huxley urges to take precaution in scientific advancements as progress towards a utopia will result in dangers and further surrenders culture to technology.

Aldous Huxley published Brave New World in 1924, a time period between World War I and World War II. At the time, technological advancements were at their height and there was great optimism toward growth that was booming in the West. However, Huxley saw right through out the “optimism” towards technology. Skeptical of what it could become, he created the dystopian world in order to criticize it.

Huxley’s grandfather was a biologist and fought heavily in favor of Darwin’s evolutionary hypothesis. He was greatly influenced by his grandfather and at one point even considered to pursue a career in the scientific field. Therefore, his scientific background greatly helped him to analyze the exponential technological growth happening in Europe. At the time the novel was written, scientists were not worried about the potential disastrous outcome of extreme advancement and Huxley worked to address its uncertainties.

In Brave New World, humans are no longer brought into the world through a natural birth.

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Instead, 96 humans are created from one fertilized egg and then gestated in a lab until they are ready for “birth”. This leaves no room for diversity as lab controllers critique DNA to curate the perfect specimen. And not only does loss of diversity occur at birth, but also as children grow. Children are raised in groups instead of families with no mother or father. From the day they are birthed, the young babies are exposed to inhumane “sleep teaching” and “conditioning” that consists of carefully strategized mind control and brainwashing (Semantic Scholar 1). Being raised in such a concisely perfected society, as the children grow up and become obedient mindless citizens, they are oblivious towards the idea that technology has been used to control their lives (Semantic Scholar 60). With this extreme form of training and forced influence, not only is the way citizens act engineered, but also their gaiety, disposition, and appearance. This becomes an issue when Bernard ventures outside of the World State into the Savage Reservation and meets John. As John was born from a natural birth, he is considered barbaric and primitive.

Another prominent issue discussed in Brave New World that derives from technology is characters’ addiction to meaningless happiness and instant bliss. Huxley created a fictional drug called “Soma” that is used to find happiness. If someone is feeling slightly down, they are instructed to take Soma in order to achieve fulfillment once again (Miller 2). Through soma, Huxley was striving to emanate the issue of careless prescriptions written for not only adults, but also children today. Negligently medicated individuals is one of the many things Huxley predicted in his infamous novel. As many children in the 1920’s were beginning to receive drugs (for example, Ritalin and Adderall) in order to “focus” better in school and organized settings (Miller 2). His famous proverb “a gramme is better than a damn” was spurred from the idea of absent minded medication that causes lack of personality in humans (Huxley 156). In the novel, soma ultimately causes the downfall of society and is the reason for the climax of the story when Bernard’s mother dies of an overdose. As each individual in Brave New World is depending on synthetic happiness, they are unable to feel pleasure themselves, seeking catharsis through delusive substances.

Complete exclusion of intimacy in the World State also plays a large part in the lack of individualism in the World State. Characters in Brave New World to put into simpler terms, have commitment issues. Unable to dedicate themselves to one individual, they are encouraged to embrace their promiscuity. “Even with the best technology to prevent pregnancy, people can only maintain their loose sexual mores by sacrificing intimacy and commitment” (Semantic Scholar 60). Emotions are discouraged in order to promote disattachment. Sex becomes an outlet for happiness instead of expression and even children are prompted to partake in erotic play. The World State believes “everyone belongs to everyone” and relationships become a group experience rather than a bond within a couple. Citizen’s inability to commit their love to one person causes a loss of dedication which further leads to detached bonds and feelings separated from humanity. Their actions are motivated by impulse urges instead of promised love.

In order to further sacrifice individuality, Huxley created castes that divide individuals into groups which rank them among their intelligence. Once put into a caste, World State citizens simply become a number on a roster and are set out to complete their assigned duty. The lower castes in Brave New World are the most unintelligent of the workers; serving as painless slaves for one function, and one function only. The mass production of human life is key to the economic structure of this society (Inquiries Journal 3). The caste system is determined, compartmentalizing society into four groups ranging from an insightful bureaucratic class to the less respected aloof individuals that act as servants to complete monotonous work. The caste system was created in order to assure security and structure. Along with placement of a caste, leisure and work are decided by the world controllers leaving social function and amusement pointless (Inquiries Journal 3).

There certainly is a lack of individuality and expression within the World State. Self determination merely exists as a myth. The advanced dystopia calls for no need of technological progress and the world is quite frankly at a stalemate for development. At this point, one must consider the cost of stability and if it is worth it to completely dehumanize individuals in order to achieve a “perfect world”. This further supports Huxley’s pretentiousness about scientific advancements. As the World State tried to remain a peaceful utopia, it only resulted in danger and a suppression of culture.