"'The greatest care is taken to prevent you from loving too much. There's no such thing as a divided allegiance; you're so conditioned that you can't help doing what you ought to do" (Huxley 237).
The World State is obsessed with peacekeeping. Everything they do is done in an effort to maintain the stability of the society in Brave New World. There are no wars, and everyone seems to be happy and getting along. While this first appears to be a benefit to humanity, it is actually hurting it. The government manipulates all of its people through sleep conditioning. As a result, they do not love, so they are not passionate enough about anything to fight. No advancement is made that is not in the governments best interest, because all the people are trained to agree with each other. Many of the best works and ideas have stemmed from people working together who all have different viewpoints. Though these differing views may lead to fights, the end result is almost always worth it. In Brave New World, however, this capability was taken away from the people, and while they may live in peace, it has taken all the excitement out of humanity.
Sunday, April 17, 2016
Brave New World Chapters 15-16: Bottled
"'[An Epsilon] can't help himself; he's foredoomed. Even after decanting, he's still inside a bottle - an invisible bottle of infantile and embryonic fixations'" (Huxley 222).
The government in Brave New World controls absolutely everything having to do with its citizens, even how they are born. They are grown in bottles and carefully monitored. While this could be used for good, the government abuses it. An advancement like this could be used to eradicate disease and make sure all babies are born healthy, but the government uses it to separate its citizens into different castes. They do this by damaging the ones deemed lower level beings by splitting the eggs many times to make tens of identical twins and adding alcohol to their bottles to lessen their intelligence. This does not benefit humanity because most citizens are being harmed. Only the lucky few, Alphas and Betas, are raised in the most favorable conditions. Even they, however, are manipulated by the government and are heavily conditioned to not use their intelligence to be an individual or go against the norm.
The government in Brave New World controls absolutely everything having to do with its citizens, even how they are born. They are grown in bottles and carefully monitored. While this could be used for good, the government abuses it. An advancement like this could be used to eradicate disease and make sure all babies are born healthy, but the government uses it to separate its citizens into different castes. They do this by damaging the ones deemed lower level beings by splitting the eggs many times to make tens of identical twins and adding alcohol to their bottles to lessen their intelligence. This does not benefit humanity because most citizens are being harmed. Only the lucky few, Alphas and Betas, are raised in the most favorable conditions. Even they, however, are manipulated by the government and are heavily conditioned to not use their intelligence to be an individual or go against the norm.
Brave New World Chapter 13-14: Death Conditioning
"The savage stood for a moment in frozen silence, then fell on his knees beside the bed and, covering his face with his hands, sobbed uncontrollably . . . Undoing all their wholesome death-conditioning with this disgusting outcry" (Huxley 206).
Scientific and technological advancements did not benefit humanity because they turned humans into robot-like creatures. With these advancements, people were conditioned to view death as something that just happened and did not affect them at all. They were conditioned not to love anyone and to reject the ideas of marriage, parents, and families. As a result, death meant nothing to them. They did not love anyone, so they did not care when anyone died. Love has been a major life force for all people, but the conditioning methods used in Brave New World took this away from people. When someone you love dies, you grieve their death, and then you heal. In the World State, however, people are conditioned to not care about it at all and not even worry about what will happen to them when they die. These scientific and technological advancements did not benefit humanity in any way, and instead took a vital part of life away from it.
Scientific and technological advancements did not benefit humanity because they turned humans into robot-like creatures. With these advancements, people were conditioned to view death as something that just happened and did not affect them at all. They were conditioned not to love anyone and to reject the ideas of marriage, parents, and families. As a result, death meant nothing to them. They did not love anyone, so they did not care when anyone died. Love has been a major life force for all people, but the conditioning methods used in Brave New World took this away from people. When someone you love dies, you grieve their death, and then you heal. In the World State, however, people are conditioned to not care about it at all and not even worry about what will happen to them when they die. These scientific and technological advancements did not benefit humanity in any way, and instead took a vital part of life away from it.
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Brave New World Chapter 12: Avoiding Reality
"Punctured, utterly deflated, he dropped into a chair and, covering his face with his hands, began to weep. A few minutes later, however, he thought better of it and took four tablets of soma" (Huxley 176).
Scientific and technological advancements are not a benefit to humanity because these advancements have made the people completely dependent on the government and its technology. Sadness is a normal human emotion that everyone expects to experience at some point in their lives. In Brave New World, however, the people refuse to deal with any emotion other than happiness. When they are upset, they simply take soma, as hypnopaedia conditioned them to do so. While the citizens think they are happy, they are simply living a bland life free of all emotions and typical life experiences. Due to their reliance on soma to take away anything that does not make them feel good, they are unable to truly appreciate the good things in life. They do not know true happiness, because one cannot truly know happiness without first experience sadness. In addition to this, they have become extremely reliant on the government. They have been conditioned to not let themselves feel negative emotion, so they do not know how to handle it when something bad happens. As a result, they totally depend on the soma provided to them by the government. These advancements did not benefit humanity because it took away most of the emotions felt by humans and made them slaves to their own government.
Scientific and technological advancements are not a benefit to humanity because these advancements have made the people completely dependent on the government and its technology. Sadness is a normal human emotion that everyone expects to experience at some point in their lives. In Brave New World, however, the people refuse to deal with any emotion other than happiness. When they are upset, they simply take soma, as hypnopaedia conditioned them to do so. While the citizens think they are happy, they are simply living a bland life free of all emotions and typical life experiences. Due to their reliance on soma to take away anything that does not make them feel good, they are unable to truly appreciate the good things in life. They do not know true happiness, because one cannot truly know happiness without first experience sadness. In addition to this, they have become extremely reliant on the government. They have been conditioned to not let themselves feel negative emotion, so they do not know how to handle it when something bad happens. As a result, they totally depend on the soma provided to them by the government. These advancements did not benefit humanity because it took away most of the emotions felt by humans and made them slaves to their own government.
Monday, April 4, 2016
Brave New World Chapter 11: Soma Holiday
"Surprisingly, as everyone thought (for on soma-holiday Linda was most conveniently out of the way), John raised objections.
'But aren't you shortening her life by giving her so much?'
'In one sense, yes,' Dr. Shaw admitted . . . 'Soma may make you lose a few years in time,' the doctor went on. 'But think of the enormous, immeasurable durations it can give you out of time. Everyone soma-holiday is a bit of what our ancestors used to call an eternity'" (Huxley 154).
Scientific and technological advancements do not benefit humanity because they are actually shortening the lives of the people. Everyone in the World State has been conditioned to rely on soma to take away all negative feelings. The citizens consistently take this drug every time they begin to feel any anger, sadness, or other potentially dangerous emotion. This drug, however, is hurting them. It is shortening their lives by who knows how many years, but they have been trained to not care. Thanks to the government's hypnopaedic teachings, and the pleasant effects of the drug, the people have become totally dependent on soma. This is not beneficial to humanity because these drug has made people mindless, dependent drones who rely on soma to keep them happy and living. It has made everyone in society completely incapable of handling emotions, as whenever they feel anything but happy they simply pop a pill. As a result, all the citizens have become numb to all emotion, all while shortening their lives.
'But aren't you shortening her life by giving her so much?'
'In one sense, yes,' Dr. Shaw admitted . . . 'Soma may make you lose a few years in time,' the doctor went on. 'But think of the enormous, immeasurable durations it can give you out of time. Everyone soma-holiday is a bit of what our ancestors used to call an eternity'" (Huxley 154).
Scientific and technological advancements do not benefit humanity because they are actually shortening the lives of the people. Everyone in the World State has been conditioned to rely on soma to take away all negative feelings. The citizens consistently take this drug every time they begin to feel any anger, sadness, or other potentially dangerous emotion. This drug, however, is hurting them. It is shortening their lives by who knows how many years, but they have been trained to not care. Thanks to the government's hypnopaedic teachings, and the pleasant effects of the drug, the people have become totally dependent on soma. This is not beneficial to humanity because these drug has made people mindless, dependent drones who rely on soma to keep them happy and living. It has made everyone in society completely incapable of handling emotions, as whenever they feel anything but happy they simply pop a pill. As a result, all the citizens have become numb to all emotion, all while shortening their lives.
Sunday, April 3, 2016
Brave New World Chapters 9-10: Bloomsbury Centre
"Above these again were the playrooms where, the weather having turned to rain, nine hundred older children were amusing themselves with brick and clay and modelling, hunt-the-zipper, and erotic play" (Huxley 147).
Scientific and technological advancements did not benefit humanity because they created as a way to distract society. From birth, hypnopaedic lessons are used to permanently put certain sayings into everyone's heads as a way to condition and control the population. Part of these teachings encouraged sex and other erotic play, starting at a very young age. By hypnopaedically teaching everyone that they should be participating in such activities, it becomes ingrained in their minds that this is an everyday part of life, almost a routine. As a result, the population of the World State is totally distracted. Everyone and everything is sexualised, even the children. They are so focused on sex and using drugs to suppress all feelings, as they were taught in their sleep, that they are blind to the injustices happening around them. The government uses this to their advantage to manipulate the people and get away with things that a society like ours would see as abominations. The scientific and technological advancements in Brave New World did not benefit humanity, as they are used only to distract the people living in the World State.
Scientific and technological advancements did not benefit humanity because they created as a way to distract society. From birth, hypnopaedic lessons are used to permanently put certain sayings into everyone's heads as a way to condition and control the population. Part of these teachings encouraged sex and other erotic play, starting at a very young age. By hypnopaedically teaching everyone that they should be participating in such activities, it becomes ingrained in their minds that this is an everyday part of life, almost a routine. As a result, the population of the World State is totally distracted. Everyone and everything is sexualised, even the children. They are so focused on sex and using drugs to suppress all feelings, as they were taught in their sleep, that they are blind to the injustices happening around them. The government uses this to their advantage to manipulate the people and get away with things that a society like ours would see as abominations. The scientific and technological advancements in Brave New World did not benefit humanity, as they are used only to distract the people living in the World State.
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Brave New World Chapter 8
"Sometimes, for several days, Linda didn't get up at all. She lay in bed and was sad. Or else she drank the stuff that Pope brought and laughed a great deal and went to sleep . . . often she forgot to wash him, and there was nothing to eat except cold tortillas" (Huxley 127).
As science and technology advanced, society like we currently know disappeared. There was no marriage, no families, and no natural birth. All births were controlled by the government. Special chemicals, and in some cases, toxins, were added to the test tubes to predetermine how every person in society would turn out. Part of this manipulation was that intelligence was controlled to leave everyone like infants. They were hypnopaedically controlled to be completely dependent on the government. Linda grew up like this, but then accidentally got pregnant and had a child. Because of the environment she was raised in, she had no idea how to take care of a child and was unable to understand the basic functions of society. She could not grasp the concept of marriage and raising as child, and, as a result, the life of her son, John, was negatively affected. Scientific and technological advancements do not benefit humanity because it allowed their intelligence to be manipulated to stay at an infantile level and left them unable to care for themselves or others.
As science and technology advanced, society like we currently know disappeared. There was no marriage, no families, and no natural birth. All births were controlled by the government. Special chemicals, and in some cases, toxins, were added to the test tubes to predetermine how every person in society would turn out. Part of this manipulation was that intelligence was controlled to leave everyone like infants. They were hypnopaedically controlled to be completely dependent on the government. Linda grew up like this, but then accidentally got pregnant and had a child. Because of the environment she was raised in, she had no idea how to take care of a child and was unable to understand the basic functions of society. She could not grasp the concept of marriage and raising as child, and, as a result, the life of her son, John, was negatively affected. Scientific and technological advancements do not benefit humanity because it allowed their intelligence to be manipulated to stay at an infantile level and left them unable to care for themselves or others.
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