"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.
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