Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Evolution Of Our Society?
In Aldous Huxley's book Brave New World, their society has evolved into a worse version of our society today. Their society uses the drug soma as a way to get away from all of their problems.Their technology breeds children and teaches children to dislike books and flowers. No one in their society has any more parents and think that the ideas of love, marriage, parents, and commitment are just ridiculous. They also replaced their god with Henry Ford, the founder of the Ford Motor Company. Now does anyone really think that our society could evolve into something like Huxley's version? Can you imagine all of us worshiping one new god like, for example, Steve Jobs or Bill Gates? Can you actually imagine a machine making children and classifying them into five classes? A machine that teaches us what to like and dislike? A drug used by everyone to get away from their problems? Or can you see our society evolve in to something worse than Huxley's version?
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I believe that we will change, but not so radically as in Brave New World. Not everyone is a “sheep” and those who aren’t will intentionally individualize themselves if they are aware that society’s mediums don’t fit their personalities. I’m optimistic that people will remember that humans cannot achieve godhood because we have examples to reflect upon such as Stalin and Mao. Because they ruthlessly abused their power, people both from within and abroad, were taught that one human cannot control everything without becoming corrupt. Drugs are eventually becoming legalized, but it doesn’t mean that everyone will use them because they recognize that drug dependency causes people to become psychologically unstable. Even the burden of birth will persist for all time. Human nature causes many people to seek parenthood, so if artificial birthing will leave people with a sense of emptiness as they grow older. I solemnly believe that there are distinguishable individuals will maintain unique cultures as long as they’re different cultures to begin with.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion Huxley's version of a futuristic society is a bit far-fetched. I do believe in evelution and I believe that our society will evolve and transcend, but into what, who knows? As we speak, society is transgressing technologically, medically and socially but of course one must wonder after reading Huxley's book weather that transgression is in societies best interest.
ReplyDeleteIn Brave New World, Ford explains how they've become how they are because of chaos and the necessity to never stoop to the level of emotional and political discord that had reigned. I don't believe that our world will ever be able to find that happy medium in lasting terms but I also don't believe that our government would tear down the personal freedom that it's worked so hard to build.
I believe Huxley has envisioned a world that is already coming true in some ways, but his version is a bit extreme. There are people today that depend on drugs to sooth themselves and help them get through life just like soma does for the citizens in Brave New World. However, I do not see every human on Earth becoming addicted to drugs because we have seen what that addiction will do to you. Religion is one of the key things our nation has been based on and everyone changing their own beliefs to worship just one "God" will not happen. As long as there are individuals in the world, we will never turn into the utopia that Huxley envisioned.
ReplyDeleteAs long as we stay as ourselves, we will always want to keep our own ways of living. The only way that a world that Huxley envisioned is if a tyrant takes over and brainwashes everyone on the planet.
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ReplyDeleteWhile reading Brave New World, I did believe that the society seemed to be completely different from ours but as I went on I found that different many not be worse. Although the book does bring out the worse parts of the society it does have you think about the connections it makes to our own. For the drug soma, happiness doesn’t have to come in a pill. We have our own ways to make us happy in times of hardship it being either family or happy thoughts. Taking out the factor of family does make emotions including love and caring useless, but makes death nothing. Having no family may seem unbearable to our society but that is only because we have grown up and learned we can’t live without it.
ReplyDeleteThat’s the major factor to the Brave New World society in that while it may seem alienated to us, it is normal to them. That is why John the Savage is introduced to the story to have us be in the story and act as if we were in it. The god figure Henry Ford may replace religion, but religion hasn’t benefited the world we live in without backfire. Even if it may not seem so, we are born into a class and predetermined to believe what we are told even if we think we have our own thoughts. I don’t believe that our world could turn into a similar society only do to the way things are now. Our society is the way it is and won’t change unless a major factor would step in.