Brave new world vs
Brave new world vs. modern socAlthough the book Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, was written more than
60 years ago, its subject has become more popular since most of the
technologies described in the book have, at least, partially, become a reality.
Huxley's community of Utopia is a futuristic society designed by genetic
engineering, and controlled by neural conditioning with mind-altering drugs and
a manipulative media system. Yet, despite the similarities, the reader also finds
many contrasts between the two societies.
and Perhaps the most salient contrast between Huxley’s Utopia and our
modern society, deals with the issue of procreation. The majority of babies born
in our society today, are still the result of intercourse between a man and a
woman. In many cases the birth of a child is a memorable and joyous event for
the woman. In Utopia, however, if a woman is caught bearing offspring, she will
be punished by exile. Offspring not produced the society’s way is a threat to the
society’s existence, in the eyes of the leaders. As today, pregnancy, in Utopia,
could be prevented using a variety of methods. Where our society uses male
and female birth control methods, Utopia has pregnancy substitute (a procedure
in which Utopian woman are given all the psychological benefits of childbirth
without undergoing it) and malthusian drill (similar to today’s birth control pills).
However, modern society and Huxley’s Utopia both explore the advantages of
artificial reproduction, although Utopia has taken it to the extreme: The
Bokanovsky Process, is a method whereby a human egg’s normal development
is arrested, then buds, producing many identical eggs. “My good
boy!”...”Bokanovsky’s Process is one of the major instruments of social stability!”
(Huxley, 7). Not only did this method create millions of “robot like” citizens for
Utopia, but the leaders have supreme control over any threat of overpopulation.
Utopian predestinators decide the future function of each embryo, essentially
assigning class status. In this way, the leaders of Utopia are also able to
keep the social classes balanced in the way they felt benefited everyone.
Although the reader sees some dissipation of social classes in modern
society, in Utopia, the class distinctions were palpable. A five-tiered caste
system is maintained which ranks Alphas and Betas on top followed by
Gammas, Deltas, and the semi-moronic, ubiquitous Epsilons. The motto
"Community, Identity, Stability" frames the Utopian social structure. In Huxley’s
"community" each tier has its purpose in the society, from the Alphas who serve
as intellectuals to the plebeian Epsilons who function as the pure humble
laborers. "Identity" is established in the Conditioning Centre through the
separation of the embryos into one of five classes and "stability" is insured
through the limitations placed on the intelligence of each group. Whereas in
today’s society a person’s outer appearance and garb may not reveal his wealth
and status, in Utopian society, a person’s uniform...
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