Brave New World Review

The State of the Planet

One problematic problem emerges when addressing our present trajectory: the state of the planet. Aldous Huxley has written a novel that not only discusses a world that has been destroyed by totalitarianism, but also a glimpse of a future society in which gratification is fuelled by drugs and the people value enjoyment over morality. The convergence of science and fun has an effect on how people act, perform, and even connect in the brave new world. Others believe we are on the right track, while others believe we are on our way to the world state. In my opinion, the only way to keep the convergence of science and enjoyment under control is to maintain morality. Therefore, the idea of the world state focuses on choices.

Rewriting the Genome

Huxley argues that in the new world, human life can be made pleasant through intelligently rewriting their genome. People’s DNA is edited and manipulated through scientific means to enhance long life. Moreover, there are fantastic high experiences generated from designer drugs. Based on the induction of science and cross-examination of the current generations, the conclusions that can be drawn are desirable.

Genetically Modified Body Enhancers

Furthermore, the use of genetically modified body enhancers is not limited to bodybuilders as they make use of them for their daily exercises. The purpose of these enhancers is to increase the mass as well as maintain a size that does not require them to practice for more extended periods. Besides, ladies too use therapeutically produced drugs to get the beautiful feminine nature that cannot be achieved naturally. The rot goes further to manifest in the doctors’ capability to manipulate DNA of individuals to enable them acquires desired character traits. Huxley also goes ahead to explain the use of biotechnology in BNW to manufacture a rigid hierarchy of genetically preordained castes. In the present world, genetics has been widely used where the experts alter the genetics composition of birds like hens and vegetables and tomatoes to make them grow firs in large scale for commercial use.

Excitement in Brave New World

In Brave New World, excitement results from consumption of goods that are produced in large scale, sports activities such as obstacle Golf, promiscuous sex, and excellent pleasure drugs. The use of these drugs differs from the customarily abused substances like spirited alcohol. The difference plays out when the side effects like hangover sets in. In the current world, individuals and organizations no longer produce a small amount of goods for subsistence only, but they tend to dominate on large scale production. Almost in all countries around the world have advanced in the type of sports they engage in. Golf has become a standard sport in American states, Europe, Germany, Spain, and most of the African counties. On the other hand, the habit of promiscuous sex is rampant, and people derive maximum satisfaction as far as sexual pleasure is concerned. The kind of drugs that the current world derives pleasure from is changing by time. Most young and old individuals nowadays enjoy low alcoholic content brews like whines and whiskeys that ensure they don’t undergo opposite and painful experience associated with high spirited alcoholic drinks. It is donning on the human kind that Huxley’s point of view and fantasies are the predominant ones.

A Utopian World

Brave New World is a Utopian world characterized with an ideal perfect harmony; it is to some extent like the ideal market competition which is a visionary market that economists would like to have in this real world. Whereas in economics the perfect market condition is unattainable, the world state characterized by better technology and polymath is achievable. However, in this idealistic new world order, certain human undertakings, inventions, and innovations have shown the efforts of trying to achieve the dream, but several factors strongly try to act as hindrances. It is a visionary idea that cannot be attained soon though after several decades or even a century.

The Evolution of the World

The world has evolved from the Stone Age through the medieval times until the modern world was conceived. Through all the generations, humans have also developed and have become more sophisticated beings than ever. In the old times, the world was so natural, so fresh, so diverse and full of original life, however this too has changed. Humans being the most developed organisms always tried to get an understanding of individual phenomena and happenstances. It is through the human eager that discoveries, thinking, philosophy and science developed. Later on, Charles Darwin created the theory of evolution aimed at explaining the origin. Then in the 20th century, man broadens his intellectuality and becomes a modern man. These trends in events automatically show how man naturally set himself a long-term objective to understand the entire world, to understand diversity and to gain control having believed that he is the most complicated organism. However, these have been accompanied by various effects both negative and positive. The fresh, natural, diverse and the original state have been altered to some extent.

The Impact of the Internet

Man’s aim of achieving a world state is vividly underway. The creation of the internet can be termed as one of the most significant steps. The internet has enabled the connectivity of millions of people all over the world. The internet has become a part of so many people’s lives today. It is evident that with internet connectivity, the world has become a global village. Shopping has also been made easy, most people can get market information through the internet and to some degree, and this has helped reduce the problem of asymmetric information in the market. Furthermore, the students can undertake some courses through the internet, study on the internet, and even do exams online. The world of management is not left behind; various aspects of management have been made easy because of the internet. However, the fundamental question that Nicholas Carr asks is; “as we enjoy the net bounties, are we sacrificing our ability to read and think deeply?” Are we even concerned with the negative effects of the internet in our lives?

The Ethical Concerns of the Internet

The internet has injected a 600mg of venom which has a slow killing effect in our moral lives that we don’t even feel. Some may feel it, but the already existing manipulative impact of the internet in their brains act as a hindrance to the proper perception of the reality. The internet has subjected the philosophy of ethics in jeopardy. “Its ethic is that of the industrialist, an ethic of speed and efficiency, of optimized production, and consumption (Wilson 140).” It quickly enables quick collection of information by any individual. People are no longer concerned with originality, they don’t care how the news reached the internet, and all they want is the information and nothing else. The internet has easily enabled the use of the propaganda technique articulated in the Brave New World. Due to this, the internet can promote outrageous morals, certain evils, and misunderstanding in the society. For instance, a country comprising of several different ethnic communities can easily be incited to violence through the internet. Posting of moving images, articles that are hateful, talking ill about a given community leader, all these get into the people’s heads and change the naturally installed morals in them. If the internet was meant to be a tool for meeting the world state objective then perhaps it will not work in the long run if some aspects of the internet are not modified.

Challenges to a Harmonious World State

A country like the USA has many races; this diversity has led to the much political unrest which in turn has an enormous impact on the entire economy, education, among other aspects of economic development. The political upheavals have roots in tribal conflicts that started in the 20th century, but the magnitude of the situation becomes more prominent as the nation becomes more connected to the internet. As Plato puts it that we need to have philosophical kings as leaders and leaders to be made philosophical kings, there is a concern for such an ideal state also to exist. But it has proved hard to attain such a state as time goes by because the society is deeply immersed in a quagmire of insensitivity, lack of logic and selfishness. Unlike in the olden times when a state like that was near attainable. People had what they believed in; people took time to think, reflect and reason. Hence they were able to be better philosophers. But with the internet, people have been turned into living machines, shallow in thoughts and lazy to reason. We might not yet be there but close to the world spoken about in the Brave New World; a world where people’s spirits are done away with, emotions are suppressed, and insensitivity brought to a higher level. Posting of hateful things has escalated tribalism, tribal conflicts, terrorism and has even threatened to start a civil war. With the drifts among the people, you can be sure that having the one state harmony is not going to happen anytime soon.

The Changing Nature of Human Brain

According to Nicholas Carr our brains, the historical and scientific evidence reveals, change in response to our experiences. The technologies we use to find, store, and share information can reroute our neural pathways. Most people are like the inhabitants of the Brave New World; they have been presented to a life characterized to a nice life, however, deep inside the life is bleeding out venom that is slowly killing the original state of humans. The new order is devouring their freedom to choose when to be happy, to feel angry, and how to react.

The Philosophy of Good and Evil

The philosophy of good and evil is directly connected to the theory of ethics which is a significant concern when it comes to the idea of a world state. As earlier indicated in this paper, the morals of the society are becoming questionable with time and with the development of the internet, the moral alterations are happening so fast. This leads to the assumption that if at all the world state with perfect harmony is to come true, it will take a lot of time and there will be need for severe modifications on the agents already put in place to make a dream come true. Philosophers have ascertained the existence of evil, and with the existence of evil, facts have also been discussed the presence of good in the world. Since ‘good’ deserved the universal good, it means that it is pleasing to man and the man likes it the way it is and rationally thinking would even work hard to make the good better. On the other hand, we have the universal ‘evil’. With certainty, man can conclude that there are pieces of evidence of evil in the world, and the evidences convince the man that evil is bad. Even in metaphysics, evil is acknowledged to exist, and it is bad as it sounds.

Controlling Emotions and Maintaining Freedom of Choice

Man being the philosophical analyst, has elements of good and evil in him, when man experiences love, he believes it is a pleasant feeling but when man experiences anger, to some extent it becomes so barbaric until it qualifies to be an evil within man because of its manifestations. That’s why throughout history, spiritual traditions have tried many times to do away with unhealthy anger due to the indications that are perceived to be outrageous and violent. However, despite being an unhealthy anger, if repressed can lead to some classified emotional illness. There have been various schools of thought regarding such emotions like anger. Suppose passion is approached as a scientific experience, for instance, electricity. Electricity is viewed as energy in science, despite its danger; science has tried to convince humans that if handled with care, it is not dangerous at all. Science has made us to feel that electricity is so helpful and its danger can be controlled.

Conclusion

In conclusion, humans have a natural ability to control anger and any other emotion that can be perceived to be outrageous. However, it can be put to use by some people but others might not. Making them understand such mechanisms within them can be a significant step in having an improved society rather than directly intervening scientifically to control them. Making humans appreciate their ability to manage evil is better than devising ways of suppressing the evil which renders humans inhuman, insensitive, and controllable and with a complete misunderstanding of a pleasant life. Therefore, in as much as the world may seem to be tending towards the world state, it is not a good idea; humans still need to retain their natural freedom of choice and of maximizing whichever feeling they desire to have.

Works Cited

Huxley, Aldous. Brave new world. Ernst Klett Sprachen, 2008.

Johnson, Steven. Everything bad is good for you: How today’s popular culture is actually making us smarter. Penguin, 2006.

Aarrevaara, Timo, Ian Dobson, and Camilla Elander. “Brave new world.” Higher Education Management and Policy 21.2 (2009): 1-18.

Motulsky, Arno G. ”Brave new world?.” Science 185.4152 (1974): 653-663.

Beck, Ulrich. The brave new world of work. John Wiley & Sons, 2014.

Wilson, Robert A., and Frank Keil. ”The shadows and shallows of explanation.” Minds and machines 8.1 (1998): 137-159.

Carr, Nicholas. The shallows: What the Internet is doing to our brains. WW Norton & Company, 2011.