1992 -- A Brave New World? high-school
Try to imagine yourself in an unnatural world where most people are produced in factories, where there is no freedom or morality as you know it, and you are considered a savage because of your human origin.
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circa 1992.

Try to imagine yourself in an unnatural world where most people are produced in factories, where there is no freedom or morality as you know it, and you are considered a savage because of your human origin.

Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is a startling depiction of someone's vision of utopia. This fictional novel, written in 1932, is in same genre as Orwell's 1984 and W.M. Miller, Jr.'s A Canticle of Leibowitz, which all deal with philosophical and ethical controversies brought about by advances in science and technology in a future society.

Huxley examines whether scientific advances could destroy human and political values. He expresses this concern in this satirical novel. Is it possible for a society to neglect individual dignity in the process of worshipping science and machines?

In this brave new world, people are created on an assembly line, and there are no mothers and no fathers. People are typecast into their area of profession from before birth, if you could call it that. People are given drugs to control themselves, and there is no personal freedom. It also illustrates that a utopia created can be an Eden or a hell, depending on the point of view.

Although this book was written more than 60 years ago, a renewed interest is warranted because most of the technologies introduced in this book have, in part, become realities. Example of this are that doctors are able to produce children with specific traits based on the gene pool of the chosen donors. Also, there are now drugs which can control moods, if that is desired. In our society today, there are people who are strongly against anyone using these advancements.

This book will capture you by appealing to your emotions. An example of this would be when Linda, the Savage's mother, is dying, and all of the little, assembly line, children are watching and making fun of her. This is also especially important because no one else in that society has a mother.

If the reader has ever wondered about the problems inherent in a technological society, this book will be highly interesting.


[Zak Smith] [zak@computer.org] [/~zak/documents/high-school/brave-new-world/html]
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