Brave New World By Aldous Huxley

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The book, Brave New World written by Aldous Huxley, is a radical story that is interpreted as a potential caution to us, society, if we keep making poor life choices. In the novel, Huxley depicts a culture where people are programmed to live forever and forced to think that sex and drugs are. For them, the idea of having a family with a mother and a father is absolutely repulsive to think about. Even though some of Huxley’s thoughts are unrealistic, the meaning behind them can be seen today. Nowadays, the three ideas that are bringing us closer to the Brave New World true are the advancements in technology, an obsession to remain young, and the increasing rate of drug use.

The first way our world parallels the Brave New World is our desire to stay young. In Huxley’s macrocosm, the people are made to live without any change in aesthetics; they’re meant to look the same since day 1. But you can void your youngness by taking too much of the drug, soma. They have nothing to combat their aging unlike us. In many cultures today, it seems that the youth are worshiped and admired. As people age, they might believe they will be treated differently because they’re "too old" or maybe they’re looking to have a relationship and believe that looking younger will make them look more attractive. In earlier generations, older people were treated with a little more respect, but the culture today seems to prefer a youthful appearance; this makes some old people feel they need to use anti-aging products or have plastic surgery done so that they will not seem out-of-date. This is evident in today’s markets; market research firm Global Industry Analysts projects that the boomer-fueled consumer base striving to keep signs of aging at bay, will push...

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...n increase that’s hard to wrap your mind around. Since 2000, they’ve seen a 770% increase in first time users. Throughout the entire country, there has been a 60% increase in first time users. Unfortunately, as a result of the rising rate of heroin use, the amount of deaths due to heroin overdoes has increased more than 45%. It’s evident from these figures that we are becoming more and more like the people in the Brave New World.

Upon reading Brave New World we think that it’s about a totally unrealistic world, but that’s not the case anymore. Our society is proving that it is more like the Brave New World by our advancements in technology, desire to stay youthful, and increasing drug use. All these factors are bringing our world closer and closer to the one that Huxley had predicted 80+ years ago; a world that we should be scared of instead of being alike it.

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