Technology In Brave New World

Technological advancements have always been an imperative part of civilized society. As we progress through the twenty first century there have been various technological breakthroughs, especially in the fields of neurology and psychology. Although these ameliorations have been beneficial, they come with great ethical dilemmas. The Brave New World shows a dystopian view on how the misuse of technology can lead to humanitarian enslavement. Through the avenues of hypnopaedia and engineered conditioning the qualities of community, Identity and Stability are successfully ingrained within society. Essentially, the fragile balance of these three qualities is what sustains the dystopian society.

Community has been placed at the forefront and is

Much like the idea of community, identity takes on a new meaning under Huxley’s context; it is no longer based on a personal pursuit, rather it is the responsibility of the New World State to assign a predetermined identity. In short, these identities are divided into five groups: Alphas, Betas, Gammas , Deltas and Epsilons, each one of these castes represents an identical demographic. At birth, each member of this society joins a caste and more or less an inescapable social position. But how can the idea of permanent roles perpetuate in any human society? Although this reality may be hard for today’s world to accept, in the New World State, this is an irrefutable reality. The theory is simple, by conditioning the masses to excel in their preordained roles, people will become loyal to their position in society. As Mustapha Mond puts it. “that is the secret of happiness and virtue- liking what you’ve got to do. All conditioning aims at that : making people like their inescapable destiny.”(Huxley 26). The quote represents a cynical microcosm of our world today: we love to pursue endeavors of ease and assured success, however in the Brave New World these endeavors have been engineered in a macabre manner to maintain the status quo. In addition to loving their position, the public is also conditioned to hate the responsibilities and freedoms of the other castes. The combination of rigorous conditioning and prejudicial hate yields a ceasing loyalty towards one’s position in society as well as a responsibility to the greater