The Unexpected Downside of Science Explored in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

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The Unexpected Downside of Science Explored in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

Since the first day that humans were put on this earth, they have been curious and have searched for ways to become more efficient. Throughout the years they have created tools to better serve them, created clothing to keep them warm, built homes to protect them from the elements, and produced transportation methods to transport them across the world. In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (1932), the human race has evolved to being extremely efficient in everything that they do. This efficiency includes producing new human beings. Science has taken over and altered the society.

Imagine not having a family to care for you or you for them. In Huxley's book, giving birth to a baby was simply not done. In Huxley's "new world," babies were produced rather than being born from a mother. These babies were then physically and mentally matured according to their set task in life. They were created according to what position they would hold in life. From the time that they were produced, they were conditioned to like what they were to do and only that. They were taught to like what they had and not want anything else. Because of this conditioning, everyone had a place in society and together, everyone created a happy society.

In Huxley's book, when two people decide to think differently than the rest of society, they are sent away to islands. Then when a person who was born outside of this new society was placed into it, he could not adapt and tried to escape from it. The new society, however, would not leave the outsider alone, so the outsider's only escape from the "new world" was death.

The advancement of science altered the culture of humans in Ald...

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...of society that John could find.

Aldous Huxley's Brave New World describes what could become of our present society if we let science take over. We live in a society filled with love, hate, happiness and sadness. We have people to care about and people that care about us. Humans always look for more efficient ways to help them in their present day lives. Brave New World shows us what could happen to society if we were to become efficient in reproduction. The human race would be more efficient, but would lose all sense of love and caring. People would lose the experience of having a family. Science can be helpful to humans, but it can also have detrimental effects to our culture. Brave New World shows us that if we are not careful, the advances of science will take over our lives.

Works Cited

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Harper & Row, 1969.

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