Aldous Huxley's A Brave New World Essay

As for intelligence there have been three capacities and virtues that should be targeted for moral enhancement, which are the sensitivity to the features of situations, thoughtfulness about doing what is moral, and the proper capacity for people to make proper judgments. The continued progress in the modification of learning, cognition, memory, the capabilities of decision-making will help assist the moral enhancement with these tasks. There have also been many neurochemicals that have been used to enhance cognitive abilities, which include increased attention span and cognition span. Drugs like OxyContin have also been used to help with empathy, and to make people feel happier. It may be believed that a drug like soma was only possible in Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World, but perhaps not. Utilitarian’s have been pushing for human enhancement that uses drugs, genetic engineering and nanotechnology to ensure the maximum amount of happiness possible while attempting to eliminate any pain. Proponents believe that this would reset the brain’s thinking patterns, and allow people to think more positively by keeping our minds engaged, rather than in a constant dull and depressing state. Many anti- depressant drugs are attempting to do just this. It is safe to say that moral enhancement is not just a potential innovation, but a technology that is already beginning.

Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, published in 1932, is a masterpiece of science fiction. His imagined, dystopian state creatively employs facts and theories of science, as well as his very own thinly-veiled commentary on the future of society. His family background and social status, in addition to molding Huxley himself and his perspective, no doubt made impact on his writing and contributed to the scientific accuracy of his presentation. However, Huxley certainly qualifies as a social commenter and his extensive works, while sometimes biased, were always perceptive comments on the future of mankind, predictions made based on current event in his world. In other words, current affairs had undeniable impact on Huxley’s novel, and his

During the writing of the novel, Brave New World, Aldous Huxley, the author of the book, saw the way society was beginning to change. Throughout the story, he explores many different predictions that he has seen create an affect our world today. One of the main predictions he made was on the way promiscuity has changed the view of romantic relationships. As Huxley began to see people’s sexual behavior change he used his ideas to integrate in with how the world would turn out. Huxley incorporates promiscuity in his utopian society called the World State, to foreshadow how the world is conforming to the beliefs incorporated in the novel.

Throughout the novel, Brave New World, liberal views on sex very frequent. The novel starts with a thoroughly detailed description of the test-tube process of human reproduction. The reproductive function of sex was scientifically disconnected; the act of sex was mainly for physical pleasure. The sexual activity in Brave New World had no weight, “no-strings-attached”, purely casual. Reproduction was scientifically engineered, and consequently sex was a purely leisure and casual activity in the World State. Monogamy was no principle the people of World State followed: promiscuity was considered mutually beneficial and superior to monogamous relationships. The Controllers realized that fidelities caused by committed relationships resulted in conflicts between partners: upsetting productivity and harmony. As seen here, “Mother, monogamy, romance. High spurts the fountain; fierce

Sex has been reduced to a common action with no social bindings and it is not a gesture of showing love for someone else as people think of it today. When will today’s society be consumed with only the physical aspect of sex? With all of the premarital sex and the age of becoming sexually active decreasing every generation, it leaves a question to be answered; where did the value of love and responsibility of partnership go? Monogamy, in “Brave New World“, is unheard of and taboo to everyone except those who see how powerful love is. The connection that unites people is reduced to a competition to see how many times people have it rather than which the person is. In the book, John knows the importance of love and even resists the temptation to have sex with Lenina. John is among a few people who have not been reduced to mating animals but rather humans that still feel a need for love and companionship.

Promiscuity was satirized in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, and as much as we would like to believe our society is not nearing the vulgar actions of the New World State, we should not believe in such unrealistic concepts. Some of the same struggles that were faced in the book are being seen more and more in our world today. Even though there is some uncertainty and minute resilience in the novel, promiscuity is an ongoing battle in the New World State and on the Reservation; likewise, current society is showing that the intimacy shared between two people could be replaced by a rising acceptance of promiscuity.

One may think that the society in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is a gross representation of the future, but perhaps our society isn’t that much different. In his foreword to the novel Brave New World, Aldous Huxley envisioned this statement when he wrote: "To make them love it is the task assigned, in present-day totalitarian states, to ministries of propaganda...." Thus, through hypnopaedic teaching (brainwashing), mandatory attendance to community gatherings, and the use of drugs to control emotions, Huxley bitterly satirized the society in which we live.

C. S. Lewis writes in his essay titled We Have No “Right to Happiness” about a discussion he had with his neighbor, Clare, regarding two divorces in their network. Mr. A and Mrs. B both left their prior partners to marry one another. Clare, understanding and supporting their perspective, asserts we all have a “right to happiness” (Barnet). In Lewis’s assessment of the situation, Clare implies different moral compasses must be applied to different aspects to life, such as with sex and love (Barnet). He disagrees with Clare and asserts that changing one’s standards per situation is not moral and is indeed unnecessary (Baker) Lewis also acknowledges the power that these feelings can have on the human mind and body (Barnet).

During the 1930’s, sex generally only happened if both partners were in love with each other and married. To contradict this lifestyle, Huxley establishes sex as a group activity. In the dystopian society, “A real relationship no longer consists of two people; it has become a big group” (Sex). From the 1930’s to now, the opinions of sex have definitely changed. As time progressed, the family

At the very beginning of the novel sex is shown to play an important role in the new society because kids are playing sex games in bushes. This should immediately evoke a sense of bewilderment by the reader because sex amongst children is looked down upon by normal society. Throughout the entire novel sex occurs quite often, but love is never correlated with the intimacy. The characters simply choose who they want to be with and then act upon the person without putting forth much effort at all. Having sex with others and not loving the person is something that is normally looked down upon in normal society, so Huxley obviously intended to have a large impact on the readers. To further his exploitation of taboo subjects, Huxley makes the New World a society in which drugs known as Soma are used to fix any problem that may occur. Whenever something that seems like it might be the least bit problematic arises, Soma is taken to ease them of any tension. This eliminates any problem solving and rids of the overall satisfaction from overcoming difficulties. But problems seldom occur to inhabitants of the New World, and Huxley wanted to make drugs commonplace in Brave New World. So, Soma is also taken during most instances of sex which increases the drastic impact on the reader. All of Huxley’s exaggerations of the New World is meant to make the reader think about his own society and think about the path

In this quote we see how the D.H.C. or The Director controls what people do before they are born. ‘"We also predestine and condition. We decant our babies as socialized human beings, as Alphas or Epsilons, as future sewage workers or […] future Directors of Hatcheries."’ (Aldous, 24). This shows us how The Director is taking away

Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World introduces us to a futuristic technological world where monogamy is shunned, science is used in order to maintain stability, and society is divided by 5 castes consisting of alphas(highest), betas, gammas, deltas, and epsilons(lowest). In the Brave New World, the author demonstrates how society mandates people’s beliefs using many characters throughout the novel.

In the novel "Brave New World", Aldous Huxley creates a utopia world, where people live in a society with the motto of community, identity, and stability. In this novel, human are created in test-tubes. Taking soma to fix human problems and having multiple sexual relationship with different partners are considered as progress of civilization. From my opinion, throughout this novel, there are various contradictions among the characters. Huxley creates many characters who stuggle from their own values and the World States ' values.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley illustrates what is actually happening in modern society. The novel is a satire of a totalitarian government and although it is fantasy, there are early traces of it occurring in modern day. It is hard to imagine a government that is solely based on the ideals of the people when there is an elected government body who makes decisions. The government’s goal is to have stability and prosperity and that, at times, is accomplished at the expense of the individuals who are governed. Accordingly, there is danger in having an all-powerful state because personal freedoms are lost. More so, there is power in having knowledge that others do not possess because it is a gateway for the government to control the public

such horribly bad form to go on and on like this with one man" (40).  In