The Theory Of Science And Technology

Ordinary, mundane, systematic lives consisting of the same routine and corresponding tasks is what humanity is bound to. Encased in a reality that is monotonous and considered ordinary, humanity yearns and desires to go beyond their selves or transcend to another reality in the views of Aldous Huxley. In The Doors of Perception, Huxley unravels exactly why humanity has this longing to transcend and the essence lies behind the fact that humanity wants more than what they are bound to.

"'God isn't compatible with machinery and scientific medicine and universal happiness.'" So says Mustapha Mond, the World Controller for Western Europe in Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World. In doing so, he highlights a major theme in this story of a Utopian society. Although the people in this modernized world enjoy no disease, effects of old age, war, poverty, social unrest, or any other infirmities or discomforts, Huxley asks 'is the price they pay really worth the benefits?' This novel shows that when you must give up religion, high art, true science, and other foundations of modern life in place of a sort of unending happiness, it is not worth the sacrifice.

To examine this possibility, Garreau interviewed Nick Bostrom, co-founder of the World Transhumanist Association. Bostrom shows his agreement with human transcendence by asserting that “Technological progress makes it harder for people to ignore the fact that we might actually change the human nature” (qtd. in Garreau, 242).

Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World criticizes a society in which sex is a commodity, self-determination in non-existent, and happiness derives from consumerism. Huxley writes the novel as a warning to both contemporary and future generations of the dangers of progress built upon the wrong foundations. The novel is a portrayal of Huxley’s own society in which talkies, the radio and premarital sex, were on the rise and like many others of his time he believed that morals were quickly disappearing. It is important to note that Aldous Huxley was a supporter of eugenics, genetic engineering, and science in general; he was not against creating a perfect world, but rather creating the wrong one in the process. The Utopia that Brave New World represents is one in which women are pieces of meat, where no one not even the world controlled can ever escape from the clutches of his conditioning, and where having more is always best. Not only does Aldous Huxley portray the outcome of his own society’s actions, he paints a clear picture of how it will end, as seen in Brave New World once a man-made institution surpasses its creators, humanity will be swallowed up and forgotten. There is no ending for Huxley’s Utopia because the characters of Brave New World are slaves to their own creations without any hope of ever breaking free. The novel is not just a cautionary tale but also a premonition for a future Huxley believes his society has already set sail on.

Scientific advancement is generally used to lead humanity into a state of perfection. Humans are anything but perfect, but through science they can continue to enhance themselves and their surroundings in order to reach this state. Huxley, in his novel Brave New World, argues that this is not the case. Through the creation of a type of scientifically led world order, the society has destroyed the one thing that people cherish most, their individualism (Brander 71). They are no longer individuals; they are consumers assimilated into an overall society by the power of genetics. However, that is not all. Baker contends that “Huxley’s greatest fear was the potential misuse of genetic engineering, but Brave New World also reflects his warnings

The underpinning of Huxley’s Brave New World is the unifying thread of mankind: knowledge. Through the course of history, mankind has struggled to find and maintain peace. However, in Huxley’s vision of the future mankind has developed, manufactured, and fostered peace all through the knowledge gained from generations past. Mankind has three fundamental factors that drive it and are called “the functions of life:

Due to the Enlightenment belief and understanding through science and the scientific innovations of the Industrial Revolution, society could be vastly improved through scientific progress in western culture. These advances were expected to take place in the 20th century. However, the brutality and scale of World War I and the world economic crisis in the 1930’s destroyed prior expectations and political powers emerged, such as Marxism, Fascism, Nazism,and Fordism, which encompasses mass-production. Because western culture holds a high value in human relations, emotions, and religions, “A brave new world” accommodates to these notions.Various aspects of these movements exhibit and expound on the power and limitations of technology in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. It shows what happens in a civilization without vital social values such as human relations, emotions, and religion. The novel emphasizes how this civilization, or World State, has fixed all present day problems making it a “brave new world.” But a civilization lacking pain and suffering, lacks current day happiness and traditional social values. A world where psychological mottoes, technology, and a rigid class system has replaced traditional societal values such as Huxley promotes, is one where human relations and religion fits societal needs, expectations and the need to control emotions.

For years, scientists and transhumanists have conceptualized and cultivated ways and processes which they believe are beneficial to human life. Transhumanists want the best for the human condition by improvements of medical technology, economics, medicine, culture, and mental capacities. There are copious amounts of prototypes and ideas that are currently pushing the movement forward and giving hope to those involved. Though naysayers hold the opinion that transhumanism will separate humans into two or more distinct species, that is not the intended goal. In fact, the intentions are to bring us together, rid us of the illness and disease that riddle the human body, and create a near perfect world. Nick Bostrom, a professor of philosophy at the University of Oxford and an outspoken member of the transhumanist movement, introduces an approach that very well summarizes the ambition of the research of transhumanism, “…to radically extend increased funding for healthy lifespan and favor the development of medical and technological means to improve memory, concentration, and other human capacities.” (Bostrom 202-214). Some argue that transhumanists are overstepping their moral and ethical boundaries by assuming the role of a higher power. In any case, the ambitions of transhumanists are to create a better world, one without the stressors we experience today.

Throughout history, many have wondered about what the future may hold for mankind. Will there be war or peace, success or failure, unity or disunity? One of the most asked questions, society can ever form a utopia. There are countless theories and opinions as to what will truly become of this planet in the years to come. As a result, there has been a tremendous amount of works dedicated to the concept of a future society. One such example is Aldous Huxley’s novel “Brave New World”, which is undoubtedly a unique take on the potential of technology coupled with a drastic shift in morality. Huxley brilliantly created a dystopia in the superficial disguise of a utopia. The people are happy, but it’s empty and infilling.

Aldous Huxley published a Brave New World in 1932 in which he depicts a society in which babies are born in bottles, the concept of an individual cell does not matter as people do not believe in intimacy, science is used as a form of control, subjugation and conditioning, and drugs as well as sex are forms of escaping the horrors of reality. Or as Laurence Brander (1970) put it, “Affection and loyalty are unnecessary, beauty is a synthetic product, truth is arranged in a test tube, hope is supplied in a pill, which by its action annihilates identity.” By linking science, technology, and politics, Huxley predicted that human individuality would wither away . He believed that his book was not only a “satire on contemporary culture, a prediction of biological advances, a commentary on the social roles of science and scientists” but also “a plan for reforming society” . Influenced by events taking place during his lifetime, he anticipated various developments such as World War II. Additionally, his novel was able to prophesize the major themes and struggles that dominate society even today.

individuals through technology and science, but overpowers the human spirit. More’s positive and straightforward writing highlights the advantages of harmony when he writes, “Desire must accord with nature” (More 62). By comparison, through exaggeration and sarcasm, Huxley writes about, “Mass production shifting the emphasis from truth and beauty to comfort and happiness” (Huxley 228).

Dystopian societies have been part of literature for as far as readers can remember. As advancement in technology continues, the fear of it taking over everyday life has gone from a distant absurd idea in novels to a present reality. Current technology can be applied in almost everything from medical devices to kitchen appliances. For example, the refrigerators that can send out text messages when one is low on milk or any other grocery. In Aldous Huxley’s novel, Brave New World, it closely depicts the influence technology plays on a human's role in society. In the novel, Huxley vividly depicts a dystopian society where humans are categorized into different caste systems, created by a cloning process, born from a bottle, and have no free will to think or act by themselves. Huxley’s vivid depiction of this society correlates with the idea that technology strip humans from what makes them human.

In order to uphold his critical view on society and clearly define the concepts that could lead to human demise, Huxley used various powerful themes throughout his novel. The first significant theme to explore is science and its use as a means of control. 15 years after the book was written, in the Foreword he wrote in 1946, Huxley said that one of the themes of the novel was “the advancement of science as it affects human individuals.” Although he did not focus on sciences like nuclear physics even though he was aware of the production of nuclear weapons at the time, he believed that a far more dangerous misuse of science can come from the biological, physiological, reproductive, and psychological side of science as it can be used as a way of controlling society, identity, and stability. Thus, in order to successfully convey this message, he develops this idea in his representations of a world controlled by artificial birth and conditioning and by showing how by erasing individual identity and freedom one can achieve stability because there is no more conflict and no more change.

First and foremost, with the current development in the field of biotechnology, the increased dependence on machines for various purposes, the multiplication of hybrid substances for diverse purposes, coupled with many more happenings in the contemporary times suggest that our life is interwoven with all manner of non-humans and it will be impossible to uniquely separate humans from non-humans (Anderson, 2013). The two entities are inseparable and based on this premise of inseparability between the humans and non-humans, nature and culture, it suffices to say that, though some of the arguments raised by the humanistic perspective are valid, the overarching supremacy accorded to humans and its consciousness over other non-humans are far-fetched and immaterial. As aptly put by Jones, “and somewhat understandably, humans tend to think of themselves and their societies as rather different to nature, and rather special” (2009, p.7) in the face of complement roles performed by both.

Humans by comparing themselves to nature around them, they can detect their natural connection to the animal world with which they share most of their vital functions. They also have realized that they are unique and emerging over the rest of the natural world. Human beings are the subject of a specific phenomenology which belongs to them only, and whose origin raises critical questions when considered in the context of their habitat, of the Earth, and in the larger sense of things; the universe. From the philosophical point of view, the uniqueness and the development of the human race have become visible in many different ways. This is shown in the way humans are able to adapt to their habitats in a convenient way for that specific individual; their language, which allows them to communicate through universal and symbolic forms of communication; their ability to understand the natural world where we are being able to predict nature’s behavior and further adapt and; our impatience when it comes to discovering the secrets of the Earth. This uniqueness has allowed us to produce culture mainly from a religious viewpoint leading to the speculation of their existence, freedom and the beginning and the end of all things.