Brave New World, Are We Closer To It?
"Everyone belongs to everyone else" ― Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
It took a bit more time than expected to get this out. Reading once a week, though not hard, has its own challenge especially when I move around. The first week, I had to read when I was on the train just to finish the first book that I was reading. My urge to move around is certainly hindering me to have a bit more stability but as I’d like to say, I have not found the place I could call “home” where I will eventually choose not to move. I was traveling with 3 books because I planned on staying with my mom just after she’s healed and not more. At the moment, I finished my 2nd book and is now moving to my 3rd one, pride and prejudice by Jane Austen.
Brave new world was an interesting read. I have read this book about a couple of times now and there’s one quote that I find particularly intriguing ever since I first read it.
He laughed, 'Yes, "Everybody's happy nowadays." We begin giving children that at five. But wouldn't you like to be free to be happy in some other way, Lenina? In your own way, for example; not in everybody else's way.” ― Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
In Brave New World, everyone was programmed at birth to fit a certain mold that they were destined to be. They were grown in a lab, carefully socialized, and programmed so that as adults, they carried their role and duties so that they wouldn't rebel. It was what these people believed to be the perfect society although at some point in the novel, we will be introduced to the savage area which was a civilization with its imperfections. When comparing both civilizations, I think Aldous wanted to show us how boring and gruesome perfection can be. Moreover, what profound to me was how it illustrates that in the quest of happiness and stability, we can lose sight of what truly makes us human.
People have talked about the fact that we’re living in the intersection between 1984, Fahrenheit 451 and Brave new world. Perhaps they are not wrong at all. Depending on which society you’re living in, we certainly were told that there is a certain happiness or things that would give us definite happiness. You’re told about those over and over so that it sticks to your mind. Perhaps, an example would be, get an education, a 9-5 job, have a mortgage, kids and die. But what if that is not your way of happiness? Just like Bernard, the character who closetedly question the status quo. What if you have your own way to be free and happy?
I can tell you as much that the first few pages would be a tad boring but to make them less boring and that perhaps you can imagine how babies would grow in pods, there’s a concept of mass produced baby through pods but that is just an illustration artificial womb facility. It’s not a real project yet. While reading Brave New World, just imagine those pods that could produce thousands of babies and each specimen would have different characteristics that could be influenced even by a drop of alcohol which would make them inferior.
Throughout the book you will learn about alpha, beta, delta, and gamma babies and adults. These days there are some niches out there that refer to people like that. Alpha males, alpha females, etc. I certainly do not know the origin or how they got the inspiration from but in certainty, Brave New World was the first book to me that I read which refer to people with alpha, beta, delta,etc. Maybe after all, this is the Brave New World. I find it odd when people refer to each other as alpha, sigma, and beta.
If you have not read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, I certainly suggest you read. I know that it might take a bit of time finishing the book but because of some resemblance to the current society, I doubt it will be harder to finish. What I explained above are only a fraction of what the book has to offer, depending on how you see it, you can see love, power, and even morality questions that make you challenge the idea that you have.
If you want to read along with me, here’s the list to my current reads of 2023, my reading list 2023.
 | 𝘔𝘢𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢 & 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘳 . 𝘈 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨, 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯! 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘈 𝘳𝘦-𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰. |
Awesome read!
This really sums things up nicely. Seems like this is exactly where we're at IRL.
Great review, I might have to re-read this one! It's been a really long time.
I just hope it's not going to get worse but who knows? with how things are lately, part of me are not too hopeful. I can imagine kids in the future dislike reading books and even hardly touch classics in which as far as I remember, in fahrenheit451, there are survivors who can recite classics. You should re-read it again and you'd see plenty resemblance to today's society.
With AI they're not going to have to think pretty soon 🤣
Yeah, I bet. 1984 is another one with lots of resemblances also. Good reads for sure though.
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Pride and Prejudice is great! I have read it for the third time already and I still can't get tired reading it. If I don't have those unread books piling up in my cloud library, I'll probably read it for the fourth time.
I'm not into sci-fi genres that much but that is quite interesting. Sounds similar to divergent, whereas there is a division of groups of people that rules their and each have roles to work for the society. I'll save that one. I hope I can finish what's on my list, so I can add that book for this year.
I have suspicion that actually modern genre of sci-fi and dystopian societies are influenced by those works. There are many modern pop literature with such resemblance and as always, there's always one person who question the status quo and is unhappy with their current state.
Honestly speaking, this book looks interesting to read. Reading the book will also give me a better understanding of alpha, sigma, and beta.
It's a classic and I think anyone should read this at least once in their lifetime.
Unlike last year, this year I have promised my self I would read more books. The Brave new world - sounds like I book worth reading. Thanks for sharing.
You should definitely check this book !
Of those three famous books, Brave New World is my favourite (and I did not like 1984)
"Alpha males, alpha females, etc. I certainly do not know the origin or how they got the inspiration from"
I think it comes from the animal realm where in packs of monkeys, wolves, and the like, there is a leader that biologists call the alpha; from there, in opposition to this alpha term, stem the others
oh, why didn't you like 1984? I find them quite Okay-ish though because throughout the year, I had different understanding about it.
I found it to be too much essay for the novel or too much novel for the essay
Your review reminded me again of this book and the fact I should get one and finally read it. By now, tt's listed on my to-do list for next week. Nope, not to read it, but to order one. Reading: Well, that may take some time, since even when I promise something, it can take mucho more time than initially anticipated. Such as the fictional books with a historical element in them, I promised you to recommend. Not that I forgot about it, I was under the enormous impression I had these books somewhere in my apartment. I even went so far I opened boxes stored in some cupboard. And then it hit me: I may have moved the books to my storage room. It was today, I got myself over to this storage room. Within seconds I found a case full of books, and another minute to find the books I wanted to find.
Here are the two I told you about on Twitter. Followed by two bonus books ;)
Maybe a bit less historical in focus, but a setting sometimes in the not-so-distant past. The story also includes magical sides but isn't too much of that. I loved the book! Initially bought it when I got fed up with books of just 200 to 300 pages ;)
This one is in a proper historical setting.
This classic I couldn't leave out. Again, in a proper historical setting, though the experience of the lead guy is mucho more important to the history itself.
The first-ever book I read by this author and loved it! I never came around to read more of his work, but maybe this comment serves as the start to get me a bunch of his other books. Will add it to my to-do list ;) Ok, this book isn't in any historical setting. More of a multiverse like 1st and 2nd world, with two moons in the latter.
NJOY
This review is now feautured on Brave New World and Brave New World Revisited book and Aldous Huxley's author pages on Hive!
Forever one of my favorites. Island is a good read too, kind of interesting that he offers an entire flip perspective and they still reach similar results. Kind of makes one wonder if it's not just in the nature of man to find ways to sabotage its own freedom and happiness to dumb life down to a point where there's no risk and no need to make decisions. So it goes...
I reckon I'd be putting island too for May-June reading. I need more books to read 😂 I mean with AI these days, we're soon going to dumb down because AI helps us outsource many works including thinking. So, maybe that's how life goes?
I like Island more than BNW tbh, but ever since reading We, I just can't get past how much Orwell and Huxley books seem to be just derivatives built off their takes on reading We. They're all great books and I love them all for their own messages, but having never known about We until after reading most of Orwell and Huxley books it just seems like it's skewed my view on them being so "visionary" because they basically just took the experience of a guy dealing with it and seeing where it was headed and then kind of rewrote their own versions of it.
I don't know if I could ever pick which one I like the most, but somewhere between Huxley, Orwell and Zamyatin, I feel like they did a great job of painting some strong cautionary tales of the future and we as a species have done a great job running headfirst into the problems they tried to warn us about.
I read a series from a British author a year or so ago that dives into a lot of futurism philosophy wormholes about problems we would face as a multi-planetary species. Is he the next great "prophetic author" that people in generations will be saying "man he really saw it all coming?" I dunno, but I enjoy books that really make me think, and this series tends to explore everything from a very morally gray area with different factions using technology, resources, ideologies etc all for their own agendas and to their own means. If you ever run out of things to read, just let me know 😂