Technology in a Brave New World

Technology in a Brave New World
First let me state that Edwin Jonestown’s article has some truths and some falsehoods in it. Aldous Huxley is trying to envision a world that is so far advanced that it does not parallel our world, but some technology has advanced in today’s society. It is ever present that in the novel Brave New World, there is proof that technology controls humans from the time it is in the test tube. Technology is so good that they can make you highly intelligent or not highly intelligent while you are still an embryo. Jonestown says that “People will only want a partial control over reproduction.”(Jonestown) I believe that this statement is false. Jonestown is wrong in his assessment of human beings I believe. If technology was so advanced that humans could control the intelligence of their own offspring, everyone would want their children to be mini Einstein’s… Who wouldn’t? Mr. Foster says (chapter 1, pg. 11) “The lower the caste the shorter the oxygen.” This means that one doesn’t even have control over your intelligence. You cannot try your best, nor do more work because your intelligence is predetermined. Also, there is no choice as to whether one will allow technology to think for them, since their intelligence is chosen when one is an embryo.
Technology is also evident in sleep teaching. While one is sleeping, a recording is played over and over again. By the time one wakes up, it has been memorized without knowing it. This type of hypnosis is present in today’s society as well. This technology allows one to be conditioned without knowing it. There is no opinion of right and wrong, instead, one learns what one is taught. Thus, technology overcomes the ability of one to think. Jonestown is correct in his Last, soma proves that one has no control over their mind. Lenina says (Chapter 4, pg. 54) “A gramme is better than a dam!” When one is feeling sad, they have been conditioned to take a pill, called soma. Thus, one doesn’t have the...