Brave New World Revisited Reaction

In 1958, Brave New World Revisited was written by Aldous Huxley 27 years after Brave New World was published. In the 1958 book, Huxley discusses the increasing similarities of our world to his Brave New World. He observes that the course our world is set on will lead us to a world very much similar to Brave New World. He uses points to convey this idea such as: the problem of over-population, the acceleration of organization, more effective mass means of communication, and so on. 

Aldous Huxley spends a portion of the first part of the book talking about the issue of over-population. With human life so rapidly increasing, at some point natural resources will run out and the world's population will die out. This clearly is a large problem. Huxley discusses the idea of making life in space possible to prevent over-population, but clarifies that this would not fix anything by comparing it to when Europeans migrated to the Americas starting in the late 15th century. This comparison spoke of how the migration of the Europeans did not solve the problem of over-population at all. Furthermore, Huxley talked about how not only is the world becoming over-populated, but also the quality of the human life is going down. In the past, babies born with hereditary defects would usually not make it far past childbirth. Nowadays, however, with our society's medical care, people born with hereditary defects are not only able to survive their youth, but also reproduce. This, naturally, decreases the quality of the human life form. I found this idea to be enlightening, and interesting. It was enlightening because I honestly had not ever really thought about the world becoming over-populated before. After reading what Huxley had to say on this I was immediately interested. However, it is not a topic I would particularly like to dwell on. 

When Huxley first brought up the point of over organization, I was a little confused. So what does he mean by this? Simply put, due to the fact of our ever-increasing technology, new systems are constantly having to be put in place. By conforming to these new rules of society, people are losing their individuality. Makes sense when explained. 

Obviously effective means of mass communication are an easy tool for the government to control people. With constant repetition of the government's ideas, people eventually start to take on whatever worldview or thought is being thrown at them. Tell a lie long enough and loud enough and people will start to believe you. Huxley makes the point that democracies typically use inconspicuous repetition and subliminal messaging to control, whilst a totalitarian government is more ruthless and open open how they will control people. These ideas are similar to that of the conditioning that goes on in the Brave New World.

I believe that Aldous Huxley is simply a genius. This set of essays was concise and clear on how our world is accelerating quickly into his Brave New World. It was incredibly interesting to read. Also, he did not just leave the reader hanging there feeling depressed about where are world is headed, he also talked of a solution. This solution is the education of freedom.  Huxley made the analogy of a bird to convey his solution clearly. The quote he used was this, "Any bird that has learned to grub up a good living without being compelled to use its wings will soon renounce the privilege of flight and remain forever grounded."