“Brave New World” is a novel written by Aldous Huxley and was published in the year 1932. This was mostly informed by the developments that were going on, following the world war one. Industrialization was taking place, and mechanization was taking over most of the work done by man. During this time, there was the introduction of terms like mass production, specialization, and division of labor. Among some of the companies that developed was Henry Ford's company in the automobile industry. These developments prompted many works of literature to be written predicting the future and other psychological theories, which also seemed to be driving some of the themes in the books. This paper aims to discuss technological control and loss of individualism dystopia, as depicted by Huxley in his novel “Brave New World."
Technological Control and Loss of Individualism Dystopia
Technological control is a type of dystopia that is a manipulation of people's freedom and opportunities with the use of technology. This may be in the form of appearance, the way of thinking, and other structures, as long as technology is the critical material in use. Loss of individualism is a loss of individual choice and appearance, which is induced by one central power on other people (Pulcini). This is usually based on the thought that some differences are the reason for problems. The aim of most of the developers and pioneers of dystopia often begin with dreams of creating a better place where there is no pain and happiness is in plenty but end up creating more suffering and problems that the solutions.
In "Brave New World," Huxley, introduces a world State city of London, in AD 2540 setting. In this city, the citizens are categorized according to the intelligence hierarchy, starting from Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon in that order. Alpha is the most intelligent in the society ad are responsible for research while the Epsilon is the list bright, therefore, function as a laborer. These individuals are engineered in the laboratory, and desired characteristics for each group are induced to the embryos. Some of the citizens are designated to be barren, especially women, so that they do not procreate. This cloning is done to increase the population.
In the city, there is one head who controls everything, and all the citizens look up to him, as he is the main protagonist. Huxley explains the theme of technical control as all the features of these individuals is determined by the hatchers in the lab, who clone the people. They are also made to believe some things are wrong, for example, pain. The brain capacity and intelligence, for example, are determined in the laboratory where the embryos are created and then separated into the hierarchical classes. All grow, believing that their position is the best, and none desires to rise to the next level of quality. For example, Beta's do not want to expand and become Alphas because that is how their system works. They are also fed with intuitions of happiness, and that pain and suffering is a bad thing that should not be entertained. Science is a source of pain which no individual should venture into, ss it caused aging, illness, death, and suffering in the previous world.
Loss of individualism is consequently not evadable following this technological control. These individuals only know what has been clowned in them. John wonders why his mother, Linda, dies the way she did because that was not a way of dying, according to he knew. Loss of individualism is characterized by an individual who recognizes an ill in the system and seeks to relieve the others. In the novel, "Brave New World," Joh aims to free the lower castle group, sprays soma into them. Soma is a drug that was being used in society to create happiness. John s bringing the revolutions because he had been to Savage Reservation with his mother, which was the natural world, where there was a natural birth, diseases, and pain.
This World State, therefore, controlled its citizens through technological control and the loss of individualism. John ultimately desires to feel pain, and demand that he be granted freedom. This explains his self-flogging. The sympathy and remorse that John had were informed by information by books he read by Shakespeare when he was in the Savage Reservation. The society was also based on promiscuous behavior where everyone belonged to everyone. The controller, at one point, asks what the fate of young men in the country was (Huxley, 31). This explains why Lenina has several lovers, as it is one of the things that is highly encouraged in society.
Abraham Maslow introduced the humanitarian theory, which was fighting against the behavioral methods and psychoanalysis introduced by Sigmund Freud. Freud’s theories suggested that the behavior of a human being is influenced by what they get from the environment(Davis, 331). This explains the intervention of motivations and incentives give to workers later, to increase production per head. Maslow, in defense, says that these theories were treating human beings as elects and not the people they are. He believed that people deserved joy and freedom and not be manipulated for production. This is very similar to Huxley's themes on technological controls, and more reflects on individualism. People were being managed through their minds so that they produce what their manipulators were looking for.
The introduction of Robots is just one of the signs of technological control in society. It starts with exclusively the use of machines, and then, later on, it may advance to become something else. There have been projections made on the implantation of chips into individuals in future technology whose superior would direct people as they wish. Currently, the use of computers and internets has replaced most of the human activities that were done manually. Given to continue, this may grow and finally replace human beings alone. Another technological advancement is the introduction of tube babies, in which a fertilized ovum is put in a tube, and the embryo is provided conditions similar to that of a healthy womb to develop in the machine. After nine months, the parents for the baby can go for the baby.
The future impact of technological control and loss of individualism is very similar to the dystopia introduced by Huxley, where people will be controlled how they thing and even decisions. Currently, technology is significantly influencing the brain functions, and socio-emotional features of children who form the future generation (Gottschalk) would end up creating a very indifferent society where people won't care for another and propagate selfishly and self-centeredness. Virtue would be lost, and people would not know what is good from bad, evil from ethical and moral from immoral. There is also a forecast of a future society where ethics will not be in existence. A classic example in that during the 19th and 20th century, the level of obedience among children and youths to their elders were very high. In the 21st century, courtesy of technology and other societal factors, the rates of disobedience and aggressive behavior are very alarming. Therefore, in as much as technology has all these benefits, the future of it should be keenly cheeked on.
