Aldous Huxley?S “Brave New World” And George Orwell?S “1984″ Essay, Research Paper
Neil Postman once stated; ?Huxley?s vision is more relevant today than is Orwell?s,? Neil was of course refering to Aldous Huxley?s Brave New World and George Orwell?s 1984, both chilling prophecies of the future of humanity gone terribly wrong. Although one could agree with Neal?s view of Huxley?s Brave New World, where life is taken down to only the most trivial of entertainment, lack of family, love or individuality, it would be horribly blind to miss the elements of Orwell?s 1984 coming through our society as well. Orwell?s fear of the truth being concealed, banned books and a captive humanity show as true as Huxley?s views. Our world today has many of the same elements that once only seemed to be fictional prophecies. Parts of each of these works are becoming, or have become, reality. In 1984 it was couples put together by the government for the purpose of autonomous children. In Brave New World it was children simply being produced in factories. There is an equal share from each in the world today.
Which brings us to today. Today?s medical state is out of control. Any scientist can easily play god. In an article in the San Luis Opisbo Times it was stated that a Canadian couple was paying ?an unnamed company $250,000 to make a clone of their daughter, killed at 3 in an accident, in a laboratory built in an unnamed third world country?. Today it is possible to make a clone of an entire human being. With the speed of technology today, an entire factory capable of producing human replicas at a decent speed and price could be only a few decades off. It is entirely too close to Huxley?s Bokanovskification to be ignored.
Opposing Huxley?s views were, of course, the views of Orwell. In Orwell?s vision, people were robbed of their privacy by telescreens mounted anywhere one could be fit. We?re one step ahead. Who needs telescreens when today we have the Digital Angel? The Digital Angel, (note the use of the word angel. What a god-send) is a program using the technology of satellite tracking, tiny little chips, and lack of human foresight to track and monitor human beings.
In the words of Richard J. Sullivan, CEO of Applied Digital Solutions, the producer of the program, “We believe its potential for improving individual and e-business security and enhancing the quality of life for millions of people is virtually limitless. Although we’re in the early developmental phase, we expect to come forward with applications in many different areas, from medical monitoring to law enforcement. However, in keeping with our core strengths in the e-business to business arena, we plan to focus our initial development efforts on the growing field of e-commerce security and user ID verification”(www.digitalangel.net).
However, I believe the potential for the government to continuously monitor humanity is the real deal. With satellite positioning of humanity well on it?s way, the potential for a worldwide Big Brother is on the rise. Join me in saying our formal good-byes to our once loved freedom.
Either horrible utopia described by Huxley or Orwell is unnerving. The problem with today is, we?re headed towards a combination of the two. Not even one of the great authors could come up with something so menacing on their own, but we as a people have triumphed once again in achieving the unthinkable. The ghosts of humanity are haunting us today and were all in this together. We?ve got no where else to go. Our world will be taken from us if we don?t hold ourselves to our own mental capacity, if we don?t initiate the change. Postman?s assertion was only written with one eye open, I believe. Open your eyes for the future.