Brave New World - happening today?

I have just finished reading Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. The book was written in 1931 and published in 1932. Set in London of AD 2540 (632 A.F. in the book), the novel anticipates developments in reproductive technology (no one is born naturally, they are decanted from jars) and the break up of the family so that there is no longer a notion of Father, Mother or even marriage.

Perhaps the most astounding thing about the book is just how far down the line we have come towards the Brave New World envisaged (even desired) by Huxley.

He has the members of society taking a drug called Soma that allows you not to worry about anything, to find happiness in a drug dose. It is even used for mental holidays where a person could lose days at a time in a blissful state of disconnectedness from the outside world. To a modern reader it sounds rather like a blend of Prozac and Ecstasy.

The women all control their own fertility (although no one actually gets pregnant) just like having today's contraceptive pill.

No one got old, or at least they didn't appear to get old (because of hormone tablets, blood transfusions and the like); it seems rather akin to the way TV and film stars have plastic surgery to "stay young".

Society itself was stratified into pre-determined layers where your destiny is related to the chemical mix put into your embryo jar. A little too much of the wrong chemical would have you destined to become an Epsilon Semi-Moron who would only do the most menial tasks.

As a result society is stable but there is no sense separate self, no notion of pain or solitude. Society has become a stable, self sustaining organism that no longer recognises the right to be different. Indeed, in the end the person who comes into the society from outside is driven to suicide to escape the pain of being the same tomorrow as today.


It's is intriguing and more than a little disturbing just how many of the aspects of the book are reflected in life today.


As a literary novel it's not going to thrill you with its dialogue or character formation but this prefiguration of modern society will really make you think.