Yet it is Huxley’s novel, with its test-tube babies, soma (ecstasy) and repetitive beats that feels the most relevant. There is the eternal pressure to conform, a vague fear of exclusion, but these are vague worries and easily avoided. This is a society that runs on consent. Acceptance. Rampant socialising is expected, casual sex encouraged, drugs readily available. There is no need for Orwell’s jackboots in this chemical nirvana, no call for Bradbury’s firemen. Accept the pecking order and the state will make sure you are happy.
If Huxley had predicted the digital revolution, it probably wouldn’t have made much difference to how he approached Brave New World, the title entering the English language in a way the better-known Orwell has not. For some, it is ironic, as intended, while others take the term literally. Either way, there is always the promise of a future that is dynamic and clean, where the bright lights of progress shine and the masses are rewarded. There is a price to pay, but the strength of Huxley’s story is that the reader is left wondering whether it isn’t maybe a worthwhile one. It is the same today.
[One has to wonder if there has ever been a device so amplifying of anti-social behavior than social media. And that’s just part of the problem. While King focuses on Brave New World, the real parallel here is Orwell’s Big Brother to the Big Tech/government censorship combine. The US damned near launched a Ministry of Truth a couple of years ago at DHS, and they’re still trying to create a back-door version of it through “misinformation” checkers and social-media platforms. Dystopia indeed. — Ed]
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