When I was reading Brave New World, I always pondered about how that new world came to be, where were all the philosophers, religious leaders, politicians, and more who would try to prevent this new world from forming. There are always fighting and arguing among people over even the smallest matters, yet there were enough force of people who supported the new world that almost everything of the normal world extirpated and new world became the normal world. I knew the plot is just a science and dystopian fiction; however, i just could not wonder about what could have possibly happened for that new world to form.
While I was at camping with family, I started reading Amusing Ourselves to Death, and got to the part where Postman mentions Mumford's book, Technics and Civilization, and says "the clock made us into time-keepers, and then time-savers, and now time-servers," in chapter one. Then it hit me, how people came to not only serve time, but also, people serve media, computer, televisions, food, drugs, success, and pleasure without being conscience of themselves. During the camping trip, I found out that I serve texting as a god; it is just hard not pushing those buttons and felt uneasy when the phone's battery was running out.
Maybe the road to that brave new world is narcism, pleasure, impatience, hate, and people become fed up with the despairs of the world, not being able to distinguish the optimism and joy that coexist with the malignant events. It is sad how we turn to certain things that does not do us any good when we are feeling cloudy, or at just any time. Then, what could we turn to?
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We will always turn to these vices just for the simple fact that they keep us happy. Maybe literally worshiping them as gods takes things a little too far, but the comparison is straight on; we may not be doing it consciously but isn't staring at a computer screen or sitting in front of a t.v. for hours on end the same thing as bowing down to an idol?
ReplyDeleteWe are headed for a version of the brave new world described by Huxley due to our idea that technology makes life easier. While it does make it easier, technology also takes away some of our free-will and motivation. We become distracted by these things and make them our top priority, it can range from anything like procrastination to a car crash due to DWT (Driving While Texting). Postman also notices this dilemma, as shown by the quote you used. Along with Huxley and Postman, Orwell also views these actions of technology-worship as a danger to society, but unlike Huxley and Postman, his view is a bit more pessimistic.
Diane, I don't know what we can turn to; it seems that everything, no matter how good it may seem, will end up hurting us in the long run. Like that cliche quote, "too much of a good thing". Hopefully we won't continue to abuse the things that were created to help us, but one can't help but wonder in the Orwellian fashion if this is exactly what it's creators want us to do.