What Are The Similarities Between Brave New World Today

In Brave New World, Aldous Huxley provides us with a strange, yet futuristic world that clearly represents our society today, according to Neil Postman. Brave New World, depicts a semi-utopian society, where there is nothing but happiness amongst individuals. Through multiple assertions, Neil Postman is able to draw parallels from Huxley’s illustrations of an utopian society to our contemporary times. I agree with Postman’s remarks because they significantly reflect similarities between Brave New World and our modern society through the uses of media and technology.

Brave New World contemplates our contemporary society through the conflicting topic of social media. Postman states in his personal assertions that “As he (Huxley) saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.” His comparison between both societies tend to demonstrate the lost of

thinking and imagination. In other words, our vision and perspectives are molded by what is exposed to us by social media and television. Huxley believed, it was through our own decisions that our freedom to think for ourselves would be taken away. The people in Brave New World “are happy; they get what they want, and they never want what they can’t get… and if anything should go wrong, there's soma”(220). Taking soma in this society is a way people are controlled. “The return to civilization was for her the return to soma, was the possibility of lying in bed and taking holiday after holiday”(100). Similarly, in today’s world, our “soma” is dictated through our constant and inevitable use of technology and drugs that predispose us to be under a controlling society.
Aldous Huxley suggests that “those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism.” Egoism plays an important role in the validating the lives of people in this futuristic society. It goes as far as to establish an abiding social hierarchy, as implied in the statement: "Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because they're so frightfully clever. I'm awfully glad I'm a Beta, because I don't work so hard. And then we are much better than the Gammas and Deltas”(27). In the Brave New World society, they have high expectations and their negativity is shown through their outlook on life. The members of this illustrated world clearly represent passivity. “And Epsilons are still worse. They're too stupid to be able to read or write. Besides they wear black, which is such a beastly colour. I'm so glad I'm a Beta”(27). In this quote, Huxley is able to satirize the arrogant thinking some citizens hold today; they are able to console to their self-esteems by placing others in an inferior state. Today, we are able to boost our ego and others’ perceptions of ourselves through the simplified accomplishment of receiving as many likes as possible in social media. We have been corrupted by our desires to overshare memories in order to gain, not only attention, but validation from others. Everyday spent on the internet is dedicated to becoming the Alphas in Brave New World.
Huxley makes another assertion that “what we love will ruin us”. In other words, if something gives us pleasure, we are taken advantage of and controlled. "Glum, Marx, glum." The clap on the shoulder made him start, look up. It was that brute Henry Foster. "What you need is a gramme of soma”(46). The need for soma is an example of control. This addicting

substance is manipulative and is able to control this futuristic society. Like today’s society we have addictive drugs that are taking away the lives of millions. Marijuana for example, is becoming legal in more states in the United States. This global discussion is becoming a huge problem in our society. Marijuana is something so many people love to enjoy but that will eventually ruin us. This drug has grown popular due to its ability to repress our feelings of sadness, which is something in our human nature to take advantage of. “Half an hour later they were back in his rooms. Bernard swallowed four tablets of soma at a gulp, turned on the radio and television and began to undress”(43). Abusing soma will counteract its benefits. This controlling substance took control of Huxley’s society. Soon enough, we will be able to see how this fictional aspect will be reflected in our very own community.
Like the society portrayed in Brave New world, technology plays a huge role in our world today.

Huxley suggests that Brave New world became a futuristic society through advances. What Postman feared the most was that “there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one”. We are slowly developing into a futuristic society that relies heavily on technology. One example would be the fact that the majority, if not the whole United States, has a phone or a device. Through those devices we are not only able to communicate faster, but we are able to seek the internet and gather information with a touch of a button. In the novel, the director informs the nurses that "they'll grow up with what the psychologists used to call an 'instinctive' hatred of books and flowers”(20). Everything is being served in a silver platter for us as technology advancements increase in their capabilities to do so. Postman and Huxley greatly point out the fact that our society is a representation of Brave New World due to technology

advancements.
Through Postman’s assertions, he strongly compares the relationship between our modern time and the famous “world state”. Given his remarks, it is clear that there are many similarities like the media and technology that the novel, Brave New World reflects. They are relevant in representing our standards we behold today and our perspectives in life. Humans have become egoistic, self centered, and controlled as Postman has compared in his accusations. Postman’s valuable concepts can be seen as reflections on Huxley’s perspectives of life.