Will Aldous Huxley's Brave New World Be Our Brave New World?

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Recommended: The "Brave New World" Analysis

Aldous Huxley’s Brave New Word was a revolutionary book when it was published in 1969. Huxley wrote about scientific and technological advances, then considered absurd. Huxley described a revolutionary drug called Soma, which is the reason civilized society was considered civilized. Soma kept people from holding grudges and feeling anger. Societal problems did not exist. The drug made all unpleasant feelings disappear. Soma was happiness in a little pill.

The scientists in Brave New World are able to make decisions whether the child would be male or female, tall, athletic, and intelligent or not. In 1969 these advances seemed ludicrous. Today scientists have successfully engineered an embryo with premeditated characteristics. These advancements suggest that the science described in Brave New World is not as absurd as it sounds.

Xanax is a common drug that is prescribed to patients that experience panic attacks or have anxiety (Xanax par.2). Xanax works by balancing the chemicals in the brain that move too quickly causing the anxiety or panic attacks. (Xanax par.1). In Brave New World, Soma is a universal drug that sends people on “vacations”. These “vacations” are fundamentally what happens when a person takes Xanax. Their uncomfortable emotions depart and that person is driven to euphoria. Huxley’s society has a saying that goes along with Soma, “Stability [is] practically assured…a gramme is better than a damn” (Huxley 54-55). Soma and Xanax are both anti-anxiety medications given to people so they don’t have to experience uncomfortable emotions. Xanax is a short-term fix for anxiety and so is Soma. For example Huxley describes a scene with two characters, Lenina and Bernard, who witnessed a young boy being whipped. Lenina ...

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"Designer Babies – Like It Or Not, Here They Come | Singularity Hub." Singularity Hub.

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Naik, Gautam . "A Baby, Please. Blond, Freckles -- Hold the Colic." The Wall Street

Journal. Dow Jones & Company, 1 Feb. 2009. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.

Simmons, Danielle . "Genetic Inequality: Human Genetic Engineering." Scietable by

Nature Education. Nature Publishing Group, n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.

Miller, Henry. "GEN Exclusives." GEN. Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. , 15 Mar. 2008. Web. 1

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Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: HerperPerennial, 1969. Print.

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