A Brave New World?

Dear all,

In Monday’s assembly, we considered the suggestion that the modern world is more likely to slip into a dystopian future resembling the book ‘Brave New World’ (written in 1931) than the one envisaged by George Orwell in his novel ‘1984’. Or maybe that has already happened…

George Orwell’s ‘1984’ was one of the most dystopian novels of the 20th Century. Published in 1949, it tells the story of a society in which democratic freedoms had been replaced by totalitarian oppression – led by Big Brother – that included historical manipulation and thought control. In the year 1984, there was a sense of relief that Orwell’s nightmare had not come true and that liberal democracy was secure.

There was, however, another equally chilling but very different version of a dystopian society set out 18 years before Orwell wrote ‘1984’. In the novel ‘Brave New World’, the author Aldus Huxley suggested that oppression may come through technology not an all-powerful totalitarian regime. Orwell feared the banning of books; in ‘Brave New World’ there would be no need to ban books because no one would want to read them; Orwell’s world was one where truth would be concealed, Huxley’s was one where it would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance; in 1984, the people were part of a captive culture but in ‘Brave New World’ they were part of a trivial culture, preoccupied with irrelevancies. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate would ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love would ruin us.

This comparison between ‘1984’ and ‘Brave New World’ is paraphrased from a book called ‘Amusing Ourselves to Death’ by Neil Postman. In it, the author argues that modern media diminished our ability to engage in serious thought or discussion because it encourages instant gratification and superficiality where complex ideas are reduced to soundbites and where those who seek political power promise simple solutions to complex problems. In a world dominated by information overload, we become reliant on imagery and summaries rather than words and details in the way we consume news or consider the problems that face our world.

The book suggests that the modern world is more vulnerable to the dystopian society as described in ‘Brave New World’ than the one envisaged by George Orwell in ‘1984’.

In Monday’s assembly, I asked the question which of these dystopian nightmares is more likely to afflict our world – or neither?

There are undoubtedly regimes in power around the world today that look (to many in the West) similar to George Orwell’s ‘1984’, with little freedom for those who live there whilst the rest of the world looks on with seemingly little appetite or power to do anything about it. There are also many who fear that democracy in the developed world is by no means safe and that those who seek to defend it need to work hard in order to do so. On the other hand, people in every developed country are living in a world of information overload that encourages instant gratification and soundbites, where we are perhaps sliding into something resembling Aldus Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’.

Or, should we be much more optimistic than both Orwell and Huxley? Does neither depiction offer a fair representation of the modern world, with huge advances in science and technology that have made our lives better, and positive improvements in terms of rights and protections for ordinary people? Is it actually the case that there has never been a better time to be alive in the whole of the human story?

One final point: the book mentioned in our reading (‘Amusing ourselves to Death’) that suggested we were sliding into a world of information overload and pleasure-seeking triviality due to modern technology and media, was written in 1985, not 2023. That’s definitely something to

think about when considering whether we are already living in Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’.

Have a nice weekend

Best wishes

Michael Bond