Brave New World 2

8/12/2019 Brave New World 2

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BRAVENEWWORLDREVISITEDBYALDOUSHUXLEY

EVERSION4.0

BLURB(BACKCOVER)

When the novelBrave New World first appeared, in 1932, its shocking analysis of

a scientific dictatorship seemed a projection into the remote future.Today the science of thought control has raced far beyond the dreams of itler

and !talin. "ethods for destroying individual freedom are being rapidly developed, and

the pressures to adopt them are becoming increasingly po#erful. $o#, in one of the mostimportant, fascinating, and frightening books of his career, %ldous u&ley scrutini'es

these and other threats to humanity and demonstrates #hy #e may find it virtually

impossible to resist them.

With overpo#ering impact, this book is a challenge to complacency and a plea

that mankind should educate itself for freedom before it is too late.

(opyright ) 19*+ by %ldous u&ley.

rinted in the -nited !tates of %merica.

%ll rights reserved.

No part of t!" #oo$ %a& #' "' or r'pro*'

!+ a+& %a++'r ,at"o'-'r ,!tot ,r!tt'+ p'r%!""!o+

'*'pt !+ t' *a"' of #r!'f /otat!o+" '%#o!' !+

*r!t!*a art!*'" a+ r'-!',".

or information address arper / 0o#, ublishers,

ncorporated, 9 ast 33rd !treet, $e# 4ork, $.4. 15516.

"ost of the material in this book #as published byNewsday under the title T40%$$4780T"$.

Brave New World Revisited #as originally published by arper / :rothers in 19*+.

irst 0$$%;;:0%04edition published 196* by

arper / 0o#, ublishers, ncorporated, $e# 4ork.

This book is sold subject to the (ondition that it shall not, by #ay of trade,

be lent, re0!!(%T%;7> (%0 $-":0? 123541

Co+t'+t"

Foreword

Over-Population Quantity, Quality, Morality

Over-Organization

8 Propaganda in a Demorati !oiety8 Propaganda "nder a Ditators#ip


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8 $#e %rts o& !elling

8 Brainwas#ing

8 '#emial Persuasion@ !u(onsious Persuasion

@ )ypnopaedia

@ *duation &or Freedom@ W#at 'an Be Done+

6or',ar

The soul of #it may become the very body of untruth. o#ever elegant and

memorable, brevity can never, in the nature of things, do justice to all the facts of acomple& situation. 7n such a theme one can be brief only by omission and simplification.

7mission and simplification help us to understand


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n 1931, #henBrave New World #as being #ritten, #as convinced that there

#as still plenty of time. The completely organi'ed society, the scientific caste system, theabolition of free #ill by methodical conditioning, the servitude made acceptable by

regular doses of chemically induced happiness, the orthodo&ies drummed in by nightly

courses of sleepermany and

#hen the 0ussian tyrant had not yet got into his stride. n 1931 systematic terrorism #asnot the obsessive contemporary fact #hich it had become in 19+, and the future

dictatorship of my imaginary #orld #as a good deal less brutal than the future

dictatorship so brilliantly portrayed by 7r#ell. n the conte&t of 19+, ./01 seemed

dreadfully convincing. :ut tyrants, after all, are mortal and circumstances change. 0ecentdevelopments in 0ussia and recent advances in science and technology have robbed

7r#ell=s book of some of its gruesome verisimilitude. % nuclear #ar #ill, of course, make

nonsense of everybody=s predictions. :ut, assuming for the moment that the >reato#ers can someho# refrain from destroying us, #e can say that it no# looks as though

the odds #ere more in favor of something likeBrave New World than of something like

./01n the light of #hat #e have recently learned about animal behavior in general,

and human behavior in particular, it has become clear that control through the

punishment of undesirable behavior is less effective, in the long run, than control through

the reinforcement of desirable behavior by re#ards, and that government through terror


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#orks on the #hole less #ell than government through the non


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life of even the most highly civili'ed society has its beginnings


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the e&isting billions Cthere #ill be more than five and a half billions of us by the time my

granddaughter is fiftyD, this biological background #ill advance, ever more insistently,

ever more menacingly, to#ard the front and center of the historical stage. The problem ofrapidly increasing numbers in relation to natural resources, to social stability and to the

#ell

song and ask,

Will the space that you=re so rich in;ight a fire in the kitchen,

7r the little god of space turn the spit, spit, spitF

The ans#er, it is obvious, is in the negative. % settlement on the moon may be ofsome military advantage to the nation that does the settling. :ut it #ill do nothing

#hatever to make life more tolerable, during the fifty years that it #ill take our presentpopulation to double, for the earth=s undernourished and proliferating billions. %nd even

if, at some future date, emigration to "ars should become feasible, even if any conovernment. :ut societies are composed of individuals and are good only insofar as

they help individuals to reali'e their potentialities and to lead a happy and creative life.o# have individuals been affected by the technological advances of recent yearsF ere

is the ans#er to this Buestion given by a philosopher


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physical universe could be e&plained and dealt #ith in terms of a single system of ideas.

n the same spirit the artist takes the innumerable diversities and uniBuenesses of the

outer #orld and his o#n imagination and gives them meaning #ithin an orderly system ofplastic, literary or musical patterns. The #ish to impose order upon confusion, to bring

harmony out of dissonance and unity out of multiplicity is a kind of intellectual instinct, a

primary and fundamental urge of the mind. Within the realms of science, art andphilosophy the #orkings of #hat may call this EWill to 7rderE are mainly beneficent.

True, the Will to 7rder has produced many premature syntheses based upon insufficient

evidence, many absurd systems of metaphysics and theology, much pedantic mistaking ofnotions for realities, of symbols and abstractions for the data of immediate e&perience.

:ut these errors, ho#ever regrettable, do not do much harm, at any rate directly


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:iologically speaking, man is a moderately gregarious, not a completely social

animal od only,E as "ilton said of %dam and ve, Eshe for >od inhim.E %nd in one important respect the #ife of the ideal organi'ation man is a good deal

#orse off than our irst "other. !he and %dam #ere permitted by the ;ord to be

completely uninhibited in the matter of Eyouthful dalliance.E

$or turned, #een,

%dam from his fair spouse, nor ve the rites"ysterious of connubial love refused.

Today, according to a #riter in the)arvard Business Review, the #ife of the man

#ho is trying to live up to the ideal proposed by the !ocial thic, Emust not demand too


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much of her husband=s time and interest. :ecause of his single


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;ike !ir >alahad=s, their strength is as the strength of ten because their heart is pure


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men and #omen are probably decent enough and sensible enough to be trusted #ith the

direction of their o#n destinies.

emocratic institutions are devices for reconciling social order #ith individualfreedom and initiative, and for making the immediate po#er of a country=s rulers subject

to the ultimate po#er of the ruled. The fact that, in Western urope and %merica, these

devices have #orked, all things considered, not too badly is proof enough that theeighteenthiven a fair chance, human beings

can govern themselves, and govern themselves better, though perhaps #ith less

mechanical efficiency, than they can be governed by Eauthorities independent of their#ill.E >iven a fair chance, repeatA for the fair chance is an indispensable prereBuisite.

$o people that passes abruptly from a state of subservience under the rule of a despot to

the completely unfamiliar state of political independence can be said to have a fair chance

of making democratic institutions #ork. %gain, no people in a precarious economiccondition has a fair chance of being able to govern itself democratically. ;iberalism

flourishes in an atmosphere of prosperity and declines as declining prosperity makes it

necessary for the government to intervene ever more freBuently and drastically in the

affairs of its subjects. 7ver


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interest is probably the highest of effective motives. f politicians and their constituents

al#ays acted to promote their o#n or their country=s long


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lived in too continuously, both can become, in "ar&=s phrase, Ethe opium of the peopleE

and so a threat to freedom. 7nly the vigilant can maintain their liberties, and only those

#ho are constantly and intelligently on the spot can hope to govern themselveseffectively by democratic procedures. % society, most of #hose members spend a great

part of their time, not on the spot, not here and no# and in the calculable future, but

some#here else, in the irrelevant other #orlds of sport and soap opera, of mythology andmetaphysical fantasy, #ill find it hard to resist the encroachments of those #ho #ould

manipulate and control it.

n their propaganda today=s dictators rely for the most part on repetition,suppression and rationali'ation


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nations might be dominated by technical means. That nightmare #as almost reali'ed in

itler=s totalitarian system.E %lmost, but not Buite. The $a'is did not have time od=s sake or in order to achieve


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personal salvation, but for the sake of the !tate and for the greater glory and po#er of the

demagogue turned ;eader


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the heart of his hearers.E 7tto !trasser called him Ea louderman masses. t is by manipulating Ehidden

forcesE that the advertising e&perts induce us to buy their #ares


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characteristic not of men and #omen as individuals, but of men and #omen in masses.

"indlessness and moral idiocy are not characteristically human attributesA they are

symptoms of herd


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nature. Truth and reason are Iekyll=s affair, not his. yde is a motivation analyst, and his

business is to study human #eaknesses and failings, to investigate those unconscious

desires and fears by #hich so much of men=s conscious thinking and overt doing isdetermined. %nd he does this, not in the spirit of the moralist #ho #ould like to make

people better, or of the physician #ho #ould like to improve their health, but simply in

order to find out the best #ay to take advantage of their ignorance and to e&polit theirirrationality for the pecuniary benefit of his employers. :ut after all, it may be argued,

Ecapitalism is dead, consumerism is kingE


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malignant fren'y of the orator, the audience #ould groan and sob and scream in an orgy

of uninhibited passion. %nd these orgies #ere so enjoyable that most of those #ho had

e&perienced them eagerly came back for more. %lmost all of us long for peace andfreedomA but very fe# of us have much enthusiasm for the thoughts, feelings and actions

that make for peace and freedom. (onversely almost nobody #ants #ar or tyrannyA but a

great many people find an intense pleasure in the thoughts, feelings and actions that makefor #ar and tyranny. These thoughts, feelings and actions are too dangerous to be

e&ploited for commercial purposes. %ccepting this handicap, the advertising man must do

the best he can #ith the less into&icating emotions, the Buieter forms of irrationality.ffective rational propaganda becomes possible only #hen there is a clear

understanding, on the part of all concerned, of the nature of symbols and of their relations

to the things and events symboli'ed. rrational propaganda depends for its effectiveness

on a general failure to understand the nature of symbols. !implereek god, the radiance of one of iana=s nymphs.With the monthly best seller #e acBuire culture, the envy of our less literate neighbors

and the respect of the sophisticated. n every case the motivation analyst has found some

deep


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haunting and fascinating in their o#n right. 7f this kind are the rites and pomps of

religion. These Ebeauties of holinessE strengthen faith #here it already e&ists and, #here

there is no faith, contribute to conversion. %ppealing, as they do, only to the aestheticsense, they guarantee neither the truth nor the ethical value of the doctrines #ith #hich

they have been, Buite arbitrarily, associated. %s a matter of plain historical fact, the

beauties of holiness have often been matched and indeed surpassed by the beauties ofunholiness. -nder itler, for e&ample, the yearly $uremberg rallies #ere masterpieces of

ritual and theatrical art. E had spent si& years in !t. etersburg before the #ar in the best

days of the old 0ussian ballet,E #rites !ir $evile enderson, the :ritish ambassador toitler=s >ermany, Ebut for grandiose beauty have never seen any ballet to compare #ith

the $uremberg rally.E 7ne thinks of Meats enius has been the servant of tyranny and

art has advertised the merits of the local cult. Time, as it passes, separates the good artfrom the bad metaphysics. (an #e learn to make this separation, not after the event, but

#hile it is actually taking placeF That is the Buestion.

n commercial propaganda the principle of the disproportionately fascinatingsymbol is clearly understood. very propagandist has his %rt epartment, and attempts

are constantly being made to beautify the billboards #ith striking posters, the advertising

pages of maga'ines #ith lively dra#ings and photographs. There are no masterpiecesA for

masterpieces appeal only to a limited audience, and the commercial propagandist is out tocaptivate the majority. or him, the ideal is a moderate e&cellence. Those #ho like this

not too good, but sufficiently striking, art may be e&pected to like the products #ith

#hich it has been associated and for #hich it symbolically stands.%nother disproportionately fascinating symbol is the !inging (ommercial.

!inging (ommercials are a recent inventionA but the !inging Theological and the !inging

evotional


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capable, if given a fair chance, of making a reasonable choice in the light of available

evidence. emocratic institutions can be made to #ork only if all concerned do their best

to impart kno#ledge and to encourage rationality. :ut today, in the #orld=s most po#erfuldemocracy, the politicians and their propagandists prefer to make nonsense of democratic

procedures by appealing almost e&clusively to the ignorance and irrationality of the

electors. E:oth parties,E #e #ere told in 19*6 by the editor of a leading business journal,E#ill merchandi'e their candidates and issues by the same methods that business has

developed to sell goods. These include scientific selection of appeals and planned

repetition. . . . 0adio spot announcements and ads #ill repeat phrases #ith a plannedintensity. :illboards #ill push slogans of proven po#er. . . . (andidates need, in addition

to rich voices and good diction, to be able to look =sincerely= at the T8 camera.E

The political merchandisers appeal only to the #eaknesses of voters, never to

their potential strength. They make no attempt to educate the masses into becoming fit forself


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n the chapters that follo# shall describe some of the more effective techniBues for maenetically, every human being is uniBue and in many #ays unlike every otherhuman being. The range of individual variation from the statistical norm is ama'ingly

#ide. %nd the statistical norm, let us remember, is useful only in actuarial calculations,

not in real life. n real life there is no such person as the average man. There are onlyparticular men, #omen and children, each #ith his or her inborn idiosyncrasies of mind

and body, and all trying Cor being compelledD to sBuee'e their biological diversities into

the uniformity of some cultural mold.!uggestibility is one of the Bualities that vary significantly from individual to

individual. nvironmental factors certainly play their part in making one person more

responsive to suggestion than anotherA but there are also, no less certainly, constitutional

differences in the suggestibility of individuals. &treme resistance to suggestion is ratherrare. ortunately so. or if everyone #ere as unsuggestible as some people are, social life

#ould be impossible. !ocieties can function #ith a reasonable degree of efficiency

because, in varying degrees, most people are fairly suggestible. &treme suggestibility is

probably about as rare as e&treme unsuggestibility. %nd this also is fortunate. or if mostpeople #ere as responsive to outside suggestions as the men and #omen at the e&treme

limits of suggestibility, free, rational choice #ould become, for the majority of theelectorate, virtually impossible, and democratic institutions could not survive, or even

come into e&istence.

% fe# years ago, at the "assachusetts >eneral ospital, a group of researcherscarried out a most illuminating e&periment on the pain


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religious, much more active in the affairs of their church and much more preoccupied, on

a subconscious level, #ith their pelvic and abdominal organs.

t is interesting to compare these figures for reaction to placebos #ith theestimates made, in their o#n special field, by #riters on hypnosis. %bout a fifth of the

population, they tell us, can be hypnoti'ed very easily. %nother fifth cannot be hypnoti'ed

at all, or can be hypnoti'ed only #hen drugs or fatigue have lo#ered psychologicalresistance. The remaining three


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there be for maintaining that the individual is less important than the group of #hich he is

a memberF

%ll the available evidence points to the conclusion that in the life of individualsand societies heredity is no less significant than culture. very individual is biologically

uniBue and unlike all other individuals. reedom is therefore a great good, tolerance a

great virtue and regimentation a great misfortune. or practical or theoretical reasons,dictators, organi'ation men and certain scientists are an&ious to reduce the maddening

diversity of men=s natures to some kind of manageable uniformity. n the first flush of his

:ehavioristic fervor, I. :. Watson roundly declared that he could find Eno support forhereditary patterns of behavior, nor for special abilities Cmusical, art, etc.D #hich are

supposed to run in families.E %nd even today #e find a distinguished psychologist,

rofessor :. . !kinner of arvard, insisting that, Eas scientific e&planation becomes

more and more comprehensive, the contribution #hich may be claimed by the individualhimself appears to approach 'ero. "an=s vaunted creative po#ers, his achievements in

art, science and morals, his capacity to choose and our right to hold him responsible for

the conseBuences of his choice


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heredity. n $#e )uman Frontier andFree (ut "ne5ual rofessor Williams has

e&patiated, #ith a #ealth of detailed evidence, on those innate differences bet#een

individuals, for #hich r. Watson could find no support and #hose importance, inrofessor !kinner=s eyes, approaches 'ero. %mong animals, biological variability #ithin a

given species becomes more and more conspicuous as #e move up the evolutionary

scale. This biological variability is highest in man, and human beings display a greaterdegree of biochemical, structural and temperamental diversity than do the members of

any other species. This is a plain observable fact. :ut #hat have called the Will to

7rder, the desire to impose a comprehensible uniformity upon the be#ilderingmanifoldness of things and events, has led many people to ignore this fact. They have

minimi'ed biological uniBueness and have concentrated all their attention upon the

simpler and, in the present state of kno#ledge, more understandable environmental fac

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Brave New World 2