We're Living in the Brave New World
As I watched this video, https://youtu.be/3TQZ-2iMUR0 , and listened to Aldous Huxley discuss the different enemies of freedom, it was easy for me to connect his ideas with politics. He presented ideas like overpopulation, communism, over-organization, and gov't (government) intervention. He believes the world will fall under the power of a dictator. He focused on the problems that questioned our survival and freedom-something I'm very interested in.
From what I can remember, Huxley claims the problem originated with overpopulation. According to Huxley, from before Christ to the Mayflower, the population has doubled. Since there's a large amount of people, they'll require resources. Resources that can wither or run out. When these resources run out, there will be social unrest which will require gov't intervention. The gov't intervention is what will come before everyone is under totalitarian rule. He even went so far as to claim that communists were going to be the "heirs" to this "unfortunate process". Huxley refers to this concept as a "strange paradox".
I think this cycle is simple enough, it's realistic and very much possible. I enjoyed when Huxley went further into detail on the dictator, it helped me understand his ideas better. For a while, I brushed off Huxleys' ideas, the whole world would never let one person dictate them. They wouldn't just sit back and let someone manipulate their day-to-day life......unless they weren't paying attention. Huxley identifies the advancement of technology not revolutionary, but a distraction. He believes the television is a distraction. Technology is only focused one one thing, it should be used for a variety of things. Huxley believes there is a potential misuse of our technology. What I can gather from this interview is that once a dictator has the consent of the people, when he/she has the peoples' support, the dictator will become powerful and the people will become sheep. Distractions like technology and propaganda will make sure of that.
From what I can remember, Huxley claims the problem originated with overpopulation. According to Huxley, from before Christ to the Mayflower, the population has doubled. Since there's a large amount of people, they'll require resources. Resources that can wither or run out. When these resources run out, there will be social unrest which will require gov't intervention. The gov't intervention is what will come before everyone is under totalitarian rule. He even went so far as to claim that communists were going to be the "heirs" to this "unfortunate process". Huxley refers to this concept as a "strange paradox".
I think this cycle is simple enough, it's realistic and very much possible. I enjoyed when Huxley went further into detail on the dictator, it helped me understand his ideas better. For a while, I brushed off Huxleys' ideas, the whole world would never let one person dictate them. They wouldn't just sit back and let someone manipulate their day-to-day life......unless they weren't paying attention. Huxley identifies the advancement of technology not revolutionary, but a distraction. He believes the television is a distraction. Technology is only focused one one thing, it should be used for a variety of things. Huxley believes there is a potential misuse of our technology. What I can gather from this interview is that once a dictator has the consent of the people, when he/she has the peoples' support, the dictator will become powerful and the people will become sheep. Distractions like technology and propaganda will make sure of that.
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