Science Fiction
The Science of Brave New World
Fiction dealing principally with the impact of actual or imagined science on society or individuals or having a scientific factor as an essential orienting component
Scientific developments
Pavlov & Conditioning Techniques
Eugenics Movement at its Height
- Pavlov in 1903 read a thesis about conditioned reflexes in Animals
- Opened up new doors in conditioning research
- Eugenics is derived from greek meaning good and origin
- Started after Gregor Mendel's work was rediscovered
- Movement to create a superior race through selective breeding
Hypnopaedia
Henry Ford Creates First Assembly Line
- Surfaced in 1927 when Alois Benjamin Saliger created a "Phycho-Phone" for sleep learning
- Later research was done in the late 1940s and 50s
- Henry Ford recognized that for a more efficient process and greater profits, a new system would have to be created
- Hence he created the Assembly line, and creating a fundamental part of a capitalist society
Divergent
Uglies
Books
- Set in future, government uses brainwashing to encourage citizens to follow model
- Again, ultimate happiness is the goal
- At the end, faction resorts to direct mind control to gain power over citizens
- Set in the future- post apocalypse
- About a society that tried to manufacture happiness through extreme beauty and mind control techniques
Arts
Hypnopaedia
- Works through repeated messages during sleep
- Instils World State values in citizens
Gattaca
- Genetic Engineering for a more advanced race
- Happiness for some, however not for all
Mind Control
Film
Wall-E
Star Trek
- Society where everything is provided and taken care of
- Leads to laziness, and not true happiness
- The Masterpiece Society: society where everyone is engineered to perform a specific function in the society
- Picard notes that many of the flaws and troubles that plague humanity are what make life worth living
Conditioning
- Children are conditioned to hate things that do not benefit the system or distract from their future job
- In embryo, cold is linked with X-rays, heat is preferred, and they are rotated
- Each caste is conditioned depending on their caste
Current Society
The 1930's
Aldus Huxley's time
Genetics
- Not officially discovered during Huxley's time
- Mostly used for cloning in BNW
Science of Brave New World
How our society is expanding on scientific ideas explored in Brave New World and how we are investigating the repercussions of these ideas through art
Tech
Current Science
- 21st century: gadgets for convenience
- BNW vs. today- Consumable tech
Other forms of Engineering
- Bokinovsky Process- cell division through x-rays
- Blood Surrogate
- Alcohol