It seems that we are all already living in a brave new world.
1. Bottle
Aldous Huxley
Brave New World
My bottle, why were we torn apart?
I will cork again in my bottle.
There is eternal spring, blue of heaven,
Azure bliss of oblivion.
Search the whole world – there is no such bottle,
Like my dear bottle.
In the fictional reality of the dystopia “Brave New World” it was a kind of analogue of the phrase “Mom, give birth to me back.” Because giving birth to children naturally was considered something primitive, shameful and backward. People were born precisely from a bottle – a vessel that for nine months moved in a dark room along a conveyor belt. As the embryo develops , the necessary substances and medicines were introduced into the bottle, not always, by the way, harmless: this was one of the stages at which the selection was carried out.
Future alphas and beta – the elite of the new world – got all the nutrients, oxygen and some doping, so they ended up growing tall, attractive, and smart enough.
Gammams, deltas and even more so epsilons, which were intended for heavy physical labor, were less fortunate. They were artificially limited in the development of body and intellect, and from birth they were inferior to children from the higher castes. At the stage of upbringing, the difference became even more noticeable.
All this was necessary in order to tightly control the population size and so that everyone would receive “according to their needs and abilities,” due to their development, not demanding more than they were supposed to.
The genetic material for the creation of “bottled” citizens was taken from living people. Women – “fetuses” – volunteers from those who retained fertility – removed the ovary, stimulated it many times and took the eggs.
This whole mechanism, albeit in a phantasmagoric form, is very reminiscent of something, namely assisted reproductive technologies, such as IVF, and editing of genetic information.
The first child conceived through IVF ,appearedborn in 1978, 46 years after Aldous Huxley created his dystopia. Moreover, the writer managed to accurately predict what the procedure would look like: the woman’s ovaries are stimulated with the help of hormones, a certain amount of eggs are taken, which are then fertilized in laboratory conditions, and the embryos are transferred to the uterus of the expectant mother for a few days.
We do not yet have the bottle itself, but there is a “prototype” – an artificial womb, in which already canto raise a premature lamb. The development of similar devices for human babies is activelylead, but they will begin to use no earlier than 10 years later.
Human genetic editing is also, in general, not far off. In 2018, the Chinese scholar He Jiankuiannouncedthat he conducted an experiment to change the genome of human embryos. He planned to recreate a naturally occurring mutation of the CCR5 gene, which should protect its carrier from HIV. Moreover, the embryos were not destroyed, as is usually done, but implanted into their mother’s uterus. It turns out that the first “genetically modified” children were born. But He Jiankui admitted that the experiment was unsuccessful: the desired effect was not achieved. It is not known what is with the children now, whether everything is in order with them.
Nevertheless, embryonic genome editing is actively studied. are being developednew techniques and technologies. It remains to be hoped that as a result, we will really be able to defeat hereditary and chronic diseases , and not find ourselves in a world where a person’s place in society is determined even before birth.
2. Soma
Aldous Huxley
Brave New World
If a person accepts soma, time stops running … Sweetly, a person will forget what happened and what will happen …
In the new world created by Huxley, everyone takes soma, a narcotic substance that helps to cheer up and forget about worries. It is both a way to get people to focus on having fun instead of changing something, and a sweet carrot for the sake of which the lower castes are willing to obediently do hard work. The dosage of soma that is given to each person is strictly defined and depends on his social status.
There are quite a few versions of what catfish is in our world. It can be drugs, or alcohol, or psychotropic drugs that somehow affect mood: antidepressants , normotimics, anxiolytics. Huxley himself, by the way, considered soma a drug:
Aldous Huxley
Brave New World Return
The original catfish, whose name I borrowed for my hypothetical drug, was an unknown plant, probably belonging to the species Asclepias aeida, which the Aryan conquerors of India used in one of their most solemn religious practices. In a lavish ceremony, priests and members of the nobility drank the intoxicating juice extracted from the stem of this plant.
In modern life, the role of soma for someone can play music, because we turn to it when we are sad in order to be distracted, to cheer up, to forget about problems. Talking Heads frontman David Byrne shares this opinion in his book How Music Works .
With the same success soma can be called books, computer games , and TV shows – in short, any available way of escapism.
3. Malthusian belt
Aldous Huxley
Brave New World
And around the waist there is a wide bandolier belt made of green artificial morocco, trimmed with silver, stuffed with the statutory set of contraceptives (for Lenina was not barren).
“Lovely,” exclaimed Fanny, delighted, she didn’t know how to resist Lenina’s charms for long. – And what a marvelous Malthusian belt!
In Huxley United State, fertile women wear a contraceptive bandolier. The entire protection system is quite complex, there is a certain order – the so-called techniques, which are very important to perform correctly.
In 1960, decades after Huxley’s novel came out, in the US and UK approvedthe first combined oral contraceptive – Enovid tablets. Like all similar drugs, it prevented ovulation, and with it, unwanted pregnancy.
After the advent of contraceptives, a revolution literally happened in the world: women were given the freedom to control their bodies and their lives; decide independently whether they need children, and if so, when exactly ; build a career without fear that pregnancy will unexpectedly destroy all plans.
Of course, real contraceptives, even at the dawn of their appearance, were much easier and more convenient to use than in Huxley’s novel. In addition, they are taken regularly, and not immediately before intercourse.
4. Transfusion of young blood
Aldous Huxley
Brave New World
– What’s the matter with him? – whispered amazed Lenina, wide-eyed with horror.
“Old age, that’s all,” Bernard replied in the most casual tone. He, too, was stunned, but he stood firm and did not show it.
– Old age? She asked. – But our Director is old, many are old; but they have nothing of the kind.
– Because we do not let them grow decrepit. We protect them from disease. We artificially maintain their internal secretory balance at the youthful level. Don’t let your magnesium-calcium ratio fall below the 30-year figure. We pour them young blood. We constantly stimulate their metabolism. And of course they look different.
In Huxley’s world, all of the upper castes are young, healthy and beautiful, regardless of age. People are not given drugs, hormones and medical technology to grow old.
In the real world, life expectancy has been steadily is growing and the efforts of physicians and scientists are largely focused on improving the quality of this life as well.
We already have hormone replacement therapy, which helps women suppress the symptoms of menopause, and is also used to prevent osteoporosis . And practically the same “infusion of young blood” – the introduction of patients with their own plasma, enriched with platelets, orPRP-therapyeffective in hair loss, treatment of injuries, acute pain, recovery from surgery, osteoarthritis. And countless beauty treatments: beauty shots, plastic surgery, anti-aging cosmetics and more.
5. Feelings
Aldous Huxley
Brave New World
– Fly in the evening to the chuchschalka, Henry? – Asked the assistant to the Predestinator. “I heard there is a first-class new tape at the Alhambra today. There is a love scene on a bearskin, they say, amazing. Reproduced every bear hair. Stunning tactile effects.
In the United State, there are sensory rooms – cinemas, where you can not only watch a movie, but also “immerse yourself” in it with all your senses. What is this, if not 5D cinemas, in which we get a three-dimensional image and sound, as well as a set of effects such as wind, splashing water, shaking and swaying chairs.
6. Irrelevant consumption
Aldous Huxley
Brave New World
Old clothes are bad. We throw away the old stuff. Instead of fixing the old, it is better to buy a new one. I love to wear new.
The inhabitants of the United State memorize this motto almost from birth. The whole new world revolves around consumption : new things and short-term pleasures are almost religion. All their free time from work, people have fun, buy something, spend money without worrying about the future.
If you think about it, the population of the real world lives very similarly in many ways. Our desire to buy things, but at the same time not worry about what will happen to them next, has led to the fact that entire regions are actually turning into landfills. For example, only in the USA per yearthrown away about 13 thousand tons of clothing and footwear.
Aldous Huxley
Brave New World Return
Find a widespread desire, deep-seated fear or fear, and come up with a way to relate that desire or fear to the product you want to sell. Build a kind of bridge of verbal or pictorial symbols, along which your customer will move from fact to dream, and from there – to the illusion that purchasing your product will make this dream come true.
