Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World depicts a dystopian world where people are socialized from birth in order to conform to their predefined positions in society and is based on the values of efficiency, stability, and pleasure. Similar to this, Alexander Solzhenitsyn argues in his critique of totalitarianism that a totalitarian society must impose survival at all costs and place a priority on material gains over the lives of individual people. The goal of my blog today is to demonstrate how the themes of conformity, efficiency, and dehumanization are present in both texts and how they apply to our society today by contrasting a passage from Brave New World with Solzhenitsyn’s theories on contemporary techno-totalitarianism. In Brave New World, the citizens of the society are conditioned to accept their predetermined roles in society without questioning their purpose or existence. For instance, the Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning explains to a group of students that “we make a new life for you, with love and care, as far as possible from the ‘unpleasantness’ of the old world” (Huxley 10). This conditioning process ensures that everyone fits into their predetermined roles in society, which allows for maximum efficiency in production and consumption. Similarly, Solzhenitsyn argues that modern techno-totalitarianism is built on the principle of efficiency, where everything and everyone is treated as a means to an end. According to Solzhenitsyn, “the most basic feature of totalitarian society is its complete lack of respect for the individual human being, who is subordinated to the single factor of production and efficiency” (Solzhenitsyn 9). He notes that the Soviet Union’s leaders were willing to sacrifice millions of lives to achieve their objectives, stating that “there was no limit to the monstrous nature of what they could do in the name of the survival of the socialist system” (p. 157). Solzhenitsyn’s ideas align with the central ethics of modern techno-totalitarianism, which prioritize achieving material success and survival over individual freedoms and ethical values. Furthermore, individualism and independence are viewed as threats to the stability of society in Brave New World. The people of the society are trained to put the demands of the group ahead of their own interests and to use the goods and services that the government offers. There are strong similarities between Brave New World and Solzhenitsyn’s theories on modern totalitarian rule. Both pieces portray cultures in which the state prioritizes preserving social order and achieving material success at all costs. In The Gulag Archipelago, the Soviet Union’s leaders were prepared to sacrifice millions of lives in order to advance their objectives, in contrast to Brave New World, where people are taught to accept their given duties and conceal their emotions in order to maintain social stability. These fundamental principles continue to be relevant in today’s society. People are trained in the modern world to place monetary gain and societal stability over personal independence and moral principles. The development of social media and digital technology has made it easier to gather and manipulate personal data that can be used to stifle opposition and exert control over people. Moreover, the world’s rising economic disparity has produced a circumstance in which the wealthy can preserve their power by forgoing the welfare of the less fortunate.
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