Goals of Technology in Brave New World
Scientific progress and technological innovations have been, along with new ideas of social organization, the principal scope of interest for the vast majority of utopian writers. Whether based on some rational predictions of the future development of science, or belonging to the sphere of pure fantasy, technology in utopian writing has been generally described as a means of achieving the state of universal order and happiness, a way to establish collective prosperity and social equality. However, as the advancement of civilization displayed the possibility of realization of many of the inventions and discoveries foreseen by utopian writers, a number of authors began to recognize the potential threats posed by technological progress. That awareness, which, to a large extent, gave rise to the literary phenomenon of anti-utopia, has been expressed by Nicolas Berdiaeff, whose statement was adopted by Aldous Huxley as a motto of his book:
Les utopies apparaissent comme bien plus réalisables qu’on ne le croyait autrefois. Et nous nous trouvons actuellement devant une question bien autrement angoissente: Comment éviter leur réalisation définitive? . . . Les utopies sont réalisables. La vie marche vers les utopias. Et peut-être un siècle nouveau commence-t-il, un siècle où les intellectuels et la classes cultivée rêveront aux moyens d’éviter les utopies et de retourner à une société non utopique, moins ‘parfaite’ et plus libre (Huxley 1932: 5).
It seems characteristic of most anti-utopias that technology, as portrayed therein, has acquired a definitely hostile and dangerous quality, becoming almost synonymous with dehumanization. It has ceased to serve as a tool employed by mankind in a profitable way for the sake of widespread prosperity and happiness, and has become a supreme force able to impose obedience on men. It may be stated that the natural order of things, as presented in utopian writing, has been
Les utopies apparaissent comme bien plus réalisables qu’on ne le croyait autrefois. Et nous nous trouvons actuellement devant une question bien autrement angoissente: Comment éviter leur réalisation définitive? . . . Les utopies sont réalisables. La vie marche vers les utopias. Et peut-être un siècle nouveau commence-t-il, un siècle où les intellectuels et la classes cultivée rêveront aux moyens d’éviter les utopies et de retourner à une société non utopique, moins ‘parfaite’ et plus libre (Huxley 1932: 5).
It seems characteristic of most anti-utopias that technology, as portrayed therein, has acquired a definitely hostile and dangerous quality, becoming almost synonymous with dehumanization. It has ceased to serve as a tool employed by mankind in a profitable way for the sake of widespread prosperity and happiness, and has become a supreme force able to impose obedience on men. It may be stated that the natural order of things, as presented in utopian writing, has been
Bibliography: •Brooke, Jocelyn, 1954, Aldous Huxley, London, Longmans, Green & Co. •Brander, Laurence, 1970, Aldous Huxley: A Critical Study, London, Rupert Hart-Davis. •Huxley, Aldous, 1932, Brave New World, Harmondsworth, Penguin Books Ltd. •Woodcock, George, 1972, Dawn and the Darkest Hour: A Study of Aldous Huxley, London, Faber and Faber.