Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've read this several times now and I always get a different read out of it every time.

The first time, years ago, I was in the middle of my Psychology degree and I was just learning about the absolute horrors of B. F. Skinner and Behaviorism and I had just finished a little stint learning about ancient India and the missing drink of Soma that made an empire and as I read this book I was just pointing and pointing and pointing out each instance as I went along, thinking about what an absolute horror this world is while also appreciating the thought that THESE PEOPLE WERE STILL TAKEN CARE OF.

It's a pretty nasty thought to see how such a massively planned society had successfully ruled everyone's bodies to the point where there is no more mind. Just take care of the incentives and the rest follows.

Is this us?

Well, yeah, of course it is. It's all quite shockingly horrible. The propaganda is powerful, pervasive. The coping mechanisms pervasive. The assumptions, cohesive and self-perpetuating. And yet, for anyone with a bit of self-reflection or the desire to do anything important, or better, or have an actual idea or ideal, this is an absolute nightmare. Soma means body, after all. They may as well be cattle. Well fed, intensely stratified and culturally codified cattle.

Is this us?

Why, yeah, it really, really is.

Don't read this unless you want to hold up a mirror and feel really uncomfortable with what you see.

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