• the identity in a state which controls speeches, thoughts, the past and the present of human beings,
• intimacy and sexuality in a society that does not allow privacy,
• values like freedom, equality and fraternity in a system that has the intention to destroy those values.

Huxley wrote Brave New World in 1931, before the impact of the Nazi totalitarian state.
His version of total control is not based on controlling thoughts and changing the past but conditioning people and drugging them.

Brave New World means living in a world without mother and father, a place full of faceless human clones. In Aldous Huxley´s world each person is raised in a test tube and the government controls every stage of his or her development, from embryo to maturity. Each new human being is categorized and bred into certain classes called Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta or Epsilon. The embryos are chemically manipulated in order to stimulate or retard their physical and mental growth. They are taught by repeating phrases over and over again while they are asleep or by the application of electric shocks. The awareness of the different classes in the brave world and why you fit into your class is implanted in the child’s mind through hypnopaedia. A dislike of roses and books, for instance, is enforced through electric shocks while the children are still infants.

The government can condition each person to accept his role in the world and to behave according to the rules of the government. The result is a society full of human clones, completely devoid of differing personalities. Rather than individual parents instilling their own values into their children, the State chooses how and what children will have to learn. The concept of mother and father has become dirty and improper.

Consequently all people are conditioned to think and act only as members of their class and not as individuals. Things that could create problems in the structure of society, such as the parent’s desire for something better for their children, have been eliminated along with the family.

In his novel Huxley primarily portrays how dangerous the misuse of science and technology could be.

George Orwell (1903 - 1950)	Aldous Huxley (1894 - 1963)

By showing Winston’s fate Orwell develops sinister perspectives, which were recognizable at the end of the forties: Hitler had failed his attempt to become the most powerful man in world, the Cold War began. So for Orwell the main fear of future was the danger of losing your individual freedom and identity because of totalitarian systems.
He wonders whether individuals can defend their personal freedom against a technocratic state, which is well equipped with clever and powerful techniques in order to influence their minds. In my opinion such an ominous future like in 1984 with the total control by means of telescreens, a net of spies, which also existed in the GDR, and the opportunity to change the past is unthinkable. People would recognize this change very early, they would demonstrate against it. In addition, they would be very distrustful, firstly because they would recognize that they are losing their privacy and secondly they would see the threat of some powerful person of total control and power over them.

However, the danger of the misuse of science is far bigger. I suppose it is not possible to such great extent as Huxley describes it, but some of his ideas are partly possible. It is startling to see what you can do with genetic engineering and how much progress has been achieved in the last years. Remember that it is already possible to clone an animal (for example Dolly, the sheep), so it will be a small step to clone human beings.
It is very difficult to draw the line where the use of genetic engineering should stop. On the one hand it can be very helpful as some diseases can be prevented or healed. Besides, some things have become simpler: Diabetics do need insulin, which usually obtained from a pig’s pancreas. The production by means of genetically manufactured bacteria has lowered the costs on a bigger scale and it is better than pig’s insulin, because it does not contain agents which might cause diseases.
But on the other hand it is very enticing to see that you can "design" your child, when there is the possibility. Then parents can wish what their child should look like and exclude possible diseases (this imagination is close to the film "Gattaca", where people who have been designed have great advantages ). Of course, it would be fantastic to prevent diseases but the danger of misuse is very high.

Another example of an invention that is very useful and dangerous is the discovery of the nuclear fission. Surely, nuclear power stations are useful in order to produce energy quickly and ecologically frienly in contrast to coal-fired power stations. The misuse in this case is the production of nuclear bombs as weapons of mass destruction. I think, sometimes such a catastrophe like in Hiroshima has to happen before people become critical of such inventions and before they try to pull the emergency brake.The same could happen with genetic engineering. We will support this all the time, because we think we can control it and decide when to stop, until we recognize that our previous approval was a terrible mistake.
For me the chance that there will be a society led by some mad person who has all the universal power is hardly possible but not unthinkable. However, I hope there will always be people who try to avert this.

© C. E. (2003)