I've written an article about Huxley and his masterpiece Brave New World before, and I want to talk about it again.
Brave New World has to be said to be a great work, and I feel that many of the imaginations in the book at that time are becoming a reality, and from this book, I see a super-stable social structure and a super-stable class form.
According to the sociological point of view, after the disappearance of hierarchy, classes will appear, and class society will replace hierarchical society, which is a typical hierarchical society in ancient China. Marx is undoubtedly the most famous in his exposition of classes, and his division of the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, in the end, the realization of the union of free men became a classic.
The rulers are most worried about social disharmony and instability, so they are always trying to carry out social stability work, prevent class antagonism, and prevent social division. But now Western civilization and commodity economy have naturally classified and divided the world into classes, which has brought about class antagonisms, and inequality between classes has increased, resulting in social disharmony and instability.
So some sociologists have proposed olive-shaped social structures and pyramid-type social structures, these two kinds of social structures are the most stable, the pyramid is the ancient Chinese hierarchical social model, a very stable society, hierarchical division, each performing its own duties. The olive type is a later point of view, and it is also very stable, and our goal is to build such a social model.
In Brave New World's "Cosmic Nation", the whole society is divided into five basic social hierarchies, namely Alpha, Beta, Gama, Deta, and Epsilon. Alpha is the highest social hierarchy, followed by Beta and Epsilon the lowest. In fact, this is a pyramidal social structure.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="7" > totalitarian social safety valve mechanism</h1>
"Brave New World" constructs a "totalitarian social safety valve mechanism", that is, the use of various technologies and means to imprison people's thoughts, avoid and suppress people's own thinking conflicts, as well as behavioral conflicts between people, and then advocate indulgence and pan-entertainment to paralyze and fall into empty happiness.
It's a technocratic and totalitarian society where everything is under control. Everyone is under the strict surveillance and control of the social ruling class, and controlling everything becomes the main means for those in power to rule and maintain society. In Brave New World, rulers use various means to control the people. This control begins at the birth of man.
1. Control the birth of man and solidify class contradictions.
In order to avoid the most fundamental social conflict, the class contradiction, the "cosmic state" uses technology to control the birth of man. Humans are all produced in the incubation and conditioning center of central London, through the production assembly line. Shape different classes of babies in proportion according to the needs, damage the intelligence of babies to varying degrees through "condition settings" such as temperature and drugs, and create some special functions for them to adapt to extreme conditions.
After the baby is born, it is "restricted", that is, "primary stage awareness education". Every citizen of the "Cosmic Nation" has been instilled in their sleep systems knowledge and class concepts since childhood. All the people who are educated are deeply identified with their class identity, believe that their class is the best, have no interest in class leaps, and do not need class mobility.
Class solidification is conducive to social stability, and all social strata live and work in peace and contentment to avoid class conflicts.
2. Paralyze the people through pan-entertainment and material satisfaction
Because the "cosmic kingdom" has a highly developed science and technology, material prosperity is unprecedented, and each class can enjoy the same material and life, and the degree of enjoyment of life between classes is the same. So, there's no going to be about what you can't get here. Because there are no parents, no family, no wife, so there is no seven passions. People live a wealthy life, do not get sick, and can live a comfortable and happy life here.
Moreover, the "Cosmic Nation" has also invented various entertainment equipment for people to entertain, so that the people can indulge in entertainment and a good life. A hallucinogenic drug called "SOMA" was even created to eliminate people's feelings of pain. After eating one pill, negative emotions and dissatisfaction disappear immediately, while creating a great sense of satisfaction.
3. Imprisoning thoughts does not require enlightenment and speculation
The ruling class of the "cosmic state" forbade all "non-essential" thinking activities of the people: could not read the feudal remnants of the "old world", listed them as forbidden books, and discouraged reading, debate, and thinking. There is no need for thought, and there is no coexistence of multiple ideas.
Logically, the "cosmic country" of "Brave New World" should be very "harmonious", in fact, there is not, such as Alpha Ham Hertz, Max, etc., they still rise up to provoke trouble.
Therefore, the social safety valve mechanism of the "cosmic country" seems to be stable, but in fact it cannot really solve social contradictions, which is a passive way to avoid conflict, and can only whitewash taiping.
The totalitarian social safety valve mechanism is contrary to human nature, resulting in the individual's ability to resist pressure, the spirit of exploration and free will all disintegrate to varying degrees, and the whole society will gradually change from numbness to rigidity, and eventually can only bring backlash.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="30" > technical domination and control</h1>
The ruling class controls the regeneration of man with science and technology, just as it treats commodities to meet the needs of the market. Technology has taken control of all aspects of social life. Man's birth is controlled by machines, man's growth is regulated by machines, man's entertainment life is designed by technology, and even man's thoughts are monitored by technology.
In such a world, man's sense of existence is greatly reduced, man is completely trained and managed by society and the government, all thoughts are controlled, people have no feelings, no self, and form a pathological balance between oppression and oppression. Man lives to adapt to society, the purpose of living is to be used, people have a clear class, a clear division of labor, forming a hypocritical happy totalitarian society, the people have only a false freedom and equality.
Today's industrialized society requires a large number of obedient, non-individual workers to produce maximum productivity. Isn't that exactly the vigilance in the book?
The screw working model makes us like machines, what other thoughts and thoughts? This is what we want to reflect on, against totalitarian society, awakening human care is the biggest inspiration this book gives us.