I was reading Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and thinking,This is what society is becoming.Especially since nowadays people want to be distracted with the use of the internet and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.I like how it says " What we desire will destroy us" because in the grand scheme of things. It most likely will and that is a very disturbing thoought.It is shocking how he wrote the book in 1932 and it was written during the 1920's, all of what he is sayiing is becoming a scary reality.
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
by d 22 Replies latest jw friends
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Markfromcali
Since you mention it, it's interesting to note that desire is considered a big issue in Buddhism. Of course repressing desires don't exactly help us mature either, but if you're completely identified with them you're just ripe for manipulation since it's largely instinctual behavior.
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Lozhasleft
Hi d and welcome to the forum...sorry to be pedantic but Huxley wrote it between April and August 1931 and it was first published in 1932. Since he foretold mass ranks of genetically modified workers under a variety of state controls....I dont think we're getting anywhere near his futuristic fiction ...but it's an interesting debate !
Loz x
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d
It is not that I believe it will happen to the fullest, but I realize just like in the book we as humans have a increased need to be distracted and not want to deal with reality. Many people especially those in the U.S are this way.People in the U.S love distraction and not logical thinking.I for one am not that.
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notverylikely
People in the U.S love distraction and not logical thinking.I for one am not that.
Facebook and Twitter are not distractions that prevent logical thinking. They are new facets of reality.
I am curious, what do you think logical thinking entails that has been lost today?
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d
Well thinks in part to reality tv many people do not see real life for what it is.Many people are too distracted with the use of tv to know what goes on in the real world.I am not saying televsion is bad, but if it is misused it can be a bad thing.Just think of the many hours a child today watches televsion.Long televsion hours can inhibit social skills among other such things.
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notverylikely
Well thinks in part to reality tv many people do not see real life for what it is
What is it that they are not seeing?
Many people are too distracted with the use of tv to know what goes on in the real world.
What are they missing?
.Just think of the many hours a child today watches televsion.Long televsion hours can inhibit social skills among other such things.
Agreed. Limited TV use for children is a good thing, particularly for social skills.
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Markfromcali
One example: how about a college student using their own high GPA and subjective experience as evidence to disprove research about the mental activity of college students as a group? Evidently they are not entirely clear on the concept of statistics.
Attention span is an obvious one, and then there is the need for attention (which I know some of us has seen on this board) as well as separation anxiety by having to constantly be connected, two amongst other much more insightful observations Jaron Lanier has made in You Are Not a Gadget. Program or Be Programmed by Douglas Rushkoff is a good easy read, and though I haven't finished it Boxed In: The Culture of TV by Mark Crispin Miller looks to be good.
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d
What I am trying to say was how people say seem to be distracted from everything.I mean as a society we do not deal with our problems in a healthy way.In Brave New World the people take Soma a drug to deal with ones's problems.Just like in this society people may take various antianxiety or antidepressants.This is nt bad for some as seeing some do need it.But however it can be abused which can cause problems.