Aldous Huxley's Brave New World reminds me and suggests the nature-nurture argument; John B. Watson's quote, suggesting that he could modify, change and determine human outcomes ;and the AI threat. This terrific novel was published in 1932 and then revised in 1958. This essay pertains to the Brave New World .
The read begins with fertilization in the D. H. C. where 300 fertilizers were plunged. Thus ,started "human" development. “ This laboratory process continues and subsequently divides all the subjects into different castes of ” individuals.” In the highest caste are the Alpha Plus Intellectuals, followed by lower divisions such as the Epsilon with less intelligence and other limitations . They are programmed for future manual labor. With many ongoing manipulations or conditioning for the embryo ,such as artificial maternal circulation, this process continues. During the programing , for example, the individuals are conditioned for heat so that they can be predestined to immigrate to the tropics to work in the mines or become steelworkers . They are conditioned to thrive on heat and learn to love heat. These "humans,'' are also conditioned to hate the outdoors, love all outdoor sports, be consumers of manufactured articles, and so forth in this State Conditioning Center. Limiting oxygen qualities , different amounts of alcohol, sleep teaching or hypnopedia, electric shocks, repeated messages ,word and wordless conditioning are some of the conditioning techniques employed. In other words, the state fills the mind with suggestions to control , create obedience and stability in order to fulfill its power function
Within this totalitarian state power structure, there was no courting, falling in love, rejection ,engagement , going steady, in laws , divorce or marriage between individuals. Also, there was no such thing as planning for a family with children. , adoption or step children . There was no concern about health insurance, abortion, work time off, hospital visitation, doctor appointments , co-payments, pre existing conditions , vaccinations, nor about term pregnancy, C-section and so forth. There's also no concern about breast-feeding , separation or stranger anxiety, child care nor oedipal issues, character development, preschool, public school, high school or college. Dyslexia, hyperactivity. school attendance, academic achievement, college preparatory classes, tutoring are not present. Going to elite college ,community college,student debt ,college major, are not of concern. Climbing up the corporate ladder, alcohol, drug abuse, AA, 12 step programs , obesity, disease, homelessness, being lonely, failed marriage, child and spousal abuse, alimony, individual or family counseling nor old age were not part of this drama .
On the other hand, three articles in the June 9, 2024 edition of The New York Times pertain and illustrate differences and the expression of ego needs employed. Benjamin B.Bolger attended Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Columbia, Dartmouth, Oxford, Cambridge, Brandeis, Brown and others and attained 14 degrees, such as a doctorate, MFA, associates, and bachelors. He donated to Hillary Clinton a sum of.$50,000 for her presidential campaign and donated more than $2500 to Robert F Kennedy Jr. as well.
Benjamin is a full-time private college admissions consultant ; has a home office in Cambridge and private clubs that include the Union Club , and Harvard club .. He has a daughter fluent in two languages who performed violin pieces at Carnegie Hall . She also has lunch with her father at the Harvard club.
When Benjamin was 2 , his car was hit by a drunk driver and parents were seriously injured. His mother spent months in the hospital ending up with a metal plate in one of her legs . Benjamin's mother spent time working with his dyslexia and spent hours driving to science museums, Cranbrook Academy of Arts, Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, reading him War and Peace and was highly involved in his public school and college education.
Huxley refers to this previous life as Savage. In other words, during the Civilization's reign , a Benjamin was not present even if programmed as an elite Alpha Plus. He's been able to master his independence; has surpassed others while meeting his ego's need for Achievement. Benjamin has also shaken free of restraint , and resisted coercion. He’s independent and has defied convention, which is his ego's need for Autonomy. He has made up for a failure in reading , has overcome this weakness , has repressed his fear and difficulties to overcome , maintain self-respect and pride on a very high level thereby meeting hIs ego's need for Counteraction. Benjamin has made an impression and is able to excite, fascinate, shock and intrigue others which is the expression of his ego's need for Exhibition.
The opioid crisis hit the United States in the late 1990s. First, prescription painkillers, then heroin and tighter prescription rules pushed dependence on opioids in underground markets. More recently, it’s fentanyl. This epidemic has killed roughly 800,000 people by overdose since 1999, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is the nation's leading cause of accidental death . A 2022 report by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health noted that employees in fishing ,agriculture and hunting had the highest rates of all industries . Closely following are workers in the construction trades. In fishing fleets, people work 11 hour shifts with 4 hour breaks in between. Exhaustion, pain, injury, are associated with this employment..
Currently, most CEOs are earning a lot of money while most employees are not. New accounting measures such as current and potential stock holdings are now included in CEO compensation statistics . The following five top US chief executives by "compensation actually paid." In 2023 are as follows: 1 Tesla 1.4 billion 2.Palantir 1.1 billion 3. Broadcom 768 million . 4. Coinbase 681 million 5. Oracle 304 million.
These three articles represent differences between the Savage and Civilization experiences. Huxley presents positives regarding civilization . In addition to genetic engineering .Soma and pharmaceutical anesthetization was used to pacify all the subjects. In other words, the subjects were able to pursue "happiness", and be obedient at all hours. If one was anxious, soma was always available. If one had a conflict to resolve, soma was available. If one was irritable or unhappy, soma was available . In other words, these dependent and addicted (being dependent on a chemical substance to the extent that physiologic dependence is established) individuals theoretically were never unhappy as the medication was almost always available. There was no withdrawal or need for any twelve-step program or even hospitalization. In fact, the police were armed with pharmaceuticals to placate and control any unusual occurrence. The purpose was to establish happiness , being free from conflict , self indulgence, predictability, stability and feeling mellow even after a work day in which soma was administered .
In civilization, sex was expected and normal without any guilt or fear of pregnancy. Sexual relationships were casual and the ego need of Sex was to have intercourse was met . There was no requirement for courtship , sexual exploitation , rape, infidelity , guilt, or sexual abuse. There was every effort by the state to eliminate frustration and gratify that impulse or ego need.
Genetic engineering , soma and sex was represented by Bernard, Lenina ,Helmholtz and Linda. Linda, pregnant, became lost in the old world and gave birth to John. Bernard and Lenina had sex and both, on holiday, brought Linda and John back to civilization . John didn't adjust to civilization. He was unable to deal sexually with Lenina's seductive advances. John exhibited many hangups and even self flagellating himself which expresses his Abasement ego need, which is accepting punishment ,admitting to wrongdoing , and attempting to atone ,
Bernard and Helmholtz exhibited the ego need of Affiliation which is reciprocating, attempting to please , receive the affection of the other, as well as remaining loyal. These two individuals were rebellious , began to question the state and were scheduled to be exiled.
Linda was found to be " old " with flabby skin and other unattractive features. She was about to die and was sent to the hospital with Synthetic music, perfume scented room , TV box, and soma. In fact, a group of individuals visited her and others hospitalized for dying conditioning There was no issue about dying or grief. John was unable to deal with the sterility and Billy Joel's song. " Only the good die young " is not only applicable but irrelevant. Dying was expected ,normal and not to be feared. In fact, "civilization was protecting their own from catching venereal ,other non curable or cardiac disease, being obese, burial fees , being impotent, ugly and grieving.
According to the state , "as a man grows as he feels in himself that radical sense of weakness , " .."of listlessness of discomfort. which accompanies the advance of age, and feeling, thus imagines himself merely sick, lulling his fears with the notion that this distressing condition is due to some particular cause as from an illness, he hopes to recover...... They say that it is the fear of death, and of what comes after death that makes men turn to religion is the advance in years." ..... " You can only be independent of God while you got youth and prosperity; independence wont take you safely to the end.".... And why should we go hunting for a substitute for youthful desires, when you say desires never fail? .... "How does he manifest himself now.?" .... "Well, he manifests himself as an absence; as though he was there." ...... "People believe in God because they've been conditioned to believe in God."
The brilliant Aldous Huxley describes the implications and ramifications of a powerful totalitarian state ruled by few. Homo sapiens history can be characterized by those with a neurotic character structure that have exhibited tendencies for unlimited power . In contrast, we have individuals with a humanistic based character structure of the likes of Jesus Christ, Baruch Spinoza, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein, Mother Teresa, Albert Schweitzer, Henry David Thoreau, Mahatma Gandhi, Bertrand Russell , Martin Luther King Jr., John Lennon , and Noam Chomsky. In our history, peoples have been destroyed, animals decimated, ecosystems changed, cities wiped out along with inordinate climate change. As a result , expect greed ,lust for power and neurotic behavior to continue . And if not contained , AI represents another tool , a weapon for that minority to exploit, steal , and dominate regardless of all the fiction ,half truth, lies and propaganda to follow.. Next week’s essay addresses fiction , half truth, lies and propaganda .
Reference
Murray , H.A. Explorations in Personality.
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