A Sign?

I was recently driving on the freeway, when in the distance I saw a large, white, capital T that had been spraypainted on the side of the freeway. I immediately thought of Brave New World and the pseudodeity, Henry Ford. As my car approached, I noticed that the T was not a T at all. It was actually a cross. The top of the cross was so short it almost looked like the religious symbol of Brave New World. Is this a sign that we are beginning the descent, or the climb, to our own brave new world? With our sperm banks and surrogate mothers and genetic modification and cloning, we are already halfway there.

The last step our world will probably take before taking the form of Aldous Huxley's dream, or rather Aldous Huxley's nightmare, is in chapter three, page fifty-two, of Brave New World: "All crosses had their tops cut and became T's."

The Last Supper?

In Brave New World Bernard Marx is considered an outcast to the Alphas due to his smaller body frame and personality. He is not able to get as many girls as other Alphas can without doubt and hesitation. The lives of the Alphas, Betas, Gammas, and Epsilons revolve around each other. They are never allowed to think for themselves, yet Bernard Marx may feel the opposite.

Chapter 5 Part 2: Bernard Marx is attending a meeting of "twelve" people. The arrangement of the seats is boy, girl, boy, girl... when this was stated, The Last Supper of Jesus and his twelve disciples quickly popped into my head. Then " soma was passed from hand to hand..." and I thought of when Jesus was passing the bread and wine around the table for each of the disciples to eat and drink. From this scene, I feel as if Bernard Marx is the Judas of the meeting. Judas in the Last Supper deceived Jesus and turned him in to be crucified and before he did, Jesus announced that someone was going to deceive him, yet no one knew. With that, I see Bernard Marx as Judas because he is not like the others and he feels many unusual things that an Alpha should not feel. With that, he may one day turn his back on his caste and rebel.

Do you think this is possible that Bernard Marx may rebel and change all the lives of their world?

A Help or a Danger

SCIENCE
Could science be the most dangerous enemy of all? In Brave New World, there are people that question this. I mean for as much as it has helped our society it could be damaging us more. I do not necessarily agree with this fact because with all the ways science has tried to help people. From those with amputated body parts to those with cancers and other diseases. Scientist have tried to help all those needs in the medical field from new body parts to new types of medicine. Without science most medical mysteries could never be tested because people would be afraid to experiment their theroies.

I can also see why people would consider it a danger though; sometimes we do use science for bad. We have used it to create products like steroids which can destroy parts of body. Think about it most sports have ban these types of products from their sport because the head people of the sport do not want to see their athlete's hurt because they could not stop themselves.

So when we ask ourselves has science really been helping us or has it been pursuing us to do bad actions?

Two interesting articles today

This one from the UK seems obvious: Google is forcing us to change our habits.
And I'm on Twitter quite a bit this summer, chasing down trends in education and technology, so I found this interesting about professors using Twitter in the classroom. We are in the middle of what they call Convergence Culture -- or what Alvin Toffler described in his book The Third Wave (1980) -- when a new wave (of technology) comes in, previous waves don't just leave or die out. They thrive on their own terms, and they interact, provide resistance, provide support to new waves...so as new technologies come online, the old ones do not disappear -- nor should they! You won't find me arguing for the Kindle over the book. You'll find me wanting the Kindle AND the book.

I am someone with one foot firmly planted in both worlds. I am constantly pushing my colleagues and peers toward technology while advising my students to back off. Oh! Speaking of that...here's another little something by Howard Rheingold about Crap Detecting. (Pardon the crass language, but as students of language, I think you will agree that in this case, the word is most appropriate.) Crap detecting is the all important skill for you young people to develop. In a world with everything at your fingertips, what is real? What is useful? What is valuable? And what is -- well...crap?

Are you willing to sacrifice your identity for stability?

In Brave New World, "everyone belongs to everyone else." The people of this "civilization" live in a world where commitments are considered odd (a problem that must be taken care of immediately); a place wherein relationships are non-existent and are even considered as disgusting. Although there is stability, the individual possesses NO right to choose for themselves.

A world free of drama, disputes, and consequences is also a world free of love, poetry, and the right to choose. The problems and challenges that were eradicated are important to a person's life. These are what shape a person's character and personality; these are what make people individuals.

Although the civilized people of Brave New World believe they are free, are they really? These people have their lives predetermined by those in-charge of the embryos. At a very young age, they are literally taught and told what to like, how to act/feel, and how to live through the hypnopaedic (sleep) therapy. These people do not know any better because the phrases are embedded into their young, eager, and developing minds. Therefore, as they mature, they only believe that they are free to do as they wish (that they have freewill) when in reality, their subconscious thoughts have been tampered with; their sub-conscience have become mere echoes of the therapeutic phrases that were repeated to them hundreds of times.

"Community, Identity, Stability," that is their motto. Imagine a life where everyone acts the same and where you see twins EVERYWHERE. Chills go down my spine as I think about this. Personally, I would NOT want to live in a world that discourages individualism. Would you?

Mediacracy

I do not know how everyone feels about fake words, but I feel that Mediacracy is a word that webster must accept. Definition: a government where the looks and media coverage dominate over values and ideals. This is the most revealing thing I have read so far in Amusing Ourselves to Death. The whole section about how Taft wouldn’t have won in today’s day and age of television and how Nixon was sabotaged by his makeup men was eye-opening, and thought-provoking. I had to think about this most recent election. Would Obama won if he was crossed-eyed and bald, would FDR have won if his disability had been broadcasted to the world, especially if a station, if it was in today’s age, ran a 2 hour special just on his disability? I doubt either would have even got close to the oval office. FDR led us out of the Great Depression and I doubt him having or not having a disability had a great deal to do with it. Why did Arnold Schwarzenegger win the California election? Was it his high esteemed values or his looks? I think he won because 99% his looks and 1% his ideals and positions on certain issues. What do you think?

Medieval Art Reference?

As I read through Brave New World I've noticed that in their society a person's size also denotes their rank in the caste system. This reminds me of the Medieval paintings in which the peasants and other low ranking members of society were depicted as dwarfs compared to the high ranking members of society such as the lords and nobles. Is this just a coincidence or was this purposely done by Huxley? I also don't understand why they would do this in addition to the color-coded uniforms that are worn. Could the size difference in the castes be simply to further widen the gap between each caste or does it have a deeper meaning? Also I don't understand why the lower castes would be smaller in stature since they are the ones that do the physical labor, while the larger upper castes mainly hold administrative or intellectual positions, could this be because someone of larger stature often appears more commanding?