"Utopia is the good place that doesn't exist," Sir Thomas More once said. Writers like Huxley and Orwell proved this assertion with their satirical, forward-looking novels Brave New World and 1984. These visions have actually bore fruit in the years following their release. Many of the outlandish events and items have become realities. Contemporary social critic Neil Postman asserts that Brave New World is more relevant to today's society than 1984. While Brave New World is more pertinent to today than 1984, Orwell's vision has not been left in complete abandon. Some ideas in 1984 currently ring true, although these are outweighed by the true prophecies in Brave New World.
After 9/11 some of the prophecies of 1984 became realities. Orwell crafted a totalitarian society in which microphones and telescreens are emplaced to weed dissenters from society. This is comparable to the Patriot Act, which allows the US government to tap phone calls, search emails, and invade medical records. This legislation was emplaced to weed out terrorists, domestic and foreign. While terrorism is far from dissension, the Patriot Act is another way of monitoring private matters to ensure security, exactly like the telescreens. Another parallel can be drawn to the matter of torture, which the US has employed for years and most recently at Guantanamo bay. Big Brother and his regime also tortured many dissenters throughout the novel. Obvious are the parallels between today's society and 1984, however they are more numerous when analyzing Brave New World.
"Brave New World hasn't gone away...On the wilder fringes of the genetic engineering community, there are true believers prattling of the gene rich and gene poor-Huxley's alphas and epsilons-and busily engaging in schemes for genetic enhancement"(Atwood). Huxley crafts a society, where humans are cloned and created through mechanized processes. Batches of babies are born in Huxley's vision; this is directly akin to the in vitro fertilization, cloning of animals, and genetic engineering of today. Scientists now have the ability to implant 8 babies in the womb through in vitro fertilization, create a carbon copy of a lamb, and to locate the genes that cause certain traits through the human genome project. Could Huxley have been much more accurate than his vision in Brave New World? Worldwide there is a cooperative effort to cure all diseases known to man, many of which have been depleted through vaccinations for illnesses like smallpox and tuberculosis. In Brave New World, "the inhabitants are beautiful, secure, and free from diseases and worries"(Atwood). While we have not yet cured all diseases, such as AIDS, we are well on our way through the advanced medical procedures. In addition to this, Huxley also envisioned a method of birth control(before the pill) called the "Malthusian drill" to allow recreational sex without unwanted pregnancies. And what do we have today? We have millions who use contraceptives to prevent pregnancy and allow recreational sex with whomever they please. Huxley also envisioned a society where the movie will create an experience where "feelies" and smells are transmitted through the screen to the viewer. At the moment engineers are developing a means of transferring scents through the screen to the viewer, which will essentially place him or her in the screen, albeit without touch at the moment. 3 of the 5 senses will be transmitted through a screen to the viewer! Frightening how accurate Huxley's vision is.
The prophecies of Huxley and Orwell have been validated over the past few decades. The dystopias created by these literary geniuses force us to question how long we have until we become slaves of the government and technology or if we have become slaves already. In both 1984 and Brave New World the society defeats the protagonist and demonstrate the impossibility of a Utopian society. Remember that "the Communist regime in Russia and the Nazi takeover of Germany both began as Utopian visions"(Atwood).
