OpenCulture unearthed this letter George Orwell received from his former teacher, Aldous Huxley. Both 1984 and Brave New World speculate on dystopian futures we may have in store. In the letter Huxley argues that his, Brave New World, is more likely an outcome, although he does leave room for a 1984 stepping stone.
Are we close enough to tell? 1984 is set 41 years ago and we have over 500 years till Brave New World. I’m still hoping for alternatives.
“Within the next generation I believe that the world’s rulers will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging and kicking them into obedience.”
In Huxley’s seemingly dystopian World State, the elite amuse the masses into submission with a mind-numbing drug called Soma and an endless buffet of casual sex. Orwell’s Oceania, on the other hand, keeps the masses in check with fear thanks to an endless war and a hyper-competent surveillance state. At first blush, they might seem like they are diametrically opposed but, in fact, an Orwellian world and a Huxleyan one are simply two different modes of oppression.
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