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devonmeyerFirst of all, I have my days totally mixed up. I got on here about to apologize for this being late, and then realized that I’m not behind at all. What a world.
Speaking of things and such, I have had a peculiar experience with Brave New World. Let me begin by saying that I have never read BNW nor do I know the story, so I am experiencing all of this for the first time. Having said that, I love and hate the world presented in this novel, and here’s why:
I believe, on one hand, that finding a way to be as constantly happy as possible is the purpose of life. It has always been an ideology of mine, and so I actually sympathized with some of the oddities of Huxley’s future. When it comes down to it, I agree that there are some people in this world that, in order for the whole order of everything to be maintained, must do the less prestigious work. However, I believe that these people are to be as praised as our most brilliant scientists, for, as the future-inhabitants say, everyone is necessary, even Epsilons.
But the trick is in being happy while you do it: coming from the good town over yonder in Columbus, Ohio, I have met people that would be happy as hell tending a farm day in and day out. I would not. I would hate it. But I’m slightly envious of those farmer-types due to their happiness, despite the fact that if I were in their position I’d hate it.
Which brings us, of course, to conditioning. This is the part that just screws with my head. On a purely philosophical level, I cannot decide whether I actually kinda like the idea or whether I find it terrible. Keep in mind: despite how horrific and terrible it is that someone would dose a fetus with alcohol so that it ends up being stupid, they still make up for that by conditioning the person-to-be so that he is happy being stupid. And as the omniscient they says, ignorance is bliss.
But of course there’s the whole philosophical turmoil of being unable to decide one’s fate for oneself. That is the part off of which I’ve begun to build. Happiness is only the purpose in life because it is a goal—it is a way for a person to better himself (i.e. counting his blessings, taking note of the good in his life, etc.) and it is dependent upon the will of the person.
So I guess therein lies the problem. If people decide for themselves what they want to be, then they’ll probably come up less-than-satisfied and the result is no happiness, but if people can’t decide for themselves then there’s no activity in the purpose of life and therefore there’s no real... purpose in life.
So yeah, welcome to my thoughts.
Speaking of things and such, I have had a peculiar experience with Brave New World. Let me begin by saying that I have never read BNW nor do I know the story, so I am experiencing all of this for the first time. Having said that, I love and hate the world presented in this novel, and here’s why:
I believe, on one hand, that finding a way to be as constantly happy as possible is the purpose of life. It has always been an ideology of mine, and so I actually sympathized with some of the oddities of Huxley’s future. When it comes down to it, I agree that there are some people in this world that, in order for the whole order of everything to be maintained, must do the less prestigious work. However, I believe that these people are to be as praised as our most brilliant scientists, for, as the future-inhabitants say, everyone is necessary, even Epsilons.
But the trick is in being happy while you do it: coming from the good town over yonder in Columbus, Ohio, I have met people that would be happy as hell tending a farm day in and day out. I would not. I would hate it. But I’m slightly envious of those farmer-types due to their happiness, despite the fact that if I were in their position I’d hate it.
Which brings us, of course, to conditioning. This is the part that just screws with my head. On a purely philosophical level, I cannot decide whether I actually kinda like the idea or whether I find it terrible. Keep in mind: despite how horrific and terrible it is that someone would dose a fetus with alcohol so that it ends up being stupid, they still make up for that by conditioning the person-to-be so that he is happy being stupid. And as the omniscient they says, ignorance is bliss.
But of course there’s the whole philosophical turmoil of being unable to decide one’s fate for oneself. That is the part off of which I’ve begun to build. Happiness is only the purpose in life because it is a goal—it is a way for a person to better himself (i.e. counting his blessings, taking note of the good in his life, etc.) and it is dependent upon the will of the person.
So I guess therein lies the problem. If people decide for themselves what they want to be, then they’ll probably come up less-than-satisfied and the result is no happiness, but if people can’t decide for themselves then there’s no activity in the purpose of life and therefore there’s no real... purpose in life.
So yeah, welcome to my thoughts.
