story
Brave New World
A dystopia where people are controlled by pleasure rather than fear.
Origin
Aldous Huxley's 1932 novel. Citizens of a future World State are genetically engineered into castes, conditioned from birth, kept perpetually distracted by sex, entertainment, and a happiness drug called soma. Pairs naturally with 1984 โ where Orwell warned of boots, Huxley warned of comforts.
Modern usage
Reached for in critiques of social media, consumer pleasures, and engineered dopamine. Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death made the Huxley-vs-Orwell framing canonical.
Tags
dystopia
pleasure
control