Dystopian literature is becoming more and more popular. It is not surprising: there are serious signs that mankind is moving by leaps and bounds towards some new world order. And dystopias can contain clues as to what kind of order it is.
I will name the most famous dystopias: "We" (1920) by Evgeny Zamyatin; The Foundation Pit (1930) by Andrey Platonov, Brave New World (1932) by Aldous Huxley, The War with the Salamanders (1936) by Karel Chapek, Animal Farm (1945) and 1984 (1948) by George Orwell, 451 degrees Fahrenheit”(1953) by Ray Bradbury,“Atlas Shrugged”(1957) by Ayn Rand,“A Clockwork Orange”(1962) by Anthony Burgess,“Hour of the Bull”(1970) by Ivan Efremov and others.
A distinctive feature of all "ideal" social systems is their stability, the absence of revolutions, other social upheavals, injustice, hunger, and most importantly, universal "happiness." At first glance, it would be more correct to call such models of society utopias - isn't that what many thinkers and public figures of the past, called utopians, dreamed of?
However, upon closer examination, many utopias, especially in modern times, turn out to be dystopias; they provide for the achievement of good goals not very, to put it mildly, good means.
In all works of the dystopian genre, without exception, the most important place is given to science and technology. "Ideal" societies are created on the basis of certain achievements of scientific and technological progress. Analyzing Yevgeny Zamyatin's dystopian novel "We", I mentioned some scientific and technical miracles that ensured "happiness" in the One State. Science and technology in this novel, as in other dystopias, appears in three guises.
First, as a means of cognizing the world around and conquering nature for the sake of satisfying the material needs of all members of society. So, in the novel "We" the food problem is solved by a general transition to the production of food from oil.
Secondly, as a means of building a society like a giant machine, where each person is a small detail. In the novel "We", the gathering of all people into one anthill is carried out using the Hourly Tablet and the Taylorism system.
Thirdly, as a means of remaking the person himself. We see examples of such interference in human nature in the novel "We". At the end of the novel, the Benefactor (the head of the United State) signs a decree that all the numbers (as the citizens of the state are called) undergo the Great Operation to remove the "center of fantasy" from the brain. This is one of the most radical means of depriving a person of his soul (a person should not have it, it prevents him from being happy).
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I would like to dwell on this moment (alteration of a person) in more detail. Of all the dystopias with which I am familiar, the theme of human transformation is most vividly and in detail highlighted in the novel Brave New World by the English writer Aldous Huxley, published in 1932. Huxley's “ideal” society has no outwardly signs of totalitarian uniformity. In the novel "We", for example, citizens are being followed, they can be punished and even executed (for this, the Benefactor's Machine was created - a unique technical means of physical liquidation). In George Orwell's 1984, the Ministry of Love tracks down people disloyal to Big Brother and the party and destroys them.
But in Brave New World we do not see external violence against a person. Everyone is happy in their own way, at least they don't show any discontent. What is the secret of such an "ideal" society? The fact that Huxley has different people, different from the inhabitants of the "ideal" worlds of other dystopias. One of the ten rulers of the World State (Brave New World), Mustafa Mond, confesses: “You need to rule wisely, not with a whip. Not to act with fists, but to influence the brains. " Of course, the management system of the "brave new world" also fails from time to time, sometimes dissidents appear. However, they do without the Benefactor's Machine: dissidents are simply exiled to distant lands. In the novel, two such dissidents are sent into exile: Bernard Marx to Iceland, Helmholtz to the Falkland Islands.
If in Zamyatin's novel we see a large number of technical devices and machines that are absolutely fantastic for the time when the novel "We" was written (which is, for example, a spaceship that is supposed to fly to distant planets), then Huxley has nothing of the kind. Well, he has flying machines (helicopters), but who could be surprised by this in 1932, when the novel was published? Yes, Huxley has artificial food, but it exists alongside natural food. Not like in Zamyatin's novel, where they eat exclusively products made from oil.
But from Huxley we learn that all the efforts of science and technology are aimed at remaking man. In modern Western literature, this is called hume-tech (as opposed to the familiar term high-tech). The new person must become a product of science and technology, and by the time the novel describes this task, this problem has been largely solved. Not completely, however, but the inhabitants of the "brave new world" expect that the time is not far off when it will be completely and finally solved. In Huxley we already see non-humans - creatures that have only a human shell. Only a few of Huxley's have the rudiments of human consciousness and conscience.
The motto of the planet in the World State: "Community, Identity, Stability."
The principle of "Equality" is consistently carried out through the organization of the conveyor production of standardized people. In the "brave new world", with rare exceptions, people are not born naturally, but are raised in bottles in special factories - hatcheries. At the output of this production, there are five product modifications. There are five castes in society (they are designated by the letters "alpha", "beta", "gamma", "delta", "epsilon"). Accordingly, in the early stages of development of human embryos, they are artificially divided into five species with different mental and physical properties. Separation occurs by adding certain substances and mixtures to the bottle. Within each type (caste), the products must be exactly the same and meet the necessary standards. Unification is achieved by cloning (identical twins are obtained at the output). This whole cuisine can be called "genetic programming".
At the stage of embryo development, the future social-production function of the “product” is determined. Future chemists develop resistance to lead, caustic soda, resins, chlorine. The miner is taught a tendency to warmth. "Epsilons" are assigned the most difficult and dirty jobs that do not require intelligence. At the exit, they look like half-idiots. The highest physical and mental characteristics should have products designated as "alpha". They are entrusted with the functions of management, education, scientific and technical activities.
As soon as the baby is taken out of the bottle (birth is called "uncorking"), it enters the educational conveyor. Science has created many effective methods of forming the "correct" consciousness. For example, in a dream, a child is indoctrinated with attitudes toward consumption, collectivism, class distinctions, hygiene, etc. This is hypnopedia - hypnosis in a dream.
When children are awake, they develop certain unconditioned reflexes, so that the child is drawn to something, and is turned away from something. For example, the director of the kindergarten instructs the nannies to bring the "sliders"; nannies bring large carts with children from the delta group. Then he gives the command to bring the children to the stand with books and flowers. Children are drawn to beautiful objects, but they are shocked. The operation is repeated, but the children are no longer drawn to flowers and books. The director explains this measure by the need to disaccustom the representatives of the Delta caste to love nature and literature. One should not “waste the time of the Society” on their aesthetic and mental development, because deltas should be engaged in dirty, heavy work. Intellectual and creative activity is contraindicated for them. While maintaining their love for nature, the deltas will use transport,to leave the city, and this is unnecessary economic costs from which the previous society suffered. The director is sure that children are being programmed against "unnecessary consumption" and the kindergarten fulfills a very important social task.
In the process of upbringing, people are instilled with love for their caste, admiration for the higher caste and disregard for the lower castes. Every person, regardless of caste, is instilled in the habit of pleasures and entertainment, the cult of consumption. A consuming person willingly converts his freedom into pleasures (power and a person's voluntary surrender of freedom is needed).
The novel talks about the consumption of drugs, which are called "soma", rather than the usual products and goods. This is a brilliant invention. Soma is considered a harmless drug (which does not interfere with the performance of social and labor functions) and at the same time, an effective remedy for relieving depression. There is a popular saying: "Soma grams - and no dramas!" Therefore, the inhabitants of the "brave new world" are rarely sad, rarely enjoy life. Soma has one drawback - those who use this drug die early. However, there is also a big plus here: there are no old people in society, the citizens of the "brave new world" live in joy and do not know what old age is. Taking a large dose of soma before dying makes it even pleasant to die.
As for such a pillar of the state order as "Community", it is possible only if private ownership of not only the means of production, but also children is abolished. The idea of "privatizing" children does not even occur to any citizen of the World State, since children are a product coming off the assembly line of the Hatchery. Nor can a man have any special rights to a woman, and a woman to a man. There is no institution of marriage and family in the "brave new world". Having a permanent sexual partner is considered indecent. The principle is promoted: "Everyone belongs to everyone else." A chaotic sexual relationship between subjects is called "mutual use."
The words "family" and "marriage" have a shade of indecent, and "father" and "mother" are considered rude curses (especially "mother" - after all, children are not nurtured in a woman's womb, but are raised in flasks). Sex education lessons and sex play are required for all children, and adults are promiscuous and watch pornography in movies. This is considered a prerequisite for mental health. Contraception and Malthusian lessons are required for unsterilized women.
Those who built the "brave new world" came to a simple conclusion, which the dictators of previous centuries could not think of: a totalitarian society based on violence is unstable. At some point, the people become stronger than the rulers and overthrow them. Power over humanoid beings who feel “happy” satisfying their “basic” needs for food, sex, and entertainment looks quite different. Such power is reliable, for it controls the weak people who have no intention of overthrowing the rulers. Why destroy the power that guarantees "basic" goods?
In 1958, O. Huxley wrote Return to a Brave New World. This is an essay in which the author states that the world is moving towards the state described in his dystopian novel much faster than he thought. Drugs are already sweeping the world. The atmosphere of "free love" reigns; many regard family and marriage as an anachronism. Television has become a more effective brainwashing tool than Goebbels' propaganda. In secret laboratories, they are engaged in experiments on the part of genetic engineering.
O. Huxley writes that the post-war West confirms the conjecture expressed in the novel Brave New World that in order to effectively control each person, one should not punish for undesirable behavior, but reward for desirable ones. “As a result, terror is a less effective means of control than non-violent transformation of the world around us, as well as of people's thoughts and feelings,” concludes O. Huxley. This is the “soft power” technology that is being successfully applied to people today.