Technology - Good or Bad

Technology: Good or Bad

According to Aldous Huxley the "Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards." The world today is making very quick technological advancements that are supposed to be beneficial to everyone in many societies around the globe. Many places are also becoming technology dependent, and could not function if technology was to be removed. Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World, and George Orwell, author of 1984, both use their novels to portray the future (modern times now) as a time that is horrible due to it being a very technology dependent and technologically advanced time. The novels differ because they show the technological advancement as being used for very different purposes but are similar as they show government using new technology to control what citizens do.

The technology advance in society in 1984 is used for surveillance purposes, whereas the technology advance in Brave New World is used for scientific purposes. When students are touring the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre (where babies are created) the Director of Hatcheries tells the students that a new process called bokanovskification has been created and it can lead to ninety-six babies being created from one single egg (Huxley 9). This proves that in Huxley's novel, the innovations in the technological field are used to create items related to science. In society today, much has been created in the scientific field, although not to this degree, proving Huxley's hypothesis to be true. Shortly after arriving to his apartment, a man named Winston describes where he lives. He points out how he has a telescreen like everyone else has to have. The telescreens are used as cameras to so that the government can watch the citizens and are also used as a television to give constant government messages (Orwell 5). This shows Orwell's belief in future technology to be used as a means of surveillance. This also shows future technology used as propaganda as well, as the telescreen is also used as a television to promote government ideas. When a girl name Lenina sees something that she finds disturbing, she takes a synthetic drug created by the government called soma that calms her down (Huxley 111). This again shows Huxley's belief that technology will be used in the scientific field, as he depicts a new drug being engineered. Today, many drugs have been created for various reasons, proving Huxley's prediction somewhat correct. In Brave New World and in 1984 the new, advanced technologies are used for two completely different purposes.

Furthermore, both Brave New World and 1984 show that the governments use the new technology that they have to control what their citizens do and think. One man who realizes what the government is doing, named John, tells the others in society that the soma they are taking is being used to control them and he calls them "slaves" and also says that they do not "understand what manhood and freedom are" (Huxley 213). This proves that Huxley believes that technology advancement will lead to the government abusing it to gain control of their citizens. Without this technology the government in Brave New World would not be able to create