Aldous Huxley on Technodictators

"If you want to preserve your power indefinitely, you have to get the consent of the ruled" - Aldous Huxley
Interview by Mike Wallace on May 18, 1958, from the Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin
"This is Aldous Huxley, a man haunted by a vision of hell on earth. Mr. Huxley wrote a Brave New World, a novel that predicted that some day the entire world would live under a frightful dictatorship. Today Mr. Huxley says that his fictional world of horror is probably just around the corner for all of us." - Mike Wallace
In this remarkable interview, Huxley foretells a future when telegenic presidential hopefuls use television to rise to power, technology takes over, drugs grab hold, and frightful dictatorships rule us all.
Enjoy the journey and tell us in the comments whether he was right.
Learn more about Aldous Huxley, including his connections with The Doors and Carl Sagan, on our website:
blankonblank.org/aldous-huxley/
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[@tkzubaran]

The irony of this being in a Google service is not lost on me.

[@peggyfranzen6159]

No problem.Real intellectuals think for themselves.

[@zadu666]

Why are you here watching?

[@justanotherguyful]

@@zadu666 because we have no choice, alternatives to youtube and google are actively suppresed.

[@lynth]

Yes, his anti-communist views were a direct product of his media manipulating him into believing dystopian ideas about communism. Highly ironic how he was anticipating "the enemy" doing the things that his own government was doing to him as he spoke.

[@peggyfranzen6159]

I am not big fan of newspeak, doublethink, or rhetoric Let your" Yes", be yes, and. your " No", be no.

[@Majnun74]

"Presidential candidates are merchandised as though they were toothpaste."

[@rolanddeschain5161]

Trump paste will built a wall around your teeth to keep the plaque out!

[@goodun6081]

@@rolanddeschain5161 , in a saner world that would have been side-splittingly funny.

[@Mephitinae]

@@goodun6081 It's even funnier when you realize that Israel is already using multiple walls (Israel-Gaza barrier and West Bank barrier) to keep Muslims out.

[@erichvonmolder9310]

Watch FOX, CNN or MSNBC especially when an election is upcoming.

[@jeffcarroll1990shock]

Sponsored by Colgate

[@douggoldwater1734]

"the television is always saying the same thing all the time" -looks nervously at every single late night TV show

[@infinitijourney]

tv is not the truth or news or information...it is only an entertainment with a narrative

[@ArmageddonAfterparty]

@@infinitijourney no, it is spreading propaganda every day and KZbin is welcoming them onto our platform, not theirs, *ours*. We need to take it back, force Alphabet Inc. and their fellow Prism tech companies to give it up, to give all social media to us, the people.

[@klausineliebtpeter]

the great reset is televised

[@peggyfranzen6159]

The Song remains the same.

[@peggyfranzen6159]

I guess Ray Bradbury was correct. In his book "Farenheit 451", the hero of the story's wife was talking to her" friends or relatives", on the screens, and ignoring him.

[@ThePatMan42069]

Now replace “television” with “social media”

[@mikelyoloson2743]

And soon maybe social media with brain stimulation of pleasure that keeps it self satisfied

[@ThePatMan42069]

mikel yoloson we can only hope

[@haywoodjablowme2812]

And the drugs with well, drugs

[@peterbills4129]

@@mikelyoloson2743 Are you under the impression social media doesn't already stimulate pleasure? How many likes, comments, impressions, or followers did you get? How many dislikes or negative comments were suppressed from your view by the design of the social media platform? Like this comment of mine and reply, I will see it. Dislike this comment of mine and reply, and I will not see it. I'm safely guarded from the dangers of differing opinions (hate speech).

[@peterbills4129]

Their tell a vision is no longer a program that must be tuned in to. Now it comes in micro doses and we carry it in our pockets. Much more effective.

[@-KillaWatt-]

"in 2030 you will own nothing and you will be happy"

[@deepthought8770]

@Brandon Neifert I'm sure there were many conversations started in Germany in the 1930s.

[@roymakescomics]

Is that a quote from the great Tim Dillon?

[@VerMirror]

@@deepthought8770 or “Israel” in 1947.

[@Captain_MonsterFart]

@Brandon Neifert Well it would have helped if they said that! It did start a conversation, the people said NO. Now those WEF billionaires and world leaders have better ideas on how to manipulate the population in the future.

[@nachoguy5]

@Brandon Neifert EAT THE BUGS, LIVE IN THE POD, RENT YOUR CLOTHES. YOU WILL OWN NOTHING AND YOU WILL BE HAPPY

[@SleepFan771]

Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is required sci-fi reading that works as one of the most insightful novels about how humans act. This man was prophetic.

[@pizzafreak1175]

King Push

[@saskoilersfan]

no...a master of perception...if you read all his works... you can solve lies...people don't realize that his Disney work wasn't all destroyed and when Aldous dies, you see his story about marina in wonderland. ..the king of hearts death...

[@saskoilersfan]

Jfk was aldous huxleys technodictator._.

[@AyaTeien]

It was a fantastic read. A near Dystopia in the guise of a Utopia.

[@saskoilersfan]

If you were born into a society of lies. Would you recognize? Would you adjust your eyes to adjust your mind to see it clearer. Is ignorance bliss? Would you percive through the lies to see the truth of your society? A society thats totally controled by media._. A society thats totally told what and how to think and by useing the technology they create to take away your civil libertyies._. A society that wants to to love liars.

[@DrSanity7777777]

"Freedom is not acheived by satisfying desire, but by eliminating it." - Epictetus

[@elena8672]

can u elaborate on this

[@DrSanity7777777]

@@elena8672 For your viewing pleasure... kzbin.info/www/bejne/qnjOqqCaqNWoptU

[@TheNightWatcher1385]

@Muslimcel Interesting how many of the wise men of history have made similar points, or at least in the ballpark in relation to each other.

[@ryanhuxley3017]

true

[@TheNightWatcher1385]

@@elena8672 The idea is that our base and primal desires do not permit us freedom until they are eliminated, because even your own mind can keep you enslaved.

[@scottwadeg]

I read Brave New World in 1996 and again in 2020. Today is the day when his words are blatantly true. I perceive most of humanity unable to discern their own enslavement.

[@wan3416]

After getting out of consumer debt and then seeing its hold on my parents and peers, I’m a firm believer that we don’t see our own enslavement. Couple that with a certain political ideology falling into worship of the State and the counter-party trending more towards big government as well, we’re well on our way towards a new serfdom, if not in our lifetime, then for our children’s. Just a little more taxation Just a little more materialism Just a little more war Just a little more regulation Just a little less freedom Just a little less God Just a little more indoctrination Over a few decades and 4 generations, the society we’ve cultivated has devolved into merely comforts and conveniences. We don’t think past Tuesday. We focus on the fleeting pleasures for our 5 senses. We don’t consider our legacies, only our perversions.

[@andrewfrankovic6821]

@@wan3416 I think iT would flow better iF you used 'a little more tyranny' and 'a little more godlessness'. GOD is hard to pin down, godless is easy. Intolerance is a winner, too.

[@FlanaFugue]

@@wan3416 Companies have enslaved everyone - they've got people fighting for (their) freedom and against (their) regulations, meanwhile, the individual is only "free" on their own private property.

[@rickb3650]

"humanity unable to discern their own enslavement." Witness the replies to your own reply as evidence you are right.

[@lordsod69]

@@FlanaFugue And they are also coming for the 'private property' - The motto of the WEF is that by 2030 ''you will own nothing and you will be happy''

[@DrumWild]

Huxley got it right, sometimes more so than Orwell. For example, Orwell saw a future where books would be banned or burned, but Huxley saw a future where people would not care about reading anymore. Not only are our chains of slavery most comfortable and cushy, but we PAY to keep these chains on.

[@SadracChinchilla]

Maybe you are confusing a bit Orwell with Bradbury about burning books.

[@ixian_technocrat]

Wasn't Smith's job in "1984" burning documents? Maybe he was referring to that.

[@SadracChinchilla]

Ixian Technocrat Actually news or history books, I don't remember. Anyway, you both are right. Ha, ha.

[@cabellones]

they had done that before the book history... 1984 is more about form of supress tought, being by fear, by deceive, or by supressing the words itself (the new lenguage thing.. were War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength)

[@bozo5632]

+Ixian Technocrat - he was censoring history, editing old books and newspapers, tossing the old bits down the memory hole into the furnace.

[@robtoe10]

Holy cow, the later part about people becoming happy in slavery really gets underneath my skin and provokes my thoughts. Wow.

[@saskoilersfan]

slavery by servitude...my dear man...that's how all the red white and blue countries operate....psychological illusions of freedoms.....illusions of self government....they all faked a civil war beflore turning to a society of lies...

[@harveykeitel3066]

robtoe10 people in America are only happy until the drugs and alcohol wear off, or until the show at the colosseum has concluded.

[@donov25]

You should really read the book. That's it's central theme.

[@saskoilersfan]

donov25 I know all about it._.To solve the jfk hoax._.Follow aldous huxley and c.Lewis._.Both men die on the same day as the jfk hoax is released._._ wonerland and narnia._.Its funny because people miss, lewis.C of wonderland and c lewis of narnia._

[@01107345]

+ALDOUS HUXLEY I didn't realize that Aldous Huxley was still alive and had gone completely mad.

[@AdrianVenturaMusic]

“We mustn’t be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology” I think he prophesised perfectly out current issue.

[@jimt9261]

I'm writing this in March 2021, and my God how relevant and prophetic Huxley is at this moment in time!

[@winzyl9546]

I'm writing this in April 2021, and 3 days ago isnt march lmao

[@mdhj67]

Huxley was wrong on overpopulation and wrong on predicting a falling standard of living.

[@sisilotau2185]

@@mdhj67 that last bit is questionable. Take today where on the surface our living standards are far greater than that of the 1930s. But in the 1930s prior to the governments massive expansion into our lives and the erosion of our freedom to go about our day with very little red tape and fees stopping us. When the great depression kicked off and really throughout there was almost no mass demonstrations or violence over what happened. People weren't happy about what happened but they weren't outraged and depressed either. Compare that to today and as recently as 08 where people clearly do not have near the same standard of "mental/emotional" living standards as they use to even though our materialistic standards are far greater. It's up to us on a individual level to decide if a mental living standard is more valuable than materialistic as ultimately a person can only decide something so personal for themselves. But just wanted to point our living standards aren't merely how much we own or how easy it is to distract ourselves, we traded a lot of freedom for what we have and I think its fair to say in that respect our living standards are far worse then they use to be.

[@peggyfranzen6159]

Huxley blows, the late Ray Bradbury knew.Who needs 4 television screens to talk with their " relatives?" Putin. Trump, the late Goebbels, etc.Bid deal.

[@100achillguy7]

@@sisilotau2185 you might feel that way, however our standards of living have astronomically improved statistically. Our death rates are better than they’ve ever been. I could go on and on but if you were to take a poll asking every person on the planet how their happiness is 1 to 10 I wonder what it would say. If we had the information can we explain it? I think you are right people feel as if we are losing standards of living but in reality it’s actually raising higher and higher comparably to before, I’m not sure people’s feelings are reliable. Honestly this topic I’ve spent hours on and I can’t really draw a conclusion, my best guess is to rely only on the statistics on health, diet, etc but I’m pretty lost on the emotional side. Interesting topic

[@headpump]

"I have become comfortably numb.."

[@pieterdewit9081]

Pink Floyd. :-)

[@bicyclist2]

Pink Floyd.

[@peggyfranzen6159]

Don't.

[@Upstreamprovider]

Speak for yourself! :)

[@billtomson5791]

Where's my Soma?

[@dylanwilliams7868]

Huxley's characteristically unique combination of sharp lucidity, vast intelligence, and sense of urgency is hauntingly beautiful. It's inspiring, too.

[@peggyfranzen6159]

Aldous Huxley is too ambiguous for me.

[@peggyfranzen6159]

Na.Logic and reason, along with the honesty of oneself - makes up for checking one's premises.Take care.God is not the author of confusion🌱🌳.!

[@strengthodyssey7235]

The year is 2020 and Aldous Huxley's dystopic vision is closer than ever to be fully manifested into reality.

[@giorgitatarashvili3875]

This is already real we just need real hatcheries so it will be fully manifested into reality

[@olympe1996]

specially the sexualization of minors, Netflix is doing a lot of propaganda

[@Welsh_Dragon756]

Almost??? I think we have been living it for a while already

[@thulanimbuthuma8507]

We are soon going to be using digital currency

[@avalonmentorsliterature5575]

2021 - getting closer still to this event horizon

[@Jose-es9xy]

A man such ahead for his time.

[@charliestewart885]

jesus mate make an effort

[@deltronzero9]

indeed he understands human nature.... in its glory and folly...

[@rjskum688]

@Samuel Santoro half the people I know who called it a "scamdemic" were the 1st in line to receive the vaccine. They were only calling it that because they wanted to fit in with a "side". Deep down they were scared. My point being people don't do research or think for themselves anymore. Instead they choose to be lumped in with a side or group for acceptance. Tribalism I think.

[@Baekstrom]

Or maybe the issues he talked about are the same today. He just saw what other people overlooked, and things haven’t improved.

[@Upstreamprovider]

@@charliestewart885 Jesus, mate...don't make assumptions!

[@reggenniexo]

I think about the Huxleyan warning every time I open an app or even watch a KZbin video. It's so easy to love our possessions so much so that we don't realize they possess us in certain ways. Beautiful video, although ironic with Huxley claiming that "they" are appealing to our deeper emotions while the stirring music in the background plays.

[@rennysims5292]

to be fair what he is saying is actually stirring therefore the music is only accentuating his message

[@nicholasleclerc1583]

Alright, so private/personnel property isn't such a good thing, then ? Ah, "but what is the alternative", of course, of course...

[@morantNO1]

The point was not that appealing to emotion is always bad. "they" appeal only to emotion rather than rationality, while this video appeals to both.

[@peggyfranzen6159]

I need some mescaline to contemplate that.

[@Warriorcats64]

@@morantNO1 Or does it? It's rational, yes...but does that not feed into the sense of superiority from deducing the rationality of the argument?

[@dottore3870]

This interview took place over 60 years ago and is still relevant. We're driven by primordial fears disguised as modern needs just to be manipulated into submission.

[@daveice20]

this future is already here and if you can't see it, "you're happily living under a regime where you ought not be happy"

[@peggyfranzen6159]

Probably not, and don't assume.

[@peggyfranzen6159]

Or, is it doubled speak? To uninstall....

[@happyforever1528]

And being controlled by them by fear and propaganda , time to wake up Folks before we have lost it altogether !.

[@thinginground5179]

@@peggyfranzen6159 Oh shut up Peggy. You're clearly not bright enough to look around.

[@Heavywall70]

“Highly educated” is a very ambiguous term and isn’t synonymous with wisdom.

[@XRPSwan]

I call it highly indoctorinates and compromised

[@XRPSwan]

@@evatoure3225 Indoctorination can be a bitch, it will make you do things you would not normally do

[@mimszanadunstedt441]

its y pharma profits off doctors on ppl with nutritional deficiency

[@sclaveria]

listening to "they will be happy in a situation they oughtn't" , me thinking on "own nothing and be happy" ... the great reset.

[@lostinmyworld5499]

Excatly

[@peggyfranzen6159]

Most individuals would prefer an honest education.Thank you..

[@MaNuLaToROfficial]

Precisely!

[@Nat3_H1gg3rs]

Cannot reset that which has never started.

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

Yep

[@Tommy-gk6bh]

It’s terrifying how accurate he was with his predictions

[@peggyfranzen6159]

Aldous Huxley , like his father Julian Huxley, Like Cecil Rhodes, or( Carrots) ; I mean Carroll Quigley, and Brezniski- were a part of this BS..Don't believe this polarization in thinking.Think for yourself.🌱

[@peggyfranzen6159]

Than avoid it, and educate yourself around that premise.Nobody loves servitude.

[@gathaspar9803]

Mate. It's not a prediction. It's a plan.

[@Tommy-gk6bh]

@@gathaspar9803 he was just able to see it coming to fruition. He’s not part of the plan though

[@gathaspar9803]

@@Tommy-gk6bh Don't be naive. Of course he is a part of it. Just like His father and brother.

[@edmess6372]

Huxley. Why weren't we taught more about him in school? Was it drugs? Was it government? What he says here, much of it could be said in respect to history as well as the future.

[@jeffreyoslin8148]

Huxley was Orwell’s college English professor. And Huxley was nominated 7 , yes 7 times for the Nobel prize in literature, and did not win a single one. Doesn’t it make you wonder why he did not win, even once?

[@jrk1666]

government will never teach the truth because then you realize that we don't really need the government at all

[@stuartdriedger9989]

because it's bullshit. he made no predictions, the world had already been the way he had written and will always be that way and people one day have to wake up and say who gives a shit. its redundant.

[@SamvedIyer]

@@jeffreyoslin8148 I have his collected essays, and they are so lyrically written that I am in awe of the English language in a manner heretofore unknown.

[@amusedobserver6134]

It's not about the government, you people are narrow minded. It's about who controls the media. And it currently, it's a certain group of Levant style capitalist who control the flow of information and therefor control the US.

[@johnparadise3134]

2:37 Imagine a situation where the television is always saying the same thing, all of the time, where it’s drumming in the same idea-it’s drumming in a single idea-all of the time. -Aldous Huxley (almost a quote)

[@DanielBjorndahl]

Snowvid on repeat

[@StephenGrew]

Not hard to imagine🙄🎶

[@johnparadise3134]

@@StephenGrew I guess that something we don’t even HAVE to imagine! LOL nice use of musical notes!

[@EyeLean5280]

I love this interview clip. I think one of the most interesting aspects of Brave New World is the concept of controlling the masses through pleasure rather than pain, a stark contrast with Orwell's vision. In 1984, Orwell wonders what would eventually happen should England go socialist. Huxley asks what will eventually happen if Britain remains consumerist.

[@genghisgfunk]

1984 wasn't about what would happen , it is a satire of the world situation when Orwell wrote it. He originally wanted to call the book 1948 but the publisher wouldn't allow it and asked for the title to be changed.

[@philv2529]

EyeLean5280 you raise an interesting point. we must ask ourselves which is more important, freedom or happiness? now our first reaction to this question is freedom of course, but how many of us would really chose to be free and miserable over controlled and happy. is the purpose of life to seek pleasure and avoid pain, or to maximize freedom at all costs?

[@elfpi55-bigB0O85]

Orwell WAS a socialist though, 1984 was a book on nationalist fascism more than anything else.

[@DaveTex2375]

Sapply Orwell was a bit conflicted. It's funny you mentioned Nationalistic Fascism, because that brand of totalitarianism was brought to fruition by men with Socialism as their core ideology. Hitler's National Socialist Party & Mussolini's Socialist father greatly influencing his politics.

[@yungsouichi2317]

DaveTex2375 "it had socialist in their name so they must have been socialist" give me a break.

[@n0denz]

What I find to be the most salient point in Brave New World is the motif of desensitization. Children engage in erotic play, so that by adulthood sex has no purpose besides transitory pleasure, all emotionalism cut out. Children are given candy when their family members die so that by adulthood they are desensitized to sadness and personal attachment by extension. At all levels of society there is this sense that things aren't painful, difficult, sad, or much more than an inconvenience. All that's left is automation to keep society moving along and Soma to keep people happy along with casual, meaningless sex for simple, nice feelings. Finally at the end we finally see people discover the delight in watching actual violence. It's a world where society, for all its great technology, has diminished to where people have the mentality of children.

[@gravenewworld6521]

Berserk for the win

[@394seed5]

Jon Well said, your comment delivered an abundance of chills throughout my entire body.

[@usayeed727]

I honestly can’t possibly agree more with what you said. It’s a comment that should be highlighted for all to see and from which to reflect upon themselves.

[@danielbionupem]

The likes in social media.

[@olympe1996]

after I saw that Netflix released that awful "movie" Cuties I had to go to Huxley book because reminds me of what the left is trying to normalize

[@bioluminescentsheep5547]

Dang. This aged very well. We are still on this same path in America

[@jnb756]

It is not just us in America. It is happening in Canada, at a much smaller scale but still devastatingly so. It's happening in Australian big time. Brazil and the Philippines are way ahead of us. The usual suspects of Russia, China, North Korea, Israel, Saudi Arabia etc... It is just more glaringly evident in the US right now because we are allowing ourselves to be divided by the most stupid shit ever - Political Party.

[@MiguelTavaresMAT]

It's people recognizing, believing and speaking about anything that keeps it alive and makes the future happen.

[@Lexrezende]

USA exported (imposed) this ideals to all the globe. The diversity that existed in the world has gone. Everyone want the same, do the same, wear the same clothes, watch the same movies and series, hear the same music. Not that it is all bad, but this homogenization of the world empoverished humanity a lot.

[@rantinginavacuum8658]

You're not on the path, you've arrived. You've just spent a lot of time and money putting the rest of us on the same path.

[@bioluminescentsheep5547]

@@rantinginavacuum8658 what do you mean?

[@RainierGuide174]

Sometimes the echos of the past, arent loud enough in today's ears

[@stephenkane2464]

We don't have interviewers like Mike Wallace anymore.

[@jackharper8370]

Stephen Kane he lost his way in the end, but was a true journalist in his day. In the end he became part of this system.

[@citizennobody5518]

This channel is one of the best on KZbin.

[@tmk7775]

I agree! So glad I found it.

[@TrackHeadStudios]

Absolutely true. I'm subscribing to it right now!!!

[@ryanhuxley3017]

THIS Channel random can up on my recommends

[@SpecialAgentBillMaxwell]

Watching this on KZbin. I don't think they've noticed yet.

[@themightykyuss]

Aldous Huxley, I love you. Years ago, you flipped some switches on in my young brain that literally changed the course of my life. RIP my man.

[@roxanne4820]

Although I adore Orwell and nineteen eighty four is indeed a masterpiece, BNW is more probable in Western society, if not already occuring to an extent. The masses are kept "happy" or appeased with popular culture; alcohol, promiscuity, nightclubs etc. As a means to distract us from reality and what is really happening, which almost everybody is blind to.

[@saskoilersfan]

The usa media creats a lost society of lies.

[@felixucoff]

Yes, but I don't think there's a dictarorial master mind behind it. It's been brought upon by our own nature. Human's yearn for easy comfort and immediate pleasures, which is sadly what we must watch out for.

[@saskoilersfan]

Huxley on perceptions of the mind ._. A distopia called Disney topia . Disney , friendly hitler with stormtroopers who built an empire from selling lies and illusions ._. A perceptional war of the words._. The Disney associated Kennedy Os/Oz enigma._. Disney created the Kennedy Os/Oz enigma._. A perception of Os/Oz fired a perception of magical bolts at the perception of a king of hearts in a perception of a broken heart shaped plaza. People slowly realize huxley worked for Disney ._. Get you to consent its okay to create a society of lies._. Disney was a mad man who talked to a imaginary mouse who was smarter than he was._.The house a mouse built.

[@saskoilersfan]

A autistic genius . A savant of lies. A master of perceptions. So was huxley and cs lewis. Lots of geniuses have autism ._. Even George orwell had autism ._. Simply google , " genius in autism " ._. ' Its not hard to see because its not physics '. Get it ? Lol Disney psychosis was " his imaginary friend was a mouse, that was a genius behind the house a mouse built ". I wonder how many people had an imaginary friend who was a genius mouse ? Or just a genius ? A.I . = autistic intelligence ._. Better than A.I = artificial intelligence ._. Disney hired huxley to help create an empire of lies and Illusions useing a double cross on perceptions._. Disney has a hobby of collecting toy presidents, his are toy puppets._. Many ways to see life . " Life is the but in a dream ".

[@ryanroddy6129]

what is really happening

[@scottdowney4103]

This video is fascinating and profound in and of itself - especially given its age. But it is a Rorschach test for those who view and comment on it here. Politically warped people see everything as not only predictive of the things they loathe, but exonerate their own political "side". Both conservatives and liberals will see in this the mirror of their own beliefs. That is part of Huxley's genius. He was talking about human nature in the profoundest way - what he says applies to ALL sides. If you saw a strong confirmation of your politics in this video - you are an example of exactly the phenomenon he was talking about.

[@BlankonblankOrg]

+scott downey thanks for the thoughtful comment

[@Skeloperch]

I saw confirmation of my own politics, but only because I'd read Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, and We. In particular, I saw confirmation that no one truly knows what is best for humanity, whether it be free, but in squalor and danger, or enslaved while in comfort. Or whether you can't find a suitable middleground between freedom and safety by virtue of human selfishness.

[@rjg4851]

Maxatrillion What OP said was true. I see many videos similar to this on KZbin only to be disappointed with commentators who fit their partisan narrative around an idea. They refuse to see their ideological system's flaws, as if the tactics to influence and control media is inherent to the right for example. Societal circumstance snakes from side to side. Sometimes the safety of enslavement appeals more than the chaos of going it alone, sometimes the opposite. The individual decides.

[@cerebrustusbordungolski7183]

I think the point is not against happiness, the point is to show that we are very capable of self-deception, and it may be hard to tell whether this self-imposed illusion of conformity is worth being called happiness at all.

[@sisifo241]

The political ideology that I support is the one that Huxley believed in himself, anarchism. The only true way I think a society can be otgqnized without turning into a tiranny, no gods, rulers or masters, only people.

[@madtyphoon]

"You'll Own Nothing, and You'll Be Happy" - WEF

[@lostinmyworld5499]

Looks like someone used Huxley's brave new world as a manual for the future

[@andymullarx6365]

You have been paying attention,

[@archaic9525]

Philosophically speaking if 'owning' is your thrill for happiness you are 'in the box', already set to get used to worship super-ownership and let a few psychos ruin the planet. Other aspect: is 'happiness' what life should be about? Giving a personal creative purpose to life should be our main concern. This set of ideas is, i concede, radical and ambitious, considering what kind of thoughts occur in average people minding. Laziness has no way in such a framework.

[@archaic9525]

@@andrewfrankovic6821 Religion and God are two very different concepts. Of course the Church will always stage itself as being God in Person, but as almost anything else it states and pretends this is pure bs. It works thought, since almost anybody, including very instructed and thoughtful people, is confusion-embedded. As a matter of fact, any existing god, given its astral /aerial nature, can in no way be represented /incarnated through any constituted association. So yes, you can think in such a way without the urge of church-assistance. I am personaly close to this kind of conception. Beauty is the sum of some perfection, its natural parure. Einstein's e=mc2 is the most elegant equation i know of, and a godlike synthesis, even thought it fails to apprehend the quantum world. True god will always keep some kind of mystery anyway, As Vinci stated: 'as i move forward truth takes a step backwards.' My best creations are beauty and i feel god-like when i can reach up to this point (and a pityful misery whether i fail to achieve, which still comes alas too often, despite 3 decades on the matter) As for the silliness around there is a dedicated policy to keep people in check with blatant idiocy. When it backfires we have a Trump phenomenon, a very godlike slight irony. Thought many wish to be un-responsible sheep most of the play is done at a very young age, through stupid school-systems relayed with parents wishful to transmit their own limits to their kids (through the device 'i know what is good or not, believe unquestionably and eat your soup!') --this is not limited to the ignorant btw, even educated people thrive to have their kids inherit their own kinds of anxietie with the world. This is a main reason why most people work in the same line as their parents do.

[@archaic9525]

@@andrewfrankovic6821 It is quite a restrictive definition for 'love' you are getting to. But at least you are attempting to give the word a straight and understandable meaning, whereas many, especially with ambitious concepts, embed fantastic and illusory loose fantasies. Sorry for my 'murkiness', I confess i would always try to be precise and thorough when exchanging ideas, which can lead me to compulsion, thought English is not my native language (i am in France, born and raised) and i possibly may be heavier and not as bright as i wish would be. Have a nice time ahead.

[@zerimar26]

It's incredible Huxley wrote Brave New World in 1931 which Huxley predicted a totalitarian regime taking shape in a European country like Germany even though it took hold of Italy with Mussolini and Stalin in the Soviet republic. Being informed and a independent thinker is more important than ever before.

[@TheDecatonkeil]

I don't think the interviewer did a good job of laying down the interview so that it reflected what the book is really about. The creepiest thing about Brave New World is that its regime is far more faceless than something like a dictatorship in the image of that in 1984, if it is a dictatorship at all it's of an entirely different kind. I also think that the imagery in the animation and the way the interview, and even the way Huxley's answers were presented, did it a disservice, making it look again more in the light of the "socialist" dictatorship of 1984, when BNW is, again, very different. BNW can be considered a dictatorship in that you can't really choose. You are bred into a caste that you're never going to escape (though you may be misassigned due to human error when labelling the vat you're grown in, with this creating an extra layer of stress for feeling like you don't belong), the lower castes created through a sort of induction of fetal alcohol syndrome. The appearance is that of a utopia where everyone is happy, everyone has a purpose suited for their skills and wants and there is a lot of leisure and "sexual freedom". Of course it's all appearance. Everyone's purpose suits them because they have been conditioned to "love" the place they're in. There's a lot of leisure but only in so much as it's conditioned for an indulgence in rampant consummerism. There is sexual freedom... but only if you plan to use that freedom in one only socially approved way. Everyone is happy because... well, it's mandatory to be happy and downers have dangerous ideas, as they can challenge the facade of universal happiness, the main pillar of this regime. But the scariest thing is that when you read it... you don't recognise in it the mechanisms of an alienating bureaucratic machine that we commonly associate with dictatorship-based dystopias. The depressing thing is that when you read it... you start recognizing other things in its world. Its world is not one in which you will be taken for execution or even imprisonment if you don't fall in line. It's one where you'll be ostracised if you're not part of that infantilised, youth-enamored, afraid of aging, rejecting family and reproduction consumer culture. A world in which you'll be ostracised if you're not yourself *a product* for others to consume, for others to market to that particular niche. It's a world so enamored with its own feeling of civilised superiority, that it looks down on the anthropological reality of those it deems "savages", and it even commodifies this sense of superiority like looking at animals in a zoo. You won't even be punished in any of those ways if your ideas are really dangerous. Your punishment may just be being reasigned to a place where you'll meet "the most interesting people in the world". Your punishment will be making you feel happy and safe in your own "echo chamber". Now does that all seem familiar to you?

[@sichere]

Have you run out of Soma ?

[@SefriouiAmineballout]

I have read BNW 5 years ago before everyone was conscious about the whole social media mayhem everyone is talking about today. And it seemed really familiar back then. Right now i am certain that BNW is not a fiction but a possible scenario, especially with the influence monopolies such as Amazon Facebook Google and apple exerce on whole continents countries and individuals.

[@nathanielstumpf7579]

Well said, it gets closer every day.

[@usayeed727]

What you said is a microcosm of the modern world. It’s so sad it’s poignant.

[@akaenteng2895]

Your punishment will be making you feel happy and safe in your echo chamber. That is actually very terrifying. "Being happy in your own prison" is so oxymoronic. In reality though, you don't have the freedom to see different perspective. Your statement is so profound!

This was great. After watching The Century of the Self and learning about the Freud family, I would say Huxley's predictions were quite fortuitous.

[@saskoilersfan]

perceptions of the mind...predictions?? or how to implement.....for todays society.....of lies.

[@normanmacfarlane3049]

Huxley's foresight on technology is an amazing piece of insight.

[@peggyfranzen6159]

I like Steve Wozniak over Aldous Huxley any day.

[@jasondevon481]

What a clever man, with a warning so relevant and yet spoken 60 or so years ago.

[@happyforever1528]

And its happening today in front of our very eyes !.

[@izunahosaki6133]

i think brave new world is my favorite book ever.

[@peteraddison626]

Izuna Hosaki ... Dearest, Izuna. Then you must read "DUNE" by Frank Herbert. His original six book series is not only presciently prophetic, but also ultimately a hopefull path of continuance for humanity. Regards. PDA.

[@ryanhuxley3017]

it was not much of a page truner

[@robynsegg]

I remember being given this to read in 7th or 8th grade and being totally bored by it. (If I remember correctly, I think I even failed the test or book report for it.). But, now as an adult and by seeing this clip, I feel that Mr. Huxley hit the nail on the head, since we really ARE living in the "Brave New World" that he spoke of. And because of that, I think it's now high time for me to revisit his book.

[@GreasyBelcher]

Thanks for putting this together, your work is appreciated.

[@demigodstatus]

This was really well done. Thank you for this!!

[@EliDEVITTSpeaks]

That moment when you predict the future...

[@saskoilersfan]

nobody believes you at the time. its farther in life and after your death they realize....its not predicting but common sense..

[@sabotabby3372]

Eli DEVITT that moment when Orwell, Einstein, Mandela, and many others we attribute to have fought totalitarianism were Socialists themselves and opposed regimes like the USSR and Nazi Germany

[@peggyfranzen6159]

The moment when you are 6 or 7 , and reach the age of reason.

[@thdgcfx]

More Aldous Huxley interviews please!! Very insightful

[@throughthepines6061]

I could listen to Huxley talk all day. He was such a remarkably wise man.

[@johnvinga5446]

It is easy to see why Jim Morrison of The Doors admired Huxley. Morrison disliked the power mind-numbing television had over the masses; and look how much worse it is fifty years later. Now network television is propaganda and their news networks are simply fronts for a state run media. Anyone speaking out against the complete loss of objectivity, of rational thought, of respect for discourse and intelligent argument is silenced.

[@hemlockoutdoors]

I cannot stress how good this video is. It made me read Brave New World and formed the foundation of my views on the world.

[@Hoonters-goona-Hoont]

I have somehow "never gotten around to" reading Brave New World. I've decided to correct that mistake recently, and I am completely aghast at how spot-on everything is. Especially the foreword of the second edition (I think?), where he talks about his visions freely, outside of the chains of narrative structure and literary tools, is so eerily accurate that I couldn't shake the fancy he was some sort of desperate time traveler, his book deemed to be the least drastic yet most clear means of warning.

[@TheHyena-ru8bz]

I have been waiting for a new video!! Thanks hope you guys post more frequently#

[@BlankonblankOrg]

it takes time in the lab

[@TheHyena-ru8bz]

+Blank on Blank your guys time in the lab is greatly appreciated! and your hard work is apparent in the value that your videos bring!

[@harveykeitel3066]

S. J it's not work, it's social commentary. "work" connotes doing something in the service of one's supposed superior. the idea that doing something good must be "doing your job" is an antiquated and negative concept.

[@TheHyena-ru8bz]

Harvey Keitel what are you talking about? The definition of Work(verb): activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result. Do not misinterpret my words

[@josecasillas4081]

that's called a job, an activity that requires work... Two different things there.

[@DonCyrillo77]

Thanks a lot. Very powerful illustrations!

[@aftersoon_]

We're about 2021 and I have to say that the world is getting braver step to step.

[@TuhljinTampergauge]

Stunning and brave.

[@tsancio]

Here in Venezuela, we saw Huxley's predicament unfold completely. Hence, I haven't owned a TV in more than a decade. The pro-government propaganda is too much to bear.

[@ebannaw]

I wish Venezuela wasn't experiencing its current turmoil, Tomas. I know this probably doesn't mean much to you, but your nation is always in my thoughts these days.

[@user-ci5tu6bh1j]

whats worse? mindful propaganda or mindless distraction?

[@Cakegolem]

@@user-ci5tu6bh1j The two are often one and the same.

[@willbo6017]

It’s a step.

[@atashikokoni]

If the US stopped trying to topple the democratically elected government, Venezuela's economy would be in a much better state these days. I wish the Venezuelan people luck.

[@AhmedYoussef-kd9nc]

I almost left the video when the most important statement came up " there will be a time when they like their slavery when they ought not"

[@loge10]

I came to this post right after seeing another post that described very well Plato's allegory of the cave. Interesting how so many works of literature are about individuals who resist participating in these cultural and social phenomena - like I do now. And these phenomena are expressed at both ends of the political spectrum.

[@the_emmo]

My man Aldous Huxley, always thinking forward in a time that most of the people do everything but think. His essay 'Doors of perception' changed the way I think, the way I perceive. He made me think.

[@hanniffydinn6019]

Wow 100% spot on. He was telling us what is happening now !

[@lambspoo]

He's telling us what's been happening for most of human history.

[@hanniffydinn6019]

SirLambsalot ಠ_ಠ Well all I can say, everyone should take LSD and wake the fuck up. They've had this plan working so smoothly for ages now.. and like Huxley says people are so brainwashed now they just accept it. It's crazy when you wake up, you feel like you are the only sane person in the asylum1

[@MRCKify]

In both bad and good, he was predictive. Alternative fuels and freedom to choose contraception came along as well as what I call "solid-state-media." What I didn't hear from him was how media can become crowded as to make good investigations take some time while the 'mainstream' somewhat fossilized in both standardized tone and cursory pace, not to mention the questions taken seriously. Also, would he have noted that irrationality can be a predator for nations? One child policy comes to mind.

[@hanniffydinn6019]

MRCKify The mainstream media is completely controlled by the illuminati. It's tragic. Would have loved to have met huxley, all the people I want to meet are dead !!

[@MRCKify]

Hanniffy Dinn Just read their stuff. Talk it over with people you meet today. No need to wish for what nobody can do.

[@dblakeman]

"All you need is money and the candidate that can be coached to be sincere." Weird.

[@Guy-Mann]

Yeah. Weird.

[@andrewblack7852]

The current illegitimate government is openly working on this in extreme fashion

[@GAB-vq7re]

This gave me f**king chills man. All too true of the political climate of the time. Makes you wonder how long has this been the case?

[@peggyfranzen6159]

A Kykeon, a stone Owl, waahla! Instant wisdom!

[@latiendamac]

Obama

[@shaunl446]

This is fantastic. Thanks for posting.

[@jamzee_]

After listening to the entire interview, its scary that a man in 1958-1959 could so accurately describe the systems at which are being abused today and the exact way they would be abused. He speaks not only of the USA but China and other countries that have fallen to their government, even mentioning south African nations at some point.

[@Nick-tl8ot]

Whoa wtf why hasn’t everyone seen this? This man is speaking what we are living. I watched a documentary a while ago about how most of the people we put in power don’t actually care about us and how they are just manipulating us to follow and do as we’re told and this dude is pretty much saying the same thing. Damn... we’re all pawns in a chess game.

[@adolfvancoller2610]

I find the closing line: “they will be happy in situations where they ought not to be happy” very interesting as though the individual supposedly substitutes his freedom for happiness, surely the consequent happiness justifies the loss of freedom?

[@archaic9525]

The scam is in the concept 'happiness' itself, a state of mind unreachable in this world of death and separation. This can only be covered by compensation, through ownership and power on other more unfortunate, hence rooting in the very cause of global misery.

[@krihan4760]

When you abandon freedom to achieve security, you lose both and deserve neither. Thomas Jefferson

[@BillM1960]

Boy, not time like the present to take that advice, that's for sure. Thanks for sharing.

[@peggyfranzen6159]

Godspeed.

[@Problembeing]

Beautifully presented.

[@changomonobananero]

never has this been more true

[@CUTEMKUltras]

"...they will be happy in situations in which they oughtn't to be happy..."

[@jypseejynn]

Watching this now in the New Year of 2019 has a very eerie possibility.

[@osirisgem]

Wow, it's foresight in the form of rational and practical thought. There is undeniable logic to his words, I say undeniable because there we nearly are.

[@sheevpalprotein9132]

0:30 "Freedom is based."

[@dankauffmanmusic]

Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it. We are all in a rerun

[@saskoilersfan]

A eternal circle of lies._.

[@natalieanimal4063]

When Henry Ford (sorry, OUR FORD) said history is bunk, he probably didn't exactly mean "I take a gramme and only am". But Mustapha Mond's lovely interpretation... (Actually he meant "we shouldn't just follow tradition simply because it's been done like that since forever". Quite ironic since BNW does exactly the opposite. They are stuck in a perpetual replacement of things, a monotonous refreshment so to speak. Ignoring history so they can repeat it without changing it). Hm, this is quite an interesting topic regarding the book.

[@peggyfranzen6159]

I think not on that account.

[@Loagun]

Great upload.

[@maxheadrom3088]

Awesome!!!! Thanks! I love you PBS! This comment was not sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and be certain that the thanks I also give them are genuine!

[@panchora99]

It worries me that everything that he has said in this video, from an interview back in 1950, has happened and is currently happening.

[@deepthought8770]

You should be worried.

[@Allyourheroswenttohell]

The furor is alive and well. His spirit inhabits most humans on the planet today.

[@panchora99]

@@Allyourheroswenttohell if the spirit of Huxly lives in many of modern day humans, then its incredibly dormant

[@Allyourheroswenttohell]

@@panchora99 I was talking about Hitler.

[@macclift9956]

Stuck in rinse and repeat mode.

[@TheZalor]

Brave New World was a much more accurate prediction of where western society was heading than 1984. Indeed, I feel like we already almost live in a society similar in some regards to Brave New World. That said, 1984 did predict Modern day China and North Korea pretty well.

[@Frisbieinstein]

1984 predicted a world of endless war. Seems pretty accurate to me.

[@michaelcelani6612]

Let the economy tank and it will be 1984 quick enoughForget Somma, you will be happy for Victory Gin.

[@gildasgrime7808]

China is the blueprint for the coming global government

[@kirapokelmann618]

Listened to part of the book brave new world and it's terrifying how it seemed not too out of range to happen in the near future

[@dab42bridges80]

Great animation, solid message.

[@kurtisdiston4851]

god this is eerily accurate

[@peggyfranzen6159]

Think for yourself.

[@peggyfranzen6159]

Think for yourself.

[@discountramblepants9320]

I often wonder what certain commentators would say if they woke up from their eternal sleep. Like, what would Henry David Thoreau think if he saw Walden today. But this is a case where I don't believe much would change; probably just a shrug. Great job as always. We have a channel that discusses animated shows actually, if you think you or someone would like that check us out.

[@JuanFernandez-zv2oz]

I had never seen #iamverysmart spam before. Bravo.

[@aldohernandez3916]

Huxley was so ahead of his time. Would be interesting seeing a Black Mirror episode written by him.

[@williejones6446]

Its not like some of us didnt know this, but to hear about people talking about in the 1900s literallly sends a chill up my spine.

[@boundlessrogue85]

"I would love to have heard his thoughts on social media. But this already sounds like it could be a commentary on it," Kyle said, on a social media platform.

[@DonWoschto]

Nobody must be allowed to rule. Only to govern.

[@peggyfranzen6159]

That doesn't help, bad management under a fruitcake dictator, under a state Mustapha.Eew! U definitely want no part of that! Eew!

[@peggyfranzen6159]

I said " I want no part..."

[@xinyuli9423]

Animal Farm, 1984 --> BNW --> BNW Revisited --> Amusing Ourselves to Death. This is my book list. I have to say the world seems quite different to me after finishing these insightful works.

[@DanielBjorndahl]

Amusing ourselves to death is a great read

[@djluminol]

Why is it when you hear things like this the bad stuff is always uncomfortably familiar and the good stuff still seems like a pipe dream?

[@brejackal]

That's this man wrote the book 86 years ago on ideas he had for a decade...see them fruited is horrifying

[@Demolitiondude]

I'm surprised that PBS didn't delete this episode yet.

[@jacquesaubin4454]

Gee, trumptard?

[@TuhljinTampergauge]

@@jacquesaubin4454 - "We need to ban the few outlets that aren't conforming to our vision!" - leftists "You think this warning about propaganda coming through all media spouting the same thing is applicable to today?? You must be a tard! You're so gullible, sucking up propaganda! Now I'ma gonna go back to my leftist approved 'news.'" - also leftists

[@matthewsisk]

I could listen to Huxley all day

[@nickpapa1721]

'... all that is needed is money and a candidate who can be coached to look sincere.' - rings a bell...

[@yondoodle]

Last week my psychologist asked me how I'm feeling. I told him I feel a lot like John the Savage these days. He didn't understand because he's never read Brave New World, much less heard of Huxley or Orwell. We're already living in Huxley's dystopian nightmare.

[@rileysheehan943]

It's odd for me, I read Brave New World shortly after I read 1984, and in comparison it seemed like a much more acceptable place to live as far as dystopia goes. I mean sure there's no form of reflection or artistic expression or any intellectualism at all really. But what won me over was the separate communities for such things. Spoilers going forward, but near the end of the book, one of the characters who actually feels the artistic emotions we do agrees to be sent off to a separate community of people like him. If you can't take the comfortably numb ways of society, you're allowed to go and live with people of your own kind in small separated areas. It's a far better alternative to 1984, where such people would be tortured, brainwashed, executed, and erased from all records and memories.

[@zacharywhite6667]

The year is 2021 and we're almost there

[@zip0ws67]

Just gotta say props to who ever had the idea of the image of a man resting in a hammock resting on the chains of handcuffs, super cool imagery.

[@Alacard0malley]

Stop comparing Orwell and Huxley's novels. I believe they belong on the same timeline. 1984 first then Brave New World.

[@bicyclist2]

Brave New World was published first, in 1931.

[@anaklusmosgreek3198]

as in , they tried the banning and they did the next best thing which is streamlining the feeling of euphoria n cathartic mania via social media, legalizing weed *SOMA, n encouraging a mindless bing culture

[@jurybery]

My 5 cents. The 1984 is writte from point fo view of a party member. He is directly responsible for his part of stuff happening. However when described how the public works, including the music cultire etc.there might be more related to huxley

[@uhumanu6600]

the great contradiction of technology is that it has the potential to give us enlightening videos such as this one, or the sort of socially seductive nonsense that Huxley warns about. I think the great danger of all this easily accessible content is when the line between the two types become blurred, as they often are

[@sabotabby3372]

Manek Iridius that's the point, it's misleading enough to not seem like a lie while sounding truthful enough to fool people and serving as an example of what kind of logic could be accepted under a society of lies

[@mbcahill6707]

Chillingly prescient.

[@frankcastle9287]

Brilliant Man. He foresaw plenty. It is indeed a..."Brave New World".

[@divergentsenior]

Analyzing verbal booby traps requires a skill not taught today: critical thinking.

[@peggyfranzen6159]

Thank you!( sigh.) Take care Mr.Hemholz...

[@peggyfranzen6159]

So Teach IT, while preaching it.Where has humanity gone ? You have to think for yourself, before anything else.

[@peggyfranzen6159]

Lenina and Helmholz,- so much for a " Brave New World", John Savage.So 60 percent of the World is honestly left to idiots, and even those who write, or support that nasty book who suggest alcohol fetal syndrome children, while ingesting mescaline?

[@peggyfranzen6159]

An individual high on Mescaline, should not write books on the future of everyone; rather keep to his own alcohol fetal syndrome fantasy of someone to clean up man's garbage, because the so- called Alpha male couldn't clean up after himself! 😮

[@PunishedMushu]

@@peggyfranzen6159 What are you even talking about? Give some damn context at least

[@nickmagrick7702]

Me: I don't feel like killing myself today Aldous Huxley: Hold my beer

[@peggyfranzen6159]

Aldous Huxley, hold my mescaline, my reason, and my Swiss bank account.Hold my Coconut( Bohemin) Grove.No stone Owl, or Athena. nor wisdom here.

[@peggyfranzen6159]

Huxley, hold my Bilderbergers, trilateral mescal Swiss cheese.

[@peggyfranzen6159]

Aldous, and Julian my Swiss bank account.Sandoz?

[@chunkchips4554]

He's right in terms of we are glued to technology and it's distracted us in many ways or entertainment has sucked us into this suppressive state. But people are not happy. Suicide is high, divorce is high, single family homes high, depression and mental disorders are high. People are not happy but they are suppressed by it. Throw your tv away, spend more time outside, live simple, love your neighbors/family and seek truth. God bless.

[@truenorth7754]

This is chillingly accuarate