Technology is defined as using the entire body of science, methods, and materials to
achieve an end. Technology, or techne, is so preoccupied with weather it can, it never
considers if it should. In "Of Techne and Episteme," a article on technology and
humanities, the author Eddy warns us that a society without epistemological thinking
would lead to a society of "skilled barbarians." This is the topic of the novel Brave
New World in which Aldous Huxley portrays a future world where babies are manufactured on
an assembly line and put into a social class while they are still embryos in a test tube.
As children they are engineered to be content with their rank in this world where love,
viviparous reproduction, and knowledge of anything beyond your job serves no purpose. A
look at Brave New World supports Eddy's beliefs on the importance of humanities in
society because of unethical genetic experimentation and the character's lack of
individuality.
The society of Brave New World has gained the knowledge to produce babies much like
their God, Henry Ford, produced the Model T. They have taken this technology and
exploited it for their own benefit. They have created with their hands without using
their head or heart. Scientists toy with the embryos, cutting off oxygen to those
predestined to become lower caste members. Those chosen to work as rocket plane
engineers were in constant rotation during the embryonic phase of their life. "Doing
repairs on the outside of a rocket in mid-air is a tickish job. We slacken off the
circulation when they're right way up, so that they're half starved, and double the flow
of surrogate when they're upside down. They learn to associate topsy-turvydom with being
well-being." These procedures would be considered morally incorrect today, however, in
the future the lack of ethics allows this to be a normal procedure. Eddy stresses the
importance of humanities, and teaching of moral ethics. Schweitzer said that "If any age
lacks the minds to force it to think about the ethical, the level of its morality sinks,
and with it, its capacity to answering the questions that present themselves." This
quote could not apply its-self more to Brave New World.
Each of the characters in Brave New World lacks an important human characteristic,
individuality. I feel individuality is one of the most important things that defines us
as humans, we were each created differently, and, like a snow flake, no two people are
alike. In the future, due to the advent of genetic engineering, up to 17 thousand babies
can be made from a single fertilized egg. Each person has their identity programmed in
the "decanting room." Each life has a predestined path that has been determined for
them, robot slaves working for society and gain, no different than the "skilled
barbarians" of Eddy's warning.
I feel that Eddy's beliefs are supported by Huxley's novel Brave New World. Without
humanities, Huxley's future thought only of the end and not of the means, there was no
concern for life and each life lacked individuality. I think the most unnerving part of
this is I see many similarities between Brave New World and the present and today's
social tendencies.
|