[quote=ucodegen][quote=phaster]
“Brave New World” a novel written in the early 1930’s described a future where the masses are lacking the ability to think critically yet basically have an infinite amount of distractions (like perhaps “FaceBook” and “Twitter”), while those further up the food chain (i.e. the 1%) are shown to revel in a consumption and pleasure lifestyle
just sayin’ if “Piggington forums” (where discussions about “critical thoughts” happen on occasion) were transported into a “Brave New World” universe, it might be a regional bridge/oasis between the majority WITHOUT wealth or some critical-thoughts and the 1% WITH wealth in addition to an introspection ability
so wondering would a three sentence response (like this) blatantly written trying to be insightful and succinct, get an upvote?[/quote]Depends on how far into the Brave New World we are… or the ‘New World Order’.. Would it also mean that those with critical thought could use it to succeed among a world of lemmings? Or would the lemmings turn cattle stampede and run the thinker into the ground.
Would critical thought and dissenting opinion be made criminal? After all, in the Brave New World – all you need to do is the same as every other lemming.[/quote]
mentioned “Brave New World” because like “1984” it was required reading in high school (@ least in my case) and w/ news and now a movie about snowden, I’d bet most would see the world as it exists, is leaning more toward a big brother “1984” like universe
as to “critical thought and dissenting opinion” in the real world, individual behavior is often usurped by social norms of the group an individual associates w/ and in our modern world reinforced by media an individual selects to consume
going up the food chain we see some politicians have tried to make laws banning behavior (like flag burning which might be considered a form of “critical thought and dissenting opinion”)
so if its a battle between a “Brave New World” vs “1984” universe, I’d bet against orwell
consider FOX is where conservatives gather, MSNBC is where liberals rally, “the daily show” is where millennials go for news, BLOOMBERG and CNBC is what investors watch, etc. etc.
to some degree we are all lemmings because as w/ a “Brave New World” universe there is a herd like mentality of various groups (i.e. self identified conservatives differ in worldview from self identified liberals, then we can see millennials might not have an appreciation of the POV of investors and vice versa, etc.)
another parallel (w/ the real world) is some young alpha class characters in a “Brave New World” are shown to have an independent thoughts and ideas, but the older alpha class characters were shown to have those independent thoughts and ideas conditioned out of them
in a 1984 universe big brother is watching everyone, which would mean TPTB would know when a terrorist attack would occur, BUT 9/11 and events like the new york and new jersey bombings from this past week did happen, so seems big brother isn’t a reality here in the USA at this point in time (as is described in the orwell book)
also in a 1984 universe, people as I recall are not allowed to fall in love,… but in our real world there is a lots of people who make personal porn videos (which might be considered a manifestation of love) and post clips on the inner-tubes, so seems our existence is much more akin to “Brave New World” universe which portrayed a type of hook up and “consumer” culture
IMHO the ability to think critically, in either a “Brave New World” or a “1984” universe would be an advantage because just as in the real world of investing some would be able to size up the situtation and forumlate a strategy to adapt to the change in climate and potentially succeed (but have to admit the numbers favor the stampede of lemmings running the thinker into the ground)
not to get religious or anything but from a pure numbers standpoint consider the influence of some dude who lived 2000 years ago in a desert and started off w/ only a few followers preaching something about “good news”
fast forward to the present and ponder the BIG influence that guy has on the world today w/ institutions like the catholic church which has something like a billion+ followers (in other words a guy w/ a critical POV of society 2000 years ago was able to beat the “lemmings” of TPTB for millennia w/ an idea that still resonates in our modern world)
BTW the same BIG influence on large swaths of the global population started by one historical character could also be made for the prophet muhammad, and the buddha
of course w/in any movement religious, economic, political, scientific, cultural, etc. there are going to be lemmings (who buy into the myth) and there are going to be some who aspire to be leaders (and have the desire to shape the myth)
human nature being what it is, means many who seek leadership roles are going to be self-serving narcissistic idiots, while a few others might be willing to sacrifice part of themselves for what they believe to be a greater good for those around them
