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Science and Technology in Brave New World

 

            In the 1930's, Aldous Huxley wrote his novel "Brave New World." It was in this time, when the world made the first steps towards huge scientific and technological advances. These advances were not only seen as evidence for progress, but what is far more important as a tremendous hope for whole mankind. On the other hand, this interest in no more than technological advance was a vast danger to questions of ethics. As one can see from this novel, Huxley himself felt that hope for mankind lay not in technological progress, but was inseparably bound to man's view of the world. He feared, that unchecked research was inherently dangerous, and that the consequences can be unpredictable. "Brave New World" offers a view of the world as it might become if science is no longer ruled by man but man is ruled by science and thus puts at stake his freedom. Nowadays, probably everybody is familiar with the debates concerning the extraordinary breakthroughs in science, and especially in cloning. People are trying to determine whether life and society will be enhanced by these new aspects or completely reshaped. When talking about progress, most people think of scientific advances and discoveries that are beneficial to society. But are these advances as beneficial as most people think? In the novel "Brave New World", the author Aldous Huxley warns his readers that scientific progress can be a threat to society. This becomes particularly evident in the main fields of biology, technology, pharmacology and psychology. .
             One of the scientific advances Huxley warns his readers of is that of biology. In "Brave New World" human beings are produced by the so called 'Bokanovsky process.' It is this process, where human beings are genetically engineered in laboratories. "[] a bokanovskified egg will bud, will proliferate, will divide. From eight to ninety-six buds, and every bud will grow into a perfectly formed embryo, and every embryo into a full-sized adult.


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