Heavy Friends
Saturday July 26th, 2025 with Heavy Ben
Aldous Huxley and the dangers of unchecked technological advancement

Marking the birthday of Aldous Huxley, born July 26 1894 in Surrey, England. Music inspired by The Doors Of Perception and Brave New World. How's this for a 100 year old book? I know, nobody reads books anymore... Aldous Huxley's Brave New World explores several interconnected themes, most prominently dystopian control, the dangers of unchecked technological advancement, the suppression of individuality, the pursuit of happiness at the expense of truth, overpopulation, environmental concerns, and the nature of freedom and conformity. The novel critiques a society obsessed with stability and comfort, achieved through scientific manipulation and social engineering, which ultimately erodes human values and leaves individuals feeling alienated and unfulfilled. Sound like 2025? Since reading takes too long, here is a 10-minute animated clip. https://youtu.be/raqVySPrDUE And if you hate books, maybe you were one of those babies who was shocked when presented with books and flowers. Foreword to "Amusing Ourselves to Death" by Neil Postman We were keeping our eye on 1984. When the year came and the prophecy didn’t, thoughtful Americans sang softly in praise of themselves. The roots of liberal democracy had held. Wherever else the terror had happened, we, at least, had not been visited by Orwellian nightmares. But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell’s dark vision, there was another—slightly older, slightly less well known, equally chilling: Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley’s vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think. What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny “failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions.” In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us. This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldous_Huxley ‘Brave New World’ predicted today’s world better than any other novel His book warns us of the dangers of mass media, passivity, and how even an intelligent population can be driven to gladly choose dictatorship over freedom. https://bigthink.com/high-culture/brave-new-world-prediction-novel/ When Aldous Huxley Dropped Acid https://daily.jstor.org/when-aldous-huxley-dropped-acid/