Biggleses
03-04-2005, 01:02
Anyone who has read Huxley's Brave New World will be familiar with the way in which the society is organised.
Anyway it basically went like this:
Alphas: Intelligent leaders. Genii, they were the thinkers and the men who shaped the world. They were also strong, healthily built and in almost every way superior. They had a lot of responsibility. Jobs: Politician, Author, Scientist, Doctor etc.
Betas: Intelligent, but they tended to assist the Alpha's and didn't bear as much responsibility. It was never made particularly clear in the book, but I don't seem to remember there was that much difference between them and Alphas. Healthy, physically superior to Gamma down. Jobs: Nurse, technician, teacher.
Gamma: Labourers, workers..intelligent enough to do blue collar work etc. They worked in the factories I think they were pretty average so far as physicality went. Little responsibility. Jobs: Labourer, factory worker, tradesman (carpenter) etc. I think this is the gap they filled.
Delta: These were genetically engineered to become superior soldiers when they were in the 'womb'. Not much detail beyond that really, they were bred to be excellent perfect soldiers.
Epsilon: Mentally retarded, subhuman, moronic but always happy and they had always had their soma fix. They were the happiest of the classes in the chemical sense. They did the lowest of the low jobs, from opening doors to pressing buttons for someone else. Organic, unintelligent machines but always happy.NO responsibility
I consider myself to be a Liberal (that doesn't mean I'm left wing, but I happen to be) Meritocrat with a belief in Competitive State ownership. I'm also a patriot.
Although I don't think anything of the strange racist subtext in Brave New World (all the Epsilons were black by colour) I do sometimes ask myself...is that really the way to go?
Bar the Euthanasia and the destruction of a single indentity for certain classes (the ones beneath the iceberg's tip), is it so wrong to genetically engineer people for certain purposes? They were happy and content, after all. (Please, don't bring religion into this in a torrent. Post your religious beliefs concisely if they come into it, it's not a religious debate thread.)
Do ants have it right?
What is your idea of a Brave New World?
Plus, which class do you believe you would fall into?
Anyway it basically went like this:
Alphas: Intelligent leaders. Genii, they were the thinkers and the men who shaped the world. They were also strong, healthily built and in almost every way superior. They had a lot of responsibility. Jobs: Politician, Author, Scientist, Doctor etc.
Betas: Intelligent, but they tended to assist the Alpha's and didn't bear as much responsibility. It was never made particularly clear in the book, but I don't seem to remember there was that much difference between them and Alphas. Healthy, physically superior to Gamma down. Jobs: Nurse, technician, teacher.
Gamma: Labourers, workers..intelligent enough to do blue collar work etc. They worked in the factories I think they were pretty average so far as physicality went. Little responsibility. Jobs: Labourer, factory worker, tradesman (carpenter) etc. I think this is the gap they filled.
Delta: These were genetically engineered to become superior soldiers when they were in the 'womb'. Not much detail beyond that really, they were bred to be excellent perfect soldiers.
Epsilon: Mentally retarded, subhuman, moronic but always happy and they had always had their soma fix. They were the happiest of the classes in the chemical sense. They did the lowest of the low jobs, from opening doors to pressing buttons for someone else. Organic, unintelligent machines but always happy.NO responsibility
I consider myself to be a Liberal (that doesn't mean I'm left wing, but I happen to be) Meritocrat with a belief in Competitive State ownership. I'm also a patriot.
Although I don't think anything of the strange racist subtext in Brave New World (all the Epsilons were black by colour) I do sometimes ask myself...is that really the way to go?
Bar the Euthanasia and the destruction of a single indentity for certain classes (the ones beneath the iceberg's tip), is it so wrong to genetically engineer people for certain purposes? They were happy and content, after all. (Please, don't bring religion into this in a torrent. Post your religious beliefs concisely if they come into it, it's not a religious debate thread.)
Do ants have it right?
What is your idea of a Brave New World?
Plus, which class do you believe you would fall into?