Essay/Term paper: Technology in a brave new world

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Philosophy

Technology in A Brave New World


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.