The Concept of Freedom in the Modern Technological World

The concept of freedom is always changing and is often open to interpretation. In today’s society, humans are generally born free with equal dignity and rights. Depending on the society one is born into, their interpretation of who really has freedom can change. In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, the mass production of humans, conditioning, and the use of drugs through technology maintains sovereignty within society. This results in freedom being taken from citizens living in a dehumanized society. In this novel, technology is highly depended on by the government in order to deprive freedom from its citizens. A drug called soma, replaces the unsatisfying emotions felt by humans with a sense of euphoria. To begin, the government distributes rations of soma to the citizens of the World State, to help them avoid undesirable feelings. Soma is a drug which is known to induces happiness, “the advantages of Christianity and alcohol; none of their defects” (Huxley 46). Joy is associated with Christianity and many other drugs and alcohol with the use of soma because of its blissful feeling. Likewise, soma has the power to take freedom away from the citizens of a dehumanized society, as they are taught to believe that they must take soma to feel normal. In addition, there is an emphasis on the, “euphoric, narcotic” and “presently hallucinating” (46) feeling associated with soma. The emphasis forces the reader to understand that soma can serve the purpose of tranquilizing the citizens and putting them in a dream- like- state. Furthermore, soma is taken as a distraction from harsh realities of emotions that would lead them to change how power is distributed in their society.

The use of technology which is associated with soma comes in hand in this case: “If ever, by some unlucky chance, anything, unpleasant should somehow happen, why, there’s always soma to give you a holiday from the facts […] You can carry at least half your morality about in a bottle. Christianity without tears – that’s what soma is” (210). The government has made it so that the people of the World State are encouraged to take soma as a supply of artificial emotions. The World State has the ability to divert the attention of its citizens, from reality to a sense of euphoria, proving the controlling government retains the feeling and experience of any undesirable emotion, which make humans, who they are. Similarly, the World State gains control over its citizens by completely eliminating the concept of individuality with the help of the Bokanovsky’s Process. The World State is trying to make it so that everyone within each caste will be as similar as possible to achieve the goal of creating “Identical twins -- but not in piddling twos and threes as the old viviparous days, when an egg would sometimes accidentally divide: actually by dozens, by cores at a time” (4). Unlike society now where everyone is unique, this society produces large amounts of identical twins so no one possesses individuality, as this is gives no one any notion of sensibility, freedom and individuality. Secondly, the Bokanovsky’s process assures that there is no conflict between people in the future, by creating them with a similar structure. Stability and efficiency is assumed to be achieved by using this process, as the director shouts out “Ninety-six identical twins working ninety-six identical machines!” (5).

The idea behind this statement is to make identical beings so they will respond in the same way and will not come in conflict with each other. Maintaining stability is achieved by producing masses of identical humans. By erasing the image of family from the citizens’ minds, it is justified how the government gains control and how their freedom is at loss. Lastly, the concept of family and individuality is erased as “The Bokanovsky’s Process is” is claimed to be “one of the major instruments of social stability… Standard men and women; in uniform batches” (5). Since the idea of family, and being born are thought of as unethical, the Bokanovsky’s process was brought in to prevent intimate love and familial bonds, while indicating how the World State citizens are restrained and restricted from having a family through reproduction. The Bokanovsky Process plays a role in why humans are not able to form strong family bonds and relationships, as it results in no freedom given to citizens by, preventing any emotional relationships and eliminating individuality in the society. This system of control causes the loss of humanity and freedom which ultimately allows the World State to preserve its control and happiness. Following the idea of biogenetical conditioning, the alteration of primal human instincts, freewill and freedom is achieved with the help of sleep treatment called hypnopaedic conditioning. This type of conditioning is a messaging system that the World State performs on humans in their sleep, in order to restrict humanly desires of the greater society. Sleep treatment “aims at that: making people like their inescapable social destiny” (12). The Hypnopaedic conditioning forces the people of the World State to obey and follow the standards and laws suggested by the government, giving them no choice or say in what their minds are fed with in their sleep. Arguably, the conditioning is a manipulative way to get the citizens under control, as The World State enforces certain behaviors within each caste which results in total control over the citizens with hypnopaedic conditioning. This manipulative treatment winds the populations to a loss of originality and freedom. Soon after the people go through hypnopaedic conditioning, it is stated that: “Till at last the child's mind is these suggestions, and the sum of the suggestions is the child's mind.

And not the child's mind only. The adult's mind too -- all his life long. The mind that judges and desires and decides -- made up of these suggestions. But all these suggestions are our suggestions!” […] 'Suggestions from the State” (23-24). From creation to death, the citizens of the World State act according to their morals, values, and preferences which the government enforces within them. The Hypnopaedic conditioning is like a curtain which gives the ability to secretly clean and pluck the strings of the “perfect” world from behind the scenes without anyone having knowledge of it. Throughout the novel, Hypnopaedic conditioning turns unique, free humans, into servants that obey the enforced laws of the World State. The hypnopaedic platitude 'Everyone belongs to everyone else' (50) is an example of confinement in the World State, where no one is and can be free in this society because each and every one is a subject to everyone’s wants and desires. This form of sleep conditioning proves that the possession of freedom is impossible when they are considered property. The master and slave concept exists through this conditioning, within this cyclical society, where one is not aware that their choices are not their own and this World State costs them their freedom.

As said before, freedom is something most people are typically born into along with equal dignity and rights. Although, the interpretation of who really has freedom in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, can be as such that, one is free depending on the society they are born into. The loss of freedom is the result of certain methods used for those who wish to retain power. From the mass production of humans, conditioning and, to the use of drugs as a technology, it becomes clear who has control within a dehumanized society. Altogether, seized freedom is the process in which minds of citizens are molded to lead them into making subconscious and unwitting decisions.