The Core

Why We Are Here => Water Cooler => Topic started by: rcjordan on July 08, 2025, 01:20:51 PM

Title: Ouch!
Post by: rcjordan on July 08, 2025, 01:20:51 PM
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Title: Re: Ouch!
Post by: littleman on July 09, 2025, 01:37:01 AM
I honestly don't see much of Brave New World or Logan's Run in current society, the rest hits pretty hard in my opinion. Clockwork Orange was the first "real book" I read, right after some Sweet Valley High trash.
Title: Re: Ouch!
Post by: Brad on July 09, 2025, 06:59:42 AM
So many dystopias all at once is daunting.
Title: Re: Ouch!
Post by: ergophobe on July 10, 2025, 09:15:37 PM
>>  see much of Brave New World

Over the past couple of years, I have reread 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World. BNW was a bit of an obsession for me from sophomore to senior year of high school (so... 1978-1981). I thought at the time that America would be more BNW than 1984 or 451.

Lately, it feels more 1984 and 451 than BNW, but I think those are the foreground feelings. In the background, I think we're still a lot more BNW.

 - soma. Yeah, we don't have soma, but we have a massively dopamine-driven culture with endless distraction like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Netflix and The Core ;-) And even so, the 17yo staying with us informs me that every boy in school takes Vyn, which I had never heard of. It's a nicotine powder.

 - tracking - we don't track people in utero, but people get tracked earlier and earlier. A student with my high school performance today would likely not be going to college, certainly not the a good state school (like me) or any competitive private school.

 - the general belief that you should seek comfort and enjoyment at all times.

Our Brave New World dystopia is a bit worse though, because there is rude Darwinian competition for so much and a constant belief reinforced by social media that maybe you aren't optimizing your life perfectly.

So the 1984 stuff (blatant lies that party members are required to believe as truths - not *pretend* to believe, but actually believe) is really in your face, I feel like there is a huge dose of BNW running in the background of daily life and that will not go away even if there are big changes in government because it is fundamentally not controlled by the government.