Aldous Huxley's Brave New World — How Algorithms & AI are Tipping The World Towards ItHow technology and AI are eerily transforming the world into the dystopian society depicted in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World
When I first read Aldous Huxley’s book Brave New World over a decade or more ago, it was a simpler time. Instagram & YouTube were nascent & not the attention-grabbing behemoths they are today, we were still listening to music on iPods, smartphones weren’t as near their computing power as of 2025, there were no food & delivery apps, or UPI payment and in general, things weren’t as grim. But little did I know back then, that I’d be writing this blog post comparing what I read in the book to its actual societal metamorphosis we’re witnessing in today’s times as of 2025. Whether you’ve read the book or not, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, published in 1932, and set in the year 2540, was supposed to be a cautionary sci-fi tale, not a blueprint of society to come. Yet here we are in 2025, watching the world inch closer to his vision, not in leaps and bounds, but gradually. This isn’t through overt dystopian force but rather with the seductive allure of convenience, entertainment, unregulated technology & algorithms and artificial intelligence — the resemblance is uncanny. While George Orwell in his book 1984 published a decade after Huxley’s feared a complete disintegration of society, Huxley warned us of a far subtler dystopia. Huxley envisioned a world where people wouldn’t need to be oppressed because they would be too distracted, too comfortable, and too entertained to care. And it uncannily seems like we are heading down this path. In Brave New World, humanity is engineered into a rigid caste system, conditioned from birth to accept their roles without question. The Alphas rule, the Betas obey, and the lower classes are bred for menial labor. Techno-feudalism (as I’ve explored in an old post linked below) is edging towards this.
Today, the algorithm plays the role of the social architect, quietly sorting us into digital brackets, something akin to a modern-age social caste system. Algorithms dictate which job applications reach human eyes, which individuals and companies sell more, which social media accounts & posts gain visibility, and which people find love on dating apps. AI, in its insatiable hunger for efficiency, has taken on the role of Huxley’s “World Controllers”, but instead of the hypnopaedic sleep-conditioning as envisioned in his book, we get recommendation engines that shape our worldview, telling us what to watch, read, and believe. The frightening part is, however, that we think we’re making our own choices. Entertainment in Huxley’s world, as depicted in his book, is designed for maximum distraction. The ‘feelies’ — his idea of a kind of immersive cinema that stimulates the senses — keep the masses pacified, much like our algorithmically optimized content feeds today. Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Netflix, powered by AI, know us better than we know ourselves, serving up precisely the content that will keep us scrolling, consuming, and disengaging from the real world. Furthermore, even the creators of the algorithms that govern social media don’t know exactly what’s happening and how their algorithms run to the finest detail —it’s almost like training a wild animal & setting it loose. The average screen time per day has skyrocketed past seven hours, as per 2025, and every moment of silence is filled with doomscrolling stimulation. There’s absolutely no time for deep thought, no space for discontent but rather just a steady drip of dopamine, a digital soma keeping us unknowingly sedated. Soma is the ultimate tool of societal control in Brave New World. It’s a wonder drug that eliminates pain, worry, and discomfort in Huxley’s reality. Today, we don’t need a government-issued pill like Huxley’s soma. We have AI & algorithm curated happiness. Instagram filters erase imperfections, post likes urge a sense of appreciation, mental health apps gamify mindfulness, and pharmaceutical companies & other corporations promise new chemical solutions & products to help solve our existential crises (The World Economic Forum recently projected that mental health apps would become a $17 billion industry by 2030). In comparison, Huxley’s soma was state-sanctioned. But today, ours is corporate-endorsed. However, the function remains the same, i.e. to keep the population consuming and docile, disengaged from anything that might spark dissent. The moment we search, show interest or speak about something, we get fine-tuned ads selling us products and services to fit exactly what we were searching or speaking about — the lack of privacy is shocking. This aligns with the massive surveillance & control being brought about by our digital world. In today’s world, digital surveillance has become an omnipresent force, seamlessly integrated into our daily lives. Governments and corporations increasingly track, categorize, and influence individuals through data collection, from social media interactions to financial transactions. China’s “Social Credit System” is a stark example, where an algorithmic framework dictates the lives of citizens through behavioral incentives and disciplining. While Western countries and democracies may not have implemented such an explicit system, similar mechanisms exist in the form of credit scores, algorithm-driven hiring decisions, and predictive policing. What was once a tool to optimize efficiency is now a method of shaping behavior, creating a society where individuals willingly comply with invisible rules in fear of being digitally ostracized. Even human reproduction has become eerily aligned with Huxley’s vision. In Brave New World, babies are no longer born naturally, but grown in artificial wombs. The family unit is obsolete, and sex is stripped of emotion. While we aren’t quite there yet, 2025 has already seen the rise of artificial womb technology, with biotech companies developing exogenesis — womb-like devices capable of growing fetuses outside the human body. Meanwhile, AI & robotics are fueling the rise of synthetic relationships, from AI & robotic companions to deepfake influencers who amass millions of followers despite not actually existing. We are rapidly approaching an era where connection is simulated, relationships are optional, and emotional depth is a thing of the past. Perhaps the most chilling aspect of Brave New World is how dissent is handled. It’s not propagated through force but rather through alienation. Bernard Marx, the novel’s misfit, doesn’t get tortured or executed like Orwell’s character Winston in 1984. But he simply gets exiled to an island, separated from the mindless bliss & voluntary subjugation of the collective. In 2025, cancel culture and algorithmic suppression pretty much serve the same purpose. Step too far outside the Overton window with your digital presence & worldview, and your reach is throttled, your accounts demonetized, your presence online erased. The algorithms don’t need to silence you directly — they just make sure no one hears you in the first place. The prison is now digital, and the punishment for questioning the narrative is irrelevance & your voice being unheard. Meanwhile, science and progress in Brave New World are tightly controlled, not because knowledge is banned but because curiosity itself is discouraged. This draws parallels with AI’s quiet takeover of intellectual labour. Why should students learn when ChatGPT can summarize their exam questions? Why think critically when the algorithm serves up pre-approved answers? AI is making us intellectually passive, replacing inquiry with instant gratification & algorithmic answers and solutions. AI has its pros and cons, of course, but we need to maintain a certain level of critical thinking away from AI and our experiences & perspectives that spring about from our questioning of the human condition, need to be preserved and kept in tact. But coming back, in addition, the World Economic Forum estimates that by 2030, nearly 85 million jobs will be displaced by AI, and while new ones will emerge, they will require humans to fit within the brackets of an AI-driven system rather than challenge it. Entire industries — ranging from legal work and accounting to entertainment, media, tech and customer service — are being automated, leaving millions of skilled workers redundant. While new jobs will emerge, they will require specialised technical knowledge, creating a growing gap between those who can adapt to technology and those left behind. Governments and corporations, who are well aware of the societal instability such dependence creates, may implement more digital controls over financial transactions and employment access, reinforcing the dystopian predictions of Brave New World, where economic autonomy is sacrificed for state-imposed stability. Governments, in the future, may introduce Universal Basic Income (UBI), but this could come with increased digital surveillance, restricting financial autonomy. Even religion in Brave New World, is replaced by the cult of Fordism, where Henry Ford’s assembly line is worshipped as the pinnacle of civilization. In 2025, consumerism is our religion, and the high priests are tech CEOs and venture capitalists. We line up for new iPhones like the citizens of Huxley’s world chant their synthetic prayers. Every few years, a new gadget or trend reaffirms our faith in the system. The deity is no longer a God but technological growth, and widespread technology consumption and the rituals are performed not in churches or temples, but in online & offline product stores, stock markets and Silicon Valley boardrooms. There is, of course, a resistance in Brave New World — a faint, tragic hope embodied by John the Savage. He seeks authenticity in a world of synthetic pleasures, only to find himself crushed by a society incapable of understanding his struggle. In 2025, those who seek depth, who reject algorithmic control, face a similar challenge. The thinkers, the rebels, the nonconformists are not imprisoned, but they are relegated to the fringes, & the peripheries dismissed as outdated, irrelevant, and made digital outcasts. We also see it in declining attention spans, the aversion to discomfort, the glorification of artificial ease over real experience. The true horror of Huxley’s dystopia is that it doesn’t need oppression — it thrives on consent. The people of Brave New World are not suffering to rebel in resistance; they are enjoying themselves into oblivion. This is precisely what we are seeing today. AI and algorithms don’t demand obedience — they simply make distraction more appealing than resistance. So where does that leave us? Unlike Brave New World, our future isn’t preordained. AI and algorithms are tools, not fates. But to avoid slipping fully into Huxley’s nightmare, we must recognize the trade-offs we are making. Convenience is not always freedom. Comfort is not always progress. And a world that is perfectly optimised for pleasure may ultimately leave us benumbed and disillusioned. In a world increasingly governed by algorithms and digital interactions, we risk losing the essence of what makes us human. To resist becoming cogs in an AI & algorithm-driven system, we must prioritise real human connection — both in external discourse & conversation and in our internal dialogue with differing viewpoints. We must also lead our lives with experiences that are more attuned with what it means to be human — whether that’s travelling & exploring, spending time with nature, social interaction that isn’t digital, reading, art & music and so on. Freedom, autonomy, and the right to anonymity must be fiercely protected, especially in financial, political, and personal matters. Things aren’t perhaps all doom and gloom if you analyse economic data of today over decades compared to Huxley’s era and even before that, as I’ve explored in an old post (linked below). But this is more to do with passively accepting technology’s iron claw over our attention & our existence, mirroring Huxley’s society in Brave New World. Furthermore, we must raise the next generation of youth with a deep sense of independence and a critical eye towards these perils, which is crucial as well. Huxley’s vision of a world where family, friendship, and community have disintegrated & one where emotions and critical thinking have been suppressed, and replaced by superficiality and amusing distractions, seems to be how things are progressing, for now at least. If we surrender these fundamental aspects of our existence to technology & its creators & proponents, we risk losing what truly makes us human. Huxley warned us — now, it’s up to us to listen. Thank you for being a valuable subscriber to my newsletter Light Years! If you liked this post & found it informative, feel free to share this publication with your network by clicking the button below… I hope you found this post informative & it helped you in some way. As always, feel free to subscribe to my publication Light Years & support it & also share it if you’d like. Get it in your inbox by filling up the space below! If you’d like to thank me for this post, if you found value in it, you can buy me a coffee instead of, or alongside subscribing to my publications, by scanning the QR code below so that I can sip my next brew of coffee, all thanks to you! :)
You're currently a free subscriber to Light Years by Gaurav Krishnan. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription.
|
Saturday, 1 March 2025
Aldous Huxley's Brave New World — How Algorithms & AI are Tipping The World Towards It
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Aldous Huxley's Brave New World — How Algorithms & AI are Tipping The World Towards It
How technology and AI are eerily transforming the world into the dystopian society depicted in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World ͏ ͏ ...
-
Planting flags in our Memory Garden at school. It all started with our field tr...
-
Revolutionize your family adventures with the latest innovation from Nissan – th...
No comments:
Post a Comment