The word “automation” is defined as “the technique of making an apparatus, a process, or a system operate automatically.” Most dictionary definitions seem to contrast automatic operation with human intervention; when applied to humans themselves as an apparatus or system, however, it yields the confusing result that humans would operate without human intervention. More likely, the definitions mean that the systems operate without conscious interaction.
Consciousness is often thought of as the state of being self-aware; John Locke said it was “the perception of what passes in a man’s own mind.” But that is only one stage of developing awareness. Consciousness is a spectrum, and can exist at many different levels; humans usually will achieve many transcendent levels of consciousness naturally over the course of their lives. However, in the novel Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, a dystopic world state keeps its citizens as unconscious as possible in order to maintain social stability. Through various clever and complex techniques, the social order dominates and obliterates the individual will and insinuates its own programming propaganda, thereby transforming a self-aware, conscious individual into a mere cell of a large, stable, powerful social organism. An organism that, being an automatic process itself, has no conscious self-determining mechanism, and cannot do anything beyond continuing to exist.
As I said, a person’s self-awareness comes in a series of stages throughout their lives. These stages emerge as a result of the life experiences of the individual, which are observed and understood in relation to other experiences; they are taken and incorporated into an overall structure of the person’s understanding of the world around them. For example, an infant lying in its crib will bite on its blanket, and then bite on its thumb. Since one causes pain and the other does not, they learn that the thumb is separate from the rest of the world, and is somehow connected to themselves. Though trial and error they define their physical body from the world around them, and thereby take the first steps toward true self-awareness.
There are three or four primary areas in which consciousness develops: the physical, the emotional, the mental, and possibly even the spiritual (in later stages of development, though the last wont concern us much for this topic). For a person to reach a transcendent stage of consciousness inevitably involves their distinguishing of one of these from the rest of their world. The infant distinguishes physically, the young child separates themselves from their emotional environment (especially from mothers or caretakers), and the adolescent rebels, and distinguishes themselves mentally from the people around them.
This development is natural for humans, and if successful, allows a person to become self-critical, insightful, and intuitive. They may even develop an awareness of the self that transcends their mind and body, and becomes the non-dual entity that, by nature of the process of distinction, is capable of observing and analyzing the person’s own thought processes. If the blossoming consciousness is manipulated or hindered, however, through painful experience and/or trauma, the developing person will become partially or completely lodged within the stage of development at which the trauma occurs. They will retain a form of physical, emotional, or mental immaturity. The World State society of Brave New World succeeds in doing exactly that; stunting the development of the vast majority of its citizens.
It does this through a number of processes that target the physical, emotional, and mental facets of the citizens through their development from initial embryonic state, all the way to full adulthood, even until death. Through environmental control, the embryos are manipulated to fit the various social classes. Alcohol is mixed into the placenta, and oxygen levels are reduced, in order to stunt growth and harm mental development in lower class citizens. Increased heat in the incubators, prenatal inoculations, and exposure to various chemicals are used to prepare the developing citizens for tropical work, or chemical mining.
The emotional development of the citizens grown in the World State is also severely stunted, no matter which social class they belong to. Partially through intense, traumatizing associative training and behavioral conditioning, and partially through artificially instilled social taboos against long-term relationships and strong emotional ties, the individual is kept in an emotionally infantile state. The consciousness is never able to distinguish itself from its emotional environment, and as a result, will always treat the world as an extension of its self. In a natural human environment this would lead to narcissistic neurosis as the person grew out of infancy. In the World State, however, a careful combination of physical limitation, mental inhibition, and a constant state of contentment combine to allow the emotionally undeveloped, narcissistic state of mind to become the social norm.
There are two major ways in which the conditioning and maintaining of the emotional and mental states of mind are accomplished in the World State: hypnopædia; or hypnotic suggestion during the course of natural sleep, and Soma; a State-developed, massively distributed “perfect drug.”
A character in Brave New World described hypnopædia as “the greatest moralizing and socializing force of all time” (p.28). In other words, the most effective method yet for the mass homogenization of humanity into a uniform social and cultural body. It is the primary method for the conditioning of the mental and emotional states. Through the repetition of certain lessons and propaganda to sleeping individuals, hundreds of times a night for many years, the curriculum is implanted into the people so deeply that it becomes an unconscious auto-response to whatever given situation that arises. One of the primary goals of hypnopædia, is to create a sufficient mental infrastructure to allow a person to go through their everyday life without needing, or wanting, to achieve conscious thought. An example is seen clearly in the character Lenina Crowne, who, whenever she hears even the passing mention of the word “damn,” will unfalteringly utter the hypnoædic response “a gramme is always better than a damn.” By focusing on a single word, and unconsciously responding to it, she completely misses the meaning and context that the word existed in. Indeed, she successfully navigates a situation without once engaging any of her analytical abilities and conscious faculties.
By “gramme,” Lenina is referring to the second method, the use of Soma. It is the principal method of maintaining the immature states of the individuals in the World State. Developed by a State-funded group of scientists, Soma is a sort of super drug; an intoxicant/stimulant/depressant/hallucinogen with no “hang-over” effects, that is carefully measured and dosed. The citizens of the State use it mainly to fill in the gaps of free time in their schedule between various pointless activities. They also use it as a sort of mental crutch for times of unusual stress or discomfort. Since it tends to create an impervious, unaware state of mind, it allows the individual an artificial tolerance for extreme emotional circumstances. This essentially prevents deep, self-aware thoughts; not only through the inherent functional limitations of Soma use, but also through the very euphoria that the individual seeks. The artificial contentment prevents any unorthodox, stressful situations from creating a need or desire in the individual to understand them.
The methods of automation are rigorous, complex, time-consuming, and expensive. So why is all the effort made? What are the goals of this stripping of self-determination and awareness from the individual citizen? It is the same goal that has been held since the first gathering of people into small bands and tribes, the first settling of villages, the first growth of nation/states. It is the power to maintain continued survival. The social organism is more capable of weathering the rigors of the natural world, and if stable and separated from strong outside influence, becomes effectively immortal.
At the base of all these social groupings though, there has been a sort of unconscious acknowledgement that the whole is more powerful than its constituent parts, and that the larger the ultimate whole, the greater its power to survive. But on average, the larger the social grouping is, the more complex it is; and the more complex, the more narrowly defined the social roles become, and the greater the need for conformity and social control. The constituent parts must become more shallow and limited, more homogenized and replaceable, like cells in the body. The individual citizens of the state become integrated cells fulfilling their roles in the body of the social organism.
The needs of the World State in Brave New World have defined various classes of citizens, to fulfill the roles of the social body. The Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons present a spectrum of consciousness; a range in frequency and depth of self-awareness as it occurs in the individuals of the different classes. The Alphas exist at the high end of the spectrum, the Epsilons at the low, and the rest somewhere in between.
Alphas are approaching the level of self-aware; their physical development is unhindered, and they are instructed in the methods and goals of their own indoctrination and extreme socialization. The only things that really maintain the Alpha’s state of unawareness are hypnopædia, Soma, and the perfectly stable society that allows those two to operate correctly. If some uncommon events do occur to an Alpha, and they don’t have the benefit of escaping through Soma, it is possible for them to achieve self-derived thoughts as a reaction, and evolve individuality and true consciousness. The character Bernard Marx is a perfect example of this; his short stature didn’t allow him to fit in, which caused him to develop self-conscious tendencies, and original thoughts of his own.
Epsilons, on the other hand, are almost completely automated individuals. Their physical development is so stunted, that it hardly even allows for mental and emotional development. Whatever limited development could occur is completely quashed by way of hypnopædia and Soma. No conscious thoughts occur in them; only hypnopaedic auto-responses and preprogrammed functions. They never even acquire the ability to become conscious entities.
Aldous Huxley presented a frightening, dystopic prediction of the future with his Brave New World; one that he initially thought it would take something like 600 years to fulfill. However, he later revised his estimate to about 100 years after seeing the changes brought about by the end of WWII, with the rise of America and the U.S.S.R. The Soviets seemed destined to fulfill an Orwellian path of totalitarianism, until their union collapsed.
It is contemporary America, I believe, that is the most accurate manifestation of the society in Huxley’s dystopia so far to come into being. Just like them, we are essentially a people trapped and subjugated by our own petty desires. Our entire way of life seems to have been defined by how we distract ourselves. In fact there is an obvious relation between Huxley’s feelies and hypnopædia, and America’s television and advertisement; not identical, clearly, but functionally and intentionally similar. There is also a direct correlation with the rampant drug use in America, and the Soma use in Brave New World. The reasons for which they are used are virtually identical: for recreation and to fill up free time, and as a crutch mechanism in times of unusual stress or discomfort.
We have bought in to the gimmick of instant-gratification, and have confused Jefferson’s meaning when he said “the pursuit of happiness,” thinking that happiness was the goal. We forgot that the pursuit was the important part, and that perpetual happiness isn’t happiness at all, but merely a shallow contentment.
Humans are the first entities that we know in the entire universe to achieve true, deep self-awareness; this is not something that should be taken for granted. As far as we know, we may be the first and only place in which the universe itself has become self-perceiving. We are effectively the eye of the Kosmos, looking at itself in wonder and compassion, seeing it as One, the spirit, the Brahman, the Godhead; and also as the many, the all, the manifestations of spirit, Form constantly emerging from emptiness. We are the mirror through which the universe is reflected upon itself. Shall we learn from Huxley’s prophetic warning? Or shall we continue down this path, unwittingly fooling ourselves into shattering that mirror beyond repair?
The Methods and Goals of Mass Human Automation, As Proposed by Aldous Huxley
Humans, and Their Foibles
Human beings are essentially mad. Madness defined as a goal which contradicts its own existence. Humans are the essence of conflict. Power corrupts them. They desire power. They are imprisoned by shelter, and terrified of freedom.
They are both social AND individual creatures, and as such are essentially opposed to themselves. Since they operate in a societal form, humans pay attention to other humans, and are blinded by the “human experience” of the universe. They cannot gain a sufficient experience of the world as it is, instead of merely as humans expect it to be. Because of this, they are disillusioned, easily misled, and frightened of a world they struggle to understand only through the avenues of social human perspective. They are often the subject of a vague sense of general unease that arises when they forget for a moment their human conceit, and perceive their insignificance in a world that they suddenly feel is infinitely large and threatening. They forget that it is no more threatening than it was when they saw themselves as an integral part of it.
But the objective viewpoint can only be gained through societal interactions; through communications of other ideas and experiences; therein lies the problem. An individual can only see the world truly as it is through an objective viewpoint. So the only way for an individual to find balance and peace within their self; to start resolving the eternal conflict that up till now has been the very essence of humanity, is to find an objective viewpoint through society. This is a very hard thing to do. This is why the majority of humans suffer from poor education and suffering based on subjectivity of their surroundings. It should be the primary objective of any society to bestow on its individuals a widely educated, objective viewpoint. It could be argued that the primary, or dual purpose of society should be to protect its citizens. It is true, however, that if the majority of humanity were bestowed with a truly objective education, there would be far less need to defend yourself from your neighbors. It would be as the Dalai Lama said; that eventually we would see that there is no such thing as enmity, that everyone is part of a cohesive whole. We should not be warring against one another, we should be promoting each other to benefit from one another. Like the cells in the human body. And it is also as Alan Watts said, that to rightly describe an individual, you would also have to describe his surroundings, both past and present. So it would be a misconception to separate the individual from his surroundings. So by this reasoning, we as humans, as individuals and as a society, should treat our surroundings, our world and everything in it, as part of our bodies, to be promoted and benefited from.
