Ok, so i have read and finished Brave New World and I have had this question on my mind since the beginning. The society is mass producing people. Lots of people. In our time, one baby comes out at a time, but in this era, ninety-six are born, as per the usual one. I don't understand how this is working for their society. Wouldn't more people mean a need for more jobs? Wouldn't more people mean a need for more food? Because of this mass production of people, would there not need to be a bigger industry to keep up with the people?
The book doesn't mention a problem ever about it. I guess I just don't see how mass producing people helps the society at all. Yes they do have more people to do work and necessary jobs to keep the society running, but I see a bigger population as more of a problem than a help. I can just see a need for more food, or more people starving, or not getting the things necessary to live. Things such as clothes and water and what not.
Is it just me who thinks this way? Am I the only one pondering this question? Help!!!! (btw did i miss this explanation in the book somewhere or did it ever provide one?)
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9 comments:
I agree with you, Michelle. I also think that a bigger population is more of a problem than a solution.
I have yet to start reading Brave New World so I'm not sure if you're talking about a place or country specifically, or just the world.
I have also thought about the population and how it has grown incredibly over the past few years. I think because infant mortality rates have gone down, and people's life expectancy has gone up.
Today, people are living to be up to 70 or more, so the elderly still make up the population. Then add on babies that are born each year.
Back in medieval Europe and such, people weren't expected to live longer than 30. So back then, the population was somewhat controlled.
But, think about the differences about back then and now.
Think about medical advances and how we're now aware of germs. Also think about how our diets have changed. Our diets now can supply us with more nutrients than it did centuries ago.
-LOUIE RAMOS
Population today is going up. Unfortunately, while the population is getting bigger, the world is deteriorating rapidly. There is a huge increase in pollution especially in 3rd world countries. I agree that there would be a great need for employment and huge industries. I believe, however, that this is one problem that we might not be able to resolve unless we are able to control the population. As for the book, I have only read the first few pages so I can't answer some of you're questions.
The technological advances are indeed a great factor when it comes to life expectancy. Diseases that would have proved fatal before are now curable. There are also vaccines that help prevent them.
Mainly, unless we are able to limit the population, we won't be able to solve problems such as pollution, famine and unemployment. That's my opinion on this subject.
-Angeline Lim :]
I have read the book, so I somewhat understand why they have the mass production of people. In the our world the main reason that we mass produce items are to make those items cheap and despensable.
Sadly, that is how it is in the book. People are made in mass numbers because they are despensable according to society. The individual doesn't matter in the society of Brave New World.
There may be problems in the world caused by the mass population, but the people do not care. All of the people are drugged up on soma. That is how the government of Brave New World avoids problems. If the people are happy and drugged, then they can't complain.
They do not have famines in this world because all the food is rationed by caste. The people are bred and conditioned to accept what is given to them, and to not desire more.
People only live to 60 in this book and they die when their "use" in society has come to an end (Just like The Giver).
Mass producing people makes them less valuable as individuals and despensable to society.
I don't get the sense that the world is overrun by people in BNW. Reproduction is efficient and impersonal. The individual is subordinate to the state. They produce exactly enough people to fulfill the needs of the state.
In my opinion, mass production of people depends on how well a country fairs. It is true that huge mass production of people will become uneccessary if a country is unable to support such a large amount of babies born. It all depends on how a country will be able to sustain itself if such a plan were to be carried out. I think that within the novel, Brave New World mass production might have never been considered a problem because the goverment in the story was able to sustain and provide for such a huge amount of people that were produced.
I haven't read the book anytime recently, so i'm not sure of all the facts.
But every day, how many babies are born in the world? I'm not sure. Should i say millions? Or only thousands? Either way, its a lot. However, in the book if there are purposed, controlled, mass productions of babies, then wouldn't they be controlling the population at the amount they believe is right? (Hey, i still think the mass production from the tubes is wrong, but thats a whole other conversation).
What I mean is, to me it is kind of like the number of children born here, and the mass amount in the book are not of such big difference. It's just that the mass of children born in the book are controlled. It's not like there is only one baby born every hour now. I am having trouble explaining what i see here, though. Am i making sense to anyone?
I do agree that over population would begin to be a problem though. So much as one extra child born a day could start making a difference that would eventually harm society.
I’m currently reading BNW and so far I think they aren’t just mass producing people at all. Just as the government controls and brainwashes the people into their jobs and positions, the government also controls the overall population number. They produce a sufficient amount of people to get the necessary jobs done, such as a specific amount of alphas, betas, gammas, deltas, and epsilon. An example of this is towards the end of the book when John asks why the government doesn’t produce only alphas, and the response to that is because they have a sufficient amount. The world controller stated that if they were to mass produce the alphas then things would get out of hand, such as the experiment they had on a secluded island. Therefore, the government controls the population growth, and doesn’t, simply mass produce people.
Also only gammas, deltas, and epsilon undergo the Bokanovsky Process, because they are to perform identical menial tasks. The gammas, deltas, and epsilon are treated like machines; they perform the physical labor and therefore might need to be produced in large quantities. Also by producing large quantities of gammas, deltas, and epsilon, they are dispensable to a LIMIT, because as the books states, “Every one works for every one else. We can’t do without any one. Even Epsilons are useful.”
Even I think about this question sometimes. I think that since the population is growing over time, that the world is going to be crowded and then there will be problems with overpopulation. With more people in the world a lot more of the earth's natural resources will be used to keep up with the growing population. People will also live longer becaue of advancements in medical technology. But in the book Brave New World, the population is controlled by the state so it wouldn't get too crowded. In my opinion, I think this will eventually happen in our world because there is too many people. The government would try to limit the ever-growing population to save the planet from destroying itself. That's what I think might happen in the future.
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