Things change rapidly in the later part of the book.  Finally, we get into what is going on and more importantly the why of it.  

A lot happens in the latter part of the book.  John interacts with society, Bernard rises and falls as a celebrity, and of course, the finale.  I am not going to spoil what happens and how for you.  But, this is definitely where all the action is particularly chapters 16 and 17.

Science and Art vs Society  – To me this is the central theme of the book.  From a philosophical point of view, there can only be truth when there is also untruth and there can only be beauty when there is also not.  Science and art lead to truth and beauty which often times can be in contrast to happiness.  And when there is unhappiness, there is instability in society. 

The poignant conversation with Mustapha Mond reveals science has ceased advancing in AF632.  Without truth, there is also no beauty.  I used to believe the phrase that ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’.  And I am not saying that I have completely thrown that belief out however, I do think that the antithesis that there are standards that are universally recognized.   Those standards can change but only if truth changes.

Back when I was in high school, we had a days long debate with our Latin Teacher who was also trained in philosophy about this subject.  His stance was that there was an absolute definition of beauty.  That flew in the face of us young, doe eyed high schoolers.  I think it was us revolting to the idea that we all saw ourselves as “mommy and daddies’ little gems”.  The truth of it was that we had not seen enough of the world to understand that the full picture had not been revealed.  In that Latin class, most were successful in life but in the larger graduating class some became drug addicts and criminals, some died in car crashes and some got ‘knocked up’ shortly after leaving high school; hardly a beautiful ending.

In the eye of the beholder is a filter that we use to justify our choices and it is perfectly fine.  But, it doesn’t mean that it fits the definition of beauty.  I don’t know if this is true but Mustapha cited that only 1/9 can be Alpha.  The other 8/9 are not.  That is the science (or statistical analysis, a form of science) or truth.  When we are in the lower eight, we don’t want to believe it and that makes us unhappy.

Age and solidarity draw toward religion – The wildcard in the trinity above is religion.  Civilization in AF632 has edited out god, therefore it is handled in a separate conversation between John and Mustapha.  I suppose you could say that religion influences truth and beauty but it could have it’s on effect on happiness as well.

The claim is that as we age and get closer to death, we are looking for answers to the unknown in life.  In Brave New World no one ages, death has been normalized throughout all life and no one is solitary.  I suppose that is one technique to prevent looking for God in the first place. 

But I think in a larger sense, religion has a more powerful role than either truth or beauty.  It can cause us to do things and live life in contrast to societal norms or dare I say even laws.  For instance, despite religion being illegal in China there are still churches.  Religion has always survived persecution or even on the fringes of permission.  Clearly, a powerful motivator and society disrupter.

Nobility and Heroism = Political inefficiency – This is a minor point but a quote that I thought was interesting.  What it is saying is that when the population holds some individuals (or fictional characters) to a different level, then the current propaganda has failed.  I think that this is one to watch out for in the future actually.  

We see this all the time in the villainization of individuals in media circles.  It could be Trump or AOC and to a lessor extent Antonio Brown or John Gruden. One side pushing an agenda to discredit the other side.  The part that has yet to be perfected is when this doesn’t happen at all it means total control has been assumed.  The other thing to watch out for here is don’t get trapped on one side.

Humanity is the right to be Unhappy – Here is the punchline to what Huxley was delivering.  Again, this is the result of concept one today.  I think that it is interesting that even in the 1930s, Huxley recognized the trend to give up freedom for the sake of comfort.  

I will use a completely unrelated example to illustrate this.  Many companies are pushing this acronym SaaS.  That stands for Software as a Service.  The premise is that you sign up for a reoccurring payment to retain access to the service.  You don’t pay it every month (or period), you are charged automatically.  I have always bristled at this in that as it puts it on auto-pilot.   It stops becoming a subscription and become an everbearing revenue stream for the companies providing the service. No wonder it is popular.  The prevailing attitude of most people is that it is better to give up control than to have to deal with it.

What we lose here is the analysis of whether we want the service or not.  Is the payment market appropriate? Are we using the service enough to justify the cost? Do we even know that we are paying for the service?  We are abdicating choice for comfort in this case.  

My wrap-up next week will conclude this review.  I will do some comparisons with teacher and student to 1984.  I think Huxley provided some pretty strong conclusions late in the book.  The thing that I really appreciated with this section was the reminder that I don’t have to agree with what is happening in the world, the fact that it is happening and I know about it there is still hope that we have not been completely brainwashed or sanitized.

End Your Programming Routine:  Freedom requires maturity.  Maturity contains the ability to accept that there is truth that contrasts what we want in life or that we may not fit into every definition of beauty.  We do not have maturity if we put convenience over freedom in the long run.  The ability to make the decision in the first place is freedom. Without a continued questioning of whether we made the right decision or the results still fit is truth.