Brave New World Revisited OVERPOPULATION

World Population First Christmas: 250 million people on planet 1931: a little under 2 billion people on planet 1952: 2 billion, 800 thousand people on planet Annual increase of humans worldwide: 43 million people a year

Why So High?? No form of birth control in 1952 No death control Religious interference in birth and death Medical advancements prolong life so more people are born than are dying, unlike previous centuries

What Does This Mean? Using up natural resources (oil, gas, energy) Not enough food on planet (people starving) MOST IMPORTANT: THE MORE PEOPLE WE HAVE ON THE EARTH, THE HARDER IT IS FOR GOVERNMENTS TO CONTROL THE VAST NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN THEIR COUNTRIES How can governments maintain social order with so many people??

Main Theories Overpopulation of world leads to fewer resources When governments are overburdened, they have to find a way to CONTROL/help their people Conditioning Social rules/laws Government social policies lead to unrest among citizens (rebellions) Government officials get greedy Democracy protects citizens

Overpopulation Leads to: Economic insecurity Social unrest More control by government in power to stop the social unrest and economic insecurity Can lead to dictatorships Drain on worldwide resources Less food and resources to spread over the world Power struggles

The World At Publication: 1931 Huxley was optimistic that the world could change World population: just under 2 billion people Science and medication advancing quickly Immigration between countries starting Great Depression beginning Germany starting to make political waves Huxley warns the world with his novel Brave New World, but he is still optimistic that we can change things for the better

1952 Huxley less optimistic His predictions from 1931 are coming true World just out of WWII Anti-communist feelings Cold war starting with Soviet Union Korean and Vietnam wars (fighting for democracy – idealism)

Main Ideas of 1952 Shift in thinking: Control through punishment (punishing for bad behaviour) not effective Punishment temporarily stops the behaviour, but it will come back Control through reinforcement (rewarding good behaviour) more effective Governments that control through terror are less effective than governments that control through non-violent ways (anti-communism beginning in Western world; cold war)

1952 Russia COMMUNIST Society broken into levels (hierarchy) Upper levels are offered rewards for good work: Scientists, engineers, teachers paid very well for good work and do not pay much tax The better the work, the more they are paid, the less tax they pay Punished only when they do not do their jobs well Lower level workers have no priviledges: Meagre (little) wages (stay poor) Heavy taxes

Poor Countries in 1952 These countries lack necessities: no machinery no industrial factories no money no trained manpower no education HOWEVER Lower death rate because of medications and clean water supplied by other countries More births and less deaths = more mouths to feed worldwide and less food to use

Today What is the state of our world today: Population? Government stability (how are governments controlling the people to create SOCIAL STABILITY)? Main types of ruling governments? State of world resources?

Our Future: The Brave New World?? Huxley’s solutions in the novel: Population controlled by “bottle babies” Fetuses are manipulated before birth Babies and children are conditioned after birth Drugs used to control behaviour “Soma” World population is controlled (only a prescribed number of people are created) Population control = resource/food control Totalitarian government