1. Brave New World Revisited
OVERPOPULATION

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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??

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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)

9. 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)

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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?

13. 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