"They'll grow up with what the psychologists used to call an 'instinctive' hatred of books and flowers. Reflexes unalterably conditioned. They'll be safe from books and botany all their lives" The Director turned to his nurses. "Take them away again." (Huxley 22)
This relates to our life because this is how parents or guardians are in our society. When you're a baby or infant your brain is still growing and developing, so at this point in a human's life you can get the human to think how you want them to think by using some sort of punishment. We see this everyday, just not as bad as in the novel because as people grow it is harder to take over them.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Everyday Conditioning
“The swiftest crawlers were already at their goal. Small hands reached out uncertainly, touched, grasped, unpetaling the transfigured roses, crumpling the illuminated pages of the books. The Director waited until all were happily busy. The, “Watch carefully” he said. And, lifting his hand, he gave the signal. The Head Nurse, who was standing by a switchboard at the other end of the room, pressed down a little lever. There was a violent explosion. Shriller and even shriller, a siren shrieked. Alarm bells maddeningly sounded. The children started, screamed; their faces were distorted with terror.” (Huxely 20-21)
This is how the community in Brave New World “conditions” the newborns. In this particular instance the babies are given electric shock therapy. They are presented with flowers and books and once they begin to play with the books and flowers they are shocked, this process is repeated many times so that the lesson is imprinted into their minds.
Today in the real world we are also conditioned, although it is nowhere near as extreme. We are conditioned in the sense that we are lead to believe that money is essential. We are told to do well in school so that we may make more money. How smart we are is shown in our grades which in itself aren’t an accurate representation of intelligence. We are told that in order for us to make lots of money we have to go to a good college. College cost money, so once we finish college we owe someone money, and the only way to pay off that money is to spend the majority of your life working. Even if someone doesn’t go to college they might buy a car or a house. Either way the average person owes money. In this sense we are conditioned.
This is how the community in Brave New World “conditions” the newborns. In this particular instance the babies are given electric shock therapy. They are presented with flowers and books and once they begin to play with the books and flowers they are shocked, this process is repeated many times so that the lesson is imprinted into their minds.
Today in the real world we are also conditioned, although it is nowhere near as extreme. We are conditioned in the sense that we are lead to believe that money is essential. We are told to do well in school so that we may make more money. How smart we are is shown in our grades which in itself aren’t an accurate representation of intelligence. We are told that in order for us to make lots of money we have to go to a good college. College cost money, so once we finish college we owe someone money, and the only way to pay off that money is to spend the majority of your life working. Even if someone doesn’t go to college they might buy a car or a house. Either way the average person owes money. In this sense we are conditioned.
Cloning
“And this,” said the Director opening the door, “is the Fertilizing Room.” (p.3) Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
This passage shows how advance technology has become. It has advanced so much that people are cloning other human beings. In this passage, the Director of Hatcheries is giving a group of students a tour of the hatchery and is showing how this cloning process is done and how to make a successful clone.
This sort of reminds me of how in present time, humans have already cloned a animal. A sheep has been clone before, and now that scientist have done this, they would want to try something bigger and complicated (such as a human). If the cloning of a human is successful, than more humans might be cloned and who knows if the cloning will turn out to be the same as in the Brave New World.
This passage shows how advance technology has become. It has advanced so much that people are cloning other human beings. In this passage, the Director of Hatcheries is giving a group of students a tour of the hatchery and is showing how this cloning process is done and how to make a successful clone.
This sort of reminds me of how in present time, humans have already cloned a animal. A sheep has been clone before, and now that scientist have done this, they would want to try something bigger and complicated (such as a human). If the cloning of a human is successful, than more humans might be cloned and who knows if the cloning will turn out to be the same as in the Brave New World.
Harsh Conditioning
"The swiftest crawlers were already at their goal. Small hands reached out uncertainly, touched, grasped, unpetaling the transfigured roses, crumpling the illuminated pages of the books. The Director waited until all were happily busy. Then,"Watch carefully," he said. And, lifting his hand, he gave the signal.(20)
"Now we proceed to rub in the lesson with a mild electric shock."
"The screaming of the babies suddenly changed its tone. There was something desperate, almost insane, about the sharp spasmodic yelps to which they now gave utterance. Their little bodies twitched and stiffened; their limbs moved jerkily as if to tug of unseen wires.(21)
In the book,Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley there is a passage that states this. This passage is when the Director conditions the babies in a harsh way. They put flowers and books out. They go through a process called shocked therapy. This makes the babies not like neither books or the outdoors. If the babies are crawling to either one of these then they are shocked. The babies keep going to either and keep getting shocked. This keeps going on until they realize that if they get close to either they will get shocked, so they decide to stay away.
The way the author describes the reactions to the shock is scary. These poor little babies have to go through all of this. Seeing this would make me cry. They are basically torturing the babies to not like something. It's sad to know the babies go through this.
I know that this does go on in the real world but nothing as harsh as this. Dogs are put a shock collar around them. Say you have the invisible boundaries set up in front of a door, if the dog passes this boundary then it is shocked. He then learns that he can't pass the door or else he will get shocked.
"Now we proceed to rub in the lesson with a mild electric shock."
"The screaming of the babies suddenly changed its tone. There was something desperate, almost insane, about the sharp spasmodic yelps to which they now gave utterance. Their little bodies twitched and stiffened; their limbs moved jerkily as if to tug of unseen wires.(21)
In the book,Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley there is a passage that states this. This passage is when the Director conditions the babies in a harsh way. They put flowers and books out. They go through a process called shocked therapy. This makes the babies not like neither books or the outdoors. If the babies are crawling to either one of these then they are shocked. The babies keep going to either and keep getting shocked. This keeps going on until they realize that if they get close to either they will get shocked, so they decide to stay away.
The way the author describes the reactions to the shock is scary. These poor little babies have to go through all of this. Seeing this would make me cry. They are basically torturing the babies to not like something. It's sad to know the babies go through this.
I know that this does go on in the real world but nothing as harsh as this. Dogs are put a shock collar around them. Say you have the invisible boundaries set up in front of a door, if the dog passes this boundary then it is shocked. He then learns that he can't pass the door or else he will get shocked.
Conditioning
“Turned, the babies at once fell silent, then began to crawl towards those clusters of sleek colours, those shapes so gay and brilliant on the white pages. As they approached, the sun came out of a momentary eclipse behind a cloud. The roses flamed up as though with a sudden passion from within; a new and profound significance seemed to suffuse the shining pages of the books. From the ranks of the crawling babies came little squeals of excitement, gurgles and twitterings of pleasure.
“The director rubbed his hands. 'Excellent!' he said. 'It might almost have been done on purpose.'
“The swiftest crawlers were already at their goal. Small hands reached out uncertainly, touched, grasped, unpetaling the transfigured roses, crumpling the illuminated pages of the books. The Director waited until all were happily busy. Then, 'Watch carefully,' he said. And, lifting his hand, he gave the signal.(BNW 20)
“The Head Nurse, who was standing by a switchboard at the other end of the room, pressed down a little lever.
“There was a violent explosion, Shriller and ever shriller, a siren shrieked. Alarm bells maddeningly sounded.
“The children started, screamed; their faces were distorted with terror.
“'And now,' the Director shouted (for the noise was deafening), 'now we proceed to rub in the lesson with a mild electric shock.'
“He waved his hand again, and the Head Nurse pressed a second lever. The screaming of the babies suddenly changed its tone. There was something desperate, almost insane, about the sharp spasmodic yelps to which they now gave utterance. Their little bodies twitched and stiffened; their limbs moved jerkily as if to the tug of unseen wires.”(BNW 21)
This long passage from Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is a clear portayal of the conditioning throughout the book. In this passage the Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning explains the process of conditioning. The infants are drawn to books and roses and are aloud to chuckle. They appear genuinely happy. Then the Director signals the Head Nurse to send a shock wave and eventually these infants are crying. They do this a number of time until it is programed in their head that reading and flowers are bad.
This process, though we'd like to think not, is very much practiced in the real world. This practice called conditioning is not the same for everybody; it is nurture rather than nature that conditions us. Let's start off with a not-so-harsh example. When running with your shoes untied and you laces hanging out, odds are that you will fall. After falling, scraping your knees, and crying your guts out several times you learn that running with untied shoe laces is a bad combination. Not convincing enough? Let's go upscale to a more obvious form of conditioning.
A more obvious form of conditioning is from your friends or posse. Let's say you just moved to a new school and friends with a group of people you don't know much. They had a grudge with another group of kids at the school even before you came into the picture. Your new posse is expecting you to have this a grudge against the other posse even though you know nothing about them. Similarly, the other posse will view you as an enemy and have a grudge against you. Eventually, you realize that if you want to remain in the posse you are in you must have a grudge against the "enemy" as well.
Of course, both of these examples seem to be as different from one another as possible. That is why I will conclude that there are different forms of conditioning: self-subconscious conditioning(learning from your own mistakes(1st example)) and environmental conditioning(being trained by environmental factors that, for example, tell you what to like or dislike(2nd example)).
Did you think life as we live it is very different than that of Brave New World? Think again!
C.I.S.
"He quoted the planetary motto." 'Community, Identity, Stability'. Grand words."(pg.7)
These 3 factors represents the major occupation of todays society. While reading definitions I noticed that they relate to one another. They also apply to our organization of society.
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Identity
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Community
The community in todays world work together to better one another. I see this similarity within the book. Everyone has a specific job to do within the different meters of the facility and they all work together to get the job done. In real life we complete this task all the time by coming together and working as a team. Here at Chinquapin we display those same qualities. We all work together in the garden and around the school to perform "mass production", so that we can get the task done quicker. Interact is a perfect example of how the community should come together and try to better the neighborhoods in our local towns.
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Identity
When people say identity, I automatically think about people having a certain description of themselves. In the book they picture identity as your rank or class, not your own personal style. From the Alphas to the Epsilons they have specific duties to portray. The Alphas are predicted to be "future Directors of Hatcheries"(pg.13) while the Epsilons are thrown to the side left to become "future sewage workers"(pg.13), said Mr. Foster. This makes me think about the different types of classes that people are labeled such as: high class, middle class, and low class. In America, the wealthy people are "suppose" to be our future leaders while the middle class work common jobs. The low class that portrays the Epsilons in Huxley's book are suppose to be poor and uneducated in some cases. I see the resemblance with the real world connection the way that Huxley describes the different caste.
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Stability
Stability
In the book they think of stability as having their people being content and happy, but in the real world it carries a different meaning. For example, we try to have stable lives and a stable government. I noticed that the students here at Chinquapin are stable at school. We do the same thing everyday. We go from class to class and get different homework assignments. In the USA we have a stable government that is not going to change. We have had the same government for over 150 years. Although the things that us humans do are not always stable we do try to maintain stability as much as possible. This shows that we have organization and control over our own lives.
Control your kids.
"They'll grow up with what the psychologists used to call an "instinctive" hatred to books and flowers. Reflexes unalterably conditioned. They'll be safe from books and botany all their lives."
In the Brave New World by Aldous Huxley the nurses "condition" the babies to hate books and nature. The babies crawl up to a book or flower and they get electrically shocked. They do this many times until the baby is horrified by it. This way, in the future the babies will no longer have any interest what so ever, in books. If you don't read books then there is no crazy ideas popping in your head. You are then easy to control by government and such.
In today's world conditioning does go on, but usually in a more positive way. Believe it or not, you have been conditioned! Of course this was mostly your parents doing it. Ever since you were a kid they would tell you to; never talk to strangers, be respectful to others, treat others how you want to be treated, do your homework, etc. And why do we obey? Because otherwise you get punished. Who wants to be punished? Nobody does, so we obey. You may ask why parents do this, so I'll tell you why. It's all for your own good, your safety, and more importantly they want you to be successful in life.
In the Brave New World by Aldous Huxley the nurses "condition" the babies to hate books and nature. The babies crawl up to a book or flower and they get electrically shocked. They do this many times until the baby is horrified by it. This way, in the future the babies will no longer have any interest what so ever, in books. If you don't read books then there is no crazy ideas popping in your head. You are then easy to control by government and such.
In today's world conditioning does go on, but usually in a more positive way. Believe it or not, you have been conditioned! Of course this was mostly your parents doing it. Ever since you were a kid they would tell you to; never talk to strangers, be respectful to others, treat others how you want to be treated, do your homework, etc. And why do we obey? Because otherwise you get punished. Who wants to be punished? Nobody does, so we obey. You may ask why parents do this, so I'll tell you why. It's all for your own good, your safety, and more importantly they want you to be successful in life.
Communities Can't Be Perfect
" 'Offer them the flowers and the books again.' The nurses obeyed; but at the approach of the rosed, at the mere sight of those gaily-coloured images of pussy and cock-adoodle-doo and baa-baa black sheep, the infants shrank in horror; the volume of their howling suddenly increased."(Huxley 21)
Well to start, we have instincts that tell us not do something like stick your finger in a cup of boiling water. And after the many mistakes that we make, we learn that we shouldn't do those things anymore. And that is exactly what the people in Brave New World are doing, they are shocking the babies to show them that they shouldn't go near the books, flowers, or make loud noises. But do I think the reason they are doing it is right? I'm still thinking about that. I mean, we are always saying that we want things to be fair and stable, and in the book its actually happening and I find it a little bit harsh.
The motto of the community in the book is “Community. Identity. Stability.” And well I don't know about my other classmates, but I find it weird. I really don't like it that they torture the babies. And I wouldn't like for everyone to be the same, because being different is what make you, you. I do believe that discipline is ok to do but these babies aren't doing anything wrong. They are just trying to show them what not to do because they want to keep information from them. They don't want people's identities to be different. They want everyone the same so in order to do this they keep information and history from everyone. They do this so the people don't have questions about anything. Curiosity isn't allowed in this community.
Well to start, we have instincts that tell us not do something like stick your finger in a cup of boiling water. And after the many mistakes that we make, we learn that we shouldn't do those things anymore. And that is exactly what the people in Brave New World are doing, they are shocking the babies to show them that they shouldn't go near the books, flowers, or make loud noises. But do I think the reason they are doing it is right? I'm still thinking about that. I mean, we are always saying that we want things to be fair and stable, and in the book its actually happening and I find it a little bit harsh.
The motto of the community in the book is “Community. Identity. Stability.” And well I don't know about my other classmates, but I find it weird. I really don't like it that they torture the babies. And I wouldn't like for everyone to be the same, because being different is what make you, you. I do believe that discipline is ok to do but these babies aren't doing anything wrong. They are just trying to show them what not to do because they want to keep information from them. They don't want people's identities to be different. They want everyone the same so in order to do this they keep information and history from everyone. They do this so the people don't have questions about anything. Curiosity isn't allowed in this community.
Ignorance is Bliss
...The nurses obeyed; but at the approach of the roses, at the mere sight of those gaily-coloured images of pussy and cock-a-doodle-doo and baa-baa black sheep, the infants shrank away in horror, the volume of their howling suddenly increased...(21)
In the second chapter of Brave New World by Aldonus Huxley, we are introduced to conditioning. This society is controlled down to the birthing process. Humans no longer mate to create young. The kids are cloned to the maximum, about 79 on average. Nor are the children raised or nurtured by another human being. They are created and trained for one purpose. That is to work to keep the community going. The creations are split into four different types. Their type determines what their position is in the hierarchy. In this part of the chapter we are exposed to how the Deltas, or lower class, are trained to dislike books and nature. The kids are shown roses and books. At first sight they reach for them. Then the kids are shocked and after several times of repeating the process the kids learn to hate books and nature. They are conditioned. In this society the lower class shouldn't like to read or nature. It was a very interesting topic to me. If we conditioned our world to live in peace, wouldn't that be good? We wouldn't have war or hate or pain. Everyone would be controlled without knowing. No one would get hurt because nobody would know anything. They do say ignorance is bliss. If people don't know what's being done to them then they'll be happier. In this society that's the idea, to be happy. At the very least contempt with your life. If we applied that theory to our world maybe we would live happier. I don't like this futuristic society, but I do believe ignorance is bliss.
In the second chapter of Brave New World by Aldonus Huxley, we are introduced to conditioning. This society is controlled down to the birthing process. Humans no longer mate to create young. The kids are cloned to the maximum, about 79 on average. Nor are the children raised or nurtured by another human being. They are created and trained for one purpose. That is to work to keep the community going. The creations are split into four different types. Their type determines what their position is in the hierarchy. In this part of the chapter we are exposed to how the Deltas, or lower class, are trained to dislike books and nature. The kids are shown roses and books. At first sight they reach for them. Then the kids are shocked and after several times of repeating the process the kids learn to hate books and nature. They are conditioned. In this society the lower class shouldn't like to read or nature. It was a very interesting topic to me. If we conditioned our world to live in peace, wouldn't that be good? We wouldn't have war or hate or pain. Everyone would be controlled without knowing. No one would get hurt because nobody would know anything. They do say ignorance is bliss. If people don't know what's being done to them then they'll be happier. In this society that's the idea, to be happy. At the very least contempt with your life. If we applied that theory to our world maybe we would live happier. I don't like this futuristic society, but I do believe ignorance is bliss.
Their History our Present
"Human beings used to be …" he hesitated; the blood rushed to his cheeks. "Well, they used to be viviparous."
"Quite right." The Director nodded approvingly.
"And when the babies were decanted …"
"'Born,'" came the correction.
"Well, then they were the parents–I mean, not the babies, of course; the other ones." The poor boy was overwhelmed with confusion.
"In brief," the Director summed up, "the parents were the father and the mother." The smut that was really science fell with a crash into the boys' eye-avoiding silence. "Mother," he repeated loudly rubbing in the science; and, leaning back in his chair, "These," he said gravely, "are unpleasant facts; I know it. But then most historical facts are unpleasant." (pg.23)
In this part of the book Huxley explains the confusion the students have toward their history. They seem to know very little of it and in a way makes it seem (to the reader) that the way we give birth to humans is wrong and time consuming.They take no effort in remembering "their history" the way we do. Just reading that passage makes you wonder if we, the society, are making a good choice by not adapting to the society in the book. I would think, when reading this book for the first time it, would sound all "fake", I never thought that it would make me actually doubt the present.
"Quite right." The Director nodded approvingly.
"And when the babies were decanted …"
"'Born,'" came the correction.
"Well, then they were the parents–I mean, not the babies, of course; the other ones." The poor boy was overwhelmed with confusion.
"In brief," the Director summed up, "the parents were the father and the mother." The smut that was really science fell with a crash into the boys' eye-avoiding silence. "Mother," he repeated loudly rubbing in the science; and, leaning back in his chair, "These," he said gravely, "are unpleasant facts; I know it. But then most historical facts are unpleasant." (pg.23)
In this part of the book Huxley explains the confusion the students have toward their history. They seem to know very little of it and in a way makes it seem (to the reader) that the way we give birth to humans is wrong and time consuming.They take no effort in remembering "their history" the way we do. Just reading that passage makes you wonder if we, the society, are making a good choice by not adapting to the society in the book. I would think, when reading this book for the first time it, would sound all "fake", I never thought that it would make me actually doubt the present.
Conditioning
"The swiftest crawlers were already at their goal. Small hands reached out uncertainly, touched, grasped, unpetaling the transfigured roses, crumpling the illuminated pages of the books. The Director waited until all were happily busy. Then, 'Watch carefully,' he said. And, lifting his hand, he gave the signal.
The Head Nurse, who was standing by a switchboard at the other end of the room, pressed down a little lever.
There was a violent explosion. Shriller and ever shriller, a siren shrieked. Alarm bells maddeningly sounded.
The nurses obeyed; but at the approach of the roses, at the mere sight of those gaily-coloured images of pussy and cock-a-doodle-doo and baa-baa black sheep, the infants shrank away in horror, the volume of their howling suddenly increased." (pgs.20-21) Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Books and flowers were placed in a room. The Director brought in a line of babies who crawled to the flowers and books. A nurse immediately pulled a switch that shocked all the babies. When the babies were lined up again with the books and on the other side, they were filled with horror. What a scene this was. These are babies being conditioned to hate the outdoors and books by using shock therapy. In the Brave New World, humans are constantly being conditioned. In our world, you are conditioned without knowing it. You are told to behave in certain ways by using rules. Of course, it isn't as bad as using shock therapy. There are other examples in the real world. If you eat a bad apple, you acquire a bad memory. This will affect how you will act when you see another apple. If someone else offers you another apple 1 week later, you will have said no thanks because you would have remembered the last bad apple you ate.
The Head Nurse, who was standing by a switchboard at the other end of the room, pressed down a little lever.
There was a violent explosion. Shriller and ever shriller, a siren shrieked. Alarm bells maddeningly sounded.
The nurses obeyed; but at the approach of the roses, at the mere sight of those gaily-coloured images of pussy and cock-a-doodle-doo and baa-baa black sheep, the infants shrank away in horror, the volume of their howling suddenly increased." (pgs.20-21) Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Books and flowers were placed in a room. The Director brought in a line of babies who crawled to the flowers and books. A nurse immediately pulled a switch that shocked all the babies. When the babies were lined up again with the books and on the other side, they were filled with horror. What a scene this was. These are babies being conditioned to hate the outdoors and books by using shock therapy. In the Brave New World, humans are constantly being conditioned. In our world, you are conditioned without knowing it. You are told to behave in certain ways by using rules. Of course, it isn't as bad as using shock therapy. There are other examples in the real world. If you eat a bad apple, you acquire a bad memory. This will affect how you will act when you see another apple. If someone else offers you another apple 1 week later, you will have said no thanks because you would have remembered the last bad apple you ate.
Love of nature
"A love of nature keeps no factories busy. It was decided to abolish the love of nature, at any rate among the lower classes; to abolish the love of nature, but not the tendency to consume transport. For of course it was essential that they should keep on going to the country, even though they hated it. The problem was to find an economically sounder reason for consuming transport than a mere affection for primroses and landscapes. It was duly found." (p. 23)
In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World,the Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning (D.H.C.) said this to a child when the child asked him a question. This makes me wonder how messed up this society is to keep nature away from the people. They keep nature away from them because they think that it keeps them from "consuming transportation" and keeps them from getting all the work done. The very first sentence in the quote states that a love for nature kind of keeps the factories from running and keeping the society going. In our society today, nature is needed to keep the factories running. For example those who love nature like going camping, and in order to go camping you need tents and cooking materials, sleeping bags, etc. Someone has to make these products, so without nature there would be less products being made. The society in Brave New World is not much different from our society today, but in that aspect, it is.
In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World,the Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning (D.H.C.) said this to a child when the child asked him a question. This makes me wonder how messed up this society is to keep nature away from the people. They keep nature away from them because they think that it keeps them from "consuming transportation" and keeps them from getting all the work done. The very first sentence in the quote states that a love for nature kind of keeps the factories from running and keeping the society going. In our society today, nature is needed to keep the factories running. For example those who love nature like going camping, and in order to go camping you need tents and cooking materials, sleeping bags, etc. Someone has to make these products, so without nature there would be less products being made. The society in Brave New World is not much different from our society today, but in that aspect, it is.
More Workers; Less Thinkers
"For particulars, as everyone knows, make for virtue and happiness; generalities are intellectually necessary evils. Not philosophers but fretsawyers and stamp collectors compose the backbone of society" (PG. 4)
In Brave New World's society, humans are mass produced for the benefit of the society. Their intelligence and natural instincts are manipulated so they will be useful in a specific job. Their DNA and traits are altered because it is for the betterment of the community. Our society doesn't go to that extreme, but we are more focused on our futures and preparing ourselves for our jobs. We go to school and study for years because in the end it is better for the community. In our world we don't have very many people making a living off of a career in philosophy; the number of people that do hard labor outweighs the number of people that spend their lives doing more "intellectual" things. Could we possibly in the future begin to sort babies into what type of job they will have? We do it now, somewhat, with career placement exams, but that's not until the children are a bit older. Our Society has some similarities with the society in Brave New World, but it's not taken to such an extreme. Perhaps in the future the world will be like the one which Huxley describes.
In Brave New World's society, humans are mass produced for the benefit of the society. Their intelligence and natural instincts are manipulated so they will be useful in a specific job. Their DNA and traits are altered because it is for the betterment of the community. Our society doesn't go to that extreme, but we are more focused on our futures and preparing ourselves for our jobs. We go to school and study for years because in the end it is better for the community. In our world we don't have very many people making a living off of a career in philosophy; the number of people that do hard labor outweighs the number of people that spend their lives doing more "intellectual" things. Could we possibly in the future begin to sort babies into what type of job they will have? We do it now, somewhat, with career placement exams, but that's not until the children are a bit older. Our Society has some similarities with the society in Brave New World, but it's not taken to such an extreme. Perhaps in the future the world will be like the one which Huxley describes.
Our Little Experiment
"The swiftest crawlers were ready at their goal. Small hands reached out uncertainly, touched, grasped, unpetaling the transfigured roses, crumbling the illuminated pages of the books. The director waited until all were happily busy. Then, "Watch carefully," he said. And lifting his hand, he gave the signal." (20)
"There was a violent explosion. Shriller and ever shriller, a siren shrieked. Alarm bells maddeningly sounded. . . now we proceed to rub in the lesson with a mild electric shock." (21)
These quotes show how the Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning (D.H.C), experiments with the 8 month babies. He would tell the nurse to let the kids down on the floor. The people in charge of the babies would have flowers and books where the babies would be. Once the babies would get to close to the flowers or to the books the D.H.C. would give out the signal to the nurse to press down a lever. And by pressing this lever it would shock the little babies, and it will make the babies not attracted to flowers or books. And if by any chance the babies would do it again then the nurse would pull the lever down and it will shock the infants. And the explanation the D.H.C gives is “They'll grow up with what the psychologists used to call an 'instinct' hatred of books and botany all their lives.” (22)
In the book Brave New World by Aldus Huxley he tells us how the characters in the book experiment with babies. In reality, people conduct this kind of experiments with animals. There are many examples of us trying to change someone else's ways. For example; there have been collars created for dogs that prevent them not to bark, and when they do they would get shocked by the collar. So, the dogs learn not to bark again or else they will get shocked.
One time my classmate Liszette, explained to us that her brother told her that scientists were experimenting with monkeys. The experiment was that they would put in monkeys in a cage, in the cage they would have a ladder for the monkeys to climb, and once they would climb the ladder they would be able to reach the bananas that where on top of the ladder. So the experiment the scientist conducted was very similar to the one the scientist were doing in the book "Brave New World." When the monkey would reach for the bananas they would get shocked. And the scientist would take one of the monkeys out and put a new one in. Since the new monkey is not aware that if he climbs up the ladder and reaches for the bananas he would get shocked, he climbs it and tries to get one, but obviously he isn't able to do it since they all get shocked. And they repeat the same thing over and over. So, the monkeys that have been through the process know not to reach for the bananas and this is the same with the babies. They know that when flowers and books have been put in front of them, they are not supposed to touch them.
I personally don't agree with this. I don't think we should be testing experiment with animals, but yet I contradict myself sometimes. In order for us to advance in science we need to test things before using it in humans. So what's the only way to test it? Animals. It's very sad, but it's reality.
"There was a violent explosion. Shriller and ever shriller, a siren shrieked. Alarm bells maddeningly sounded. . . now we proceed to rub in the lesson with a mild electric shock." (21)
These quotes show how the Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning (D.H.C), experiments with the 8 month babies. He would tell the nurse to let the kids down on the floor. The people in charge of the babies would have flowers and books where the babies would be. Once the babies would get to close to the flowers or to the books the D.H.C. would give out the signal to the nurse to press down a lever. And by pressing this lever it would shock the little babies, and it will make the babies not attracted to flowers or books. And if by any chance the babies would do it again then the nurse would pull the lever down and it will shock the infants. And the explanation the D.H.C gives is “They'll grow up with what the psychologists used to call an 'instinct' hatred of books and botany all their lives.” (22)
In the book Brave New World by Aldus Huxley he tells us how the characters in the book experiment with babies. In reality, people conduct this kind of experiments with animals. There are many examples of us trying to change someone else's ways. For example; there have been collars created for dogs that prevent them not to bark, and when they do they would get shocked by the collar. So, the dogs learn not to bark again or else they will get shocked.
One time my classmate Liszette, explained to us that her brother told her that scientists were experimenting with monkeys. The experiment was that they would put in monkeys in a cage, in the cage they would have a ladder for the monkeys to climb, and once they would climb the ladder they would be able to reach the bananas that where on top of the ladder. So the experiment the scientist conducted was very similar to the one the scientist were doing in the book "Brave New World." When the monkey would reach for the bananas they would get shocked. And the scientist would take one of the monkeys out and put a new one in. Since the new monkey is not aware that if he climbs up the ladder and reaches for the bananas he would get shocked, he climbs it and tries to get one, but obviously he isn't able to do it since they all get shocked. And they repeat the same thing over and over. So, the monkeys that have been through the process know not to reach for the bananas and this is the same with the babies. They know that when flowers and books have been put in front of them, they are not supposed to touch them.
I personally don't agree with this. I don't think we should be testing experiment with animals, but yet I contradict myself sometimes. In order for us to advance in science we need to test things before using it in humans. So what's the only way to test it? Animals. It's very sad, but it's reality.
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