On Aldous Huxley’s 1932 dystopian novel, recorded on stage with an audience Q&A at Manhattan's Caveat on 4/6/19. If we harness the power of society to employ available technologies to really focus on making people happy, what would the result be? This is Huxley's thought experiment, drawing on the latest thinking (and a bit of sci-fi projection regarding possible future Continue Reading …
Episode 215: Brave New World: PEL Live 10th Anniversary Show (Citizen Edition)
On Aldous Huxley’s 1932 dystopian novel, recorded on stage with an audience Q&A at Manhattan's Caveat on 4/6/19. If we harness the power of society to employ available technologies to really focus on making people happy, what would the result be? This is Huxley's thought experiment, drawing on the latest thinking (and a bit of sci-fi projection regarding possible future Continue Reading …
What Does Aldous Huxley’s “Island” Tell Us About the Essence of Humanity?
In his final novel, Island, Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) created a vision of utopia that was the very antithesis of his dystopic Brave New World. The Pacific island of Pala is an “oasis of happiness and freedom” where for 120 years, the inhabitants have resisted the trappings of capitalism, consumerism, and technology. That is, until the journalist Will Farnaby becomes the Continue Reading …
Tales from the Crypt: Transhumanism, wow!
The licence to speculate on the fringes of human progress is immediately issued when that which we hadn’t even imagined transitions to that which we merely know we do not fully understand. This transition point is the playground of the so-called “popular imagination”, the stage on which esteemed careers are built without the effort and determination of achievement. Though, Continue Reading …