Why people recommend it
Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is a dystopian novel depicting a technologically engineered society where human beings are pacified through genetic conditioning, consumerism, and state-sanctioned pleasures. On Lex Fridman Podcast, Lex Fridman described rereading the classic multiple times alongside other seminal dystopian works to reflect on modern societal developments. Chris Hayes remarked on The Ezra Klein Show that Huxley's narrative presents a distinct dystopian danger, contrasting the information deprivation found in Orwellian models with Huxley's vision of an overwhelming deluge of entertainment and trivia. Charlie Kirk argued on The Tucker Carlson Show that reading Huxley alongside other anti-authoritarian literature equips citizens with critical thinking skills against governmental overreach. On Timcast IRL, the host referenced the book when analyzing modern state bureaucracy and cultural decline. Additionally, hosts on Stuff They Don't Want You To Know invoked the novel to contextualize emerging commercial technologies and automated conveniences, noting how modern developments increasingly mirror Huxley's synthetic world.
Who recommended it
- Jeffrey Wasserstrom Discussed
- Lex Fridman Discussed
Jeffrey Wasserstrom — 2 mentions
“But he had criticized 'Brave New World' in reviews this like not having imagined a world of capitalism run wild like before...”
“And then the third volume is Huxley's 'Brave New World' and 'Brave New World Revisited.' And it was published in complex characters.”
Lex Fridman — 1 mention
“Yeah, you've actually spoken about and described China as more akin to the dystopian world, a brave new world, the 1984, which is really interesting to think about, I think about that a lot of recently reread, over the past couple of years we read 'Brave New World' a couple of times, and also '1984'.”
Mentioned on the show without a named speaker — 44
“I think about that a lot of recently reread, over the past couple of years we read "Brave New World" a couple of times, and also "1984".”
“Transferring consciousness means making a copy and the original dies or is left behind a but they take in Brave New World.”
“Brave New World Fahrenheit 451 1984”
“So, one of the dystopian worlds is described by "Brave New World".”
“also you know the first essay which is just about the sort of different versions of dystopian Future Between 1984 which is information constraint and Brave New World which is Overflow of entertainment and information about how we ended up in the Brave New World”
“Read 'The Gulag Archipelago,' read '1984,' read 'Brave New World.' Go deeper; that is the regime's hate an informed population.”
“You just have to make sure you get the app, you know, you get the email, sign up in advance. Brave New World!”
“Hell, I mean, Luna Juice and Sunshine On Demand, this sounds, this does sound like Brave New World or something along those lines.”
“Like, someone's benefiting from this; Brave New World, and all of the children are gestated in pods and no one has any joy.”
“huxley feared a world where we'd be drowned in irrelevance and distraction”
“Most of them are going to be things like 'Brave New World,' where, you know, the squirrels are fed dopamine, and they're all engaging in some kind of fun activity, and the fire, the soul of humanity is lost because of the drug that's fed to it. Or like literally in a zoo.”
“I see on your bookshelf, I think the world is a lot closer to 'Brave New World' than it is to '1984.'”
“No, it probably will go to Brave New World. What would be the question? Tell us about the drug called Soma.”
“(Elon) No, I mean Soma from Brave New World. It’s going to be like, oops, I’m really sorry.”
“Soma from Brave New World is a different beast altogether. Now in this Huxley's dystopian novel, Soma is a drug that plays a central role in society as depicted in the book.”
“You know, in Huxley's 'Brave New World,' that went by the wayside, and it was a sign of immorality to say no to anyone who asked you or who offered a sexual invitation.”
“The issue, however, is there's often an unholy blend of 1984 and Brave New World underlying the specifics of their invitation.”
“Like even with 1984, my analysis allowed me to compare it to Brave New World and discuss how it was politicized and used by the Republican Party over time. You could talk about so many interesting aspects if you think about it and write it down. In general, I've found the whole process highly rewarding.”
“So this is clearly, as Thomas Huxley once said, a Brave New World! On a whole other level, yeah!”
“The power to suffocate the human spirit in a totalitarian way like in George Orwell's '1984', or the pleasure-fueled mass hysteria of 'Brave New World', where, as Huxley saw it, people come to love their oppression and adore the technologies that undermine their capacities to think.”
“I'm reading a bunch of books; one of them is Brave New World where they remove the ups and downs of life—um, partially through drugs but over sexualization—all that kind of stuff, and I feel like you need that contrast—you need the ups and downs of life. Yeah, the dark; you know, you need the dark to have happiness, have”
“if you read Huxley not just brand new world but his other text he has an essay at the beginning of brand new world”
“That's like Soma and Brave New World or anything”
“it occurs to me that my reaction is exactly what might be expected from a beta in the Brave New World crypto is creating”
“it's almost like huxley and it's like brave new world”
“california literally sent out an alert to phones about conserving electricity until 9 00 pm there you go damn brave new world”
“you know it's not quite Fahrenheit 451 or Brave New World or 1984”
“Just like in brave new world or gattaca”
“the shirt I'm wearing right now is also my representation of our society and it has the hunger games animal animal farm they live brave new world matrix fahrenheit 451 v for vendetta and of course 1984 representing where i think we are”
“welcome to a brave new world”
“so it's so it's 1984 brave new world ray bradbury 451”
“so one is brave new world by aldous huxley um and it's kind of incredible how prescient he was about like what this what what a brave new world might be like”
“i mean i think 1984 in these books brave new world they they're helpful in thinking like stuff can go wrong in non-obvious ways and it's like it's up to us to preserve it and it's like it's a responsibility”
“it's like all of these books that we used to read 1984 brave new world and ran it's all happening right now all at once like crashing into each other”
“spork which says little red pill that makes all the problems go away so you mean aldous huxley's soma the rate we're going i wouldn't be surprised if they start proposing intentional fetal alcohol exposure to keep the deltas happy with the menial work ordained”
“because it was my friend as a super nice guy and I was like dude welcome to the brave new world”
“So got a free trial to uh brave new world to french 451 to communism”
“not tonight before very good brave new world and what was the other one”
“well there was a book about that brave new world you know make everybody happy”
“I mean eligibly there are a lot of people this kind of reflex eugenics the Third Reich race hygiene other people will say brave new world”
“so I also I want to bring in Aldous Huxley here doesn't have that far to go ya know in brave new world which I have to say I think about all the time as I read about China”
“you remember in in in uh brave new world in huxley's book it was considered immoral to reject anyone's sexual advances because it was prejudicial”
“Which actually brings to mind Huxley's brave new world because in brave new world the terrifying authoritarian state is obsessed with making people happy”
“well that's a totally that's now society's unfair now we're getting into you know Brave New World type of stuff”
Also mentioned in the same episodes
Other mentions (1: passing, ad reads, own books)
“And I hope for future where both Hong Kong and Beijing have bookstores that carry '1984,' 'Brave New World,' and all of your books.”