Brave New World - Dystopias and Apocalypses - Extra Sci Fi

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  • čas přidán 6. 05. 2019
  • We kick off a new season of Extra Sci Fi exploring the theme of dystopias and apocalypses. We begin with Aldous Huxley's Brave New World*--a very early novel that make a compelling argument for *why the dystopia exists at all.
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Komentáře • 1K

  • @extrahistory
    @extrahistory  Před 5 lety +857

    Dystopian literature really began when the two World Wars, the Great Depression, and more socio-political unrest in the world began to disrupt the utopian aspirations of science fiction at the time. So enters Brave New World.

    • @ericchurch8536
      @ericchurch8536 Před 5 lety +1

      Hola there

    • @jorgesalazar7661
      @jorgesalazar7661 Před 5 lety

      Extra Credits 2 hours ?

    • @mariapazgonzalezlesme
      @mariapazgonzalezlesme Před 5 lety +2

      How about utopian scifi or peaceful civilations, I feel like nobody are talking about this concept.

    • @bemersonbakebarmen
      @bemersonbakebarmen Před 5 lety +1

      Make a special on Soviet Sci fi... Its amazing, It changed my view of Sci fi... People need to know more about It

    • @bobbymichealson798
      @bobbymichealson798 Před 5 lety

      This series leaves me with a great deal more to read, but I also wondered if you also have any recent (relatively speaking) works that would be of note? Of course time has not passed far enough for classics to be born, but I’d love your opinion on the matter.

  • @maddie9602
    @maddie9602 Před 5 lety +656

    I absolutely love BNW, and one of my favorite parts are what you emphasized here: it's the rare dystopian novel where the totalitarian government isn't evil just for the sake of being evil, or because of greed or whatnot. The government in BNW believes that it's doing right, that they have created a utopia, and the villains are allowed to state their case without the author creating an obviously wrong strawman. This world came to be because of basically good people working with the best of intentions to make it so. It makes us question any utopic vision that we're presented with: would this perfect world really be as perfect as we dream of? What would we have to give up to achieve it, and are those sacrifices worth it?

    • @Nycolas9929
      @Nycolas9929 Před 2 lety +15

      I don’t think that the rulers was working for the best intentions , neither Aldous Huxley. In the BNW that I have, Huxley in the prefacio says that the dictators will have the task to make people love their freedom. It’s not very much good intention.

    • @republicanphilosophy9356
      @republicanphilosophy9356 Před 2 lety +12

      not to mention, they also let people live in the traditional way, so, are they really oppressive?

    • @Francesco-cj3oi
      @Francesco-cj3oi Před rokem +2

      No, and no

    • @humbughumbughumbug
      @humbughumbughumbug Před 11 měsíci +4

      Uh, 1984 is literally the same.
      They ruled with an iron fist thinking it was the best for society.

    • @adenm8963
      @adenm8963 Před 9 měsíci

      ​@@humbughumbughumbugnot really. They specifically mentioned in 1984 that they don't care about the people, they only care about the ruling elite

  • @Linus89
    @Linus89 Před 5 lety +1113

    "Happiness is never grand." That hit pretty hard...

    • @danilooliveira6580
      @danilooliveira6580 Před 5 lety +62

      that is why our favorite fiction is about the road to happiness, not happiness itself.

    • @WindFireAllThatKindOfThing
      @WindFireAllThatKindOfThing Před 4 lety +28

      Nobody ever read a novel, browsed a comic book, or watched a TV show about a perfect & peaceful world of plenty and came away entertained. Even Star Trek needed Klingons.
      Except for a while after the 50's. After WW2, those folks just wanted to think everything was cool, like The Fonz, and live in Mayberry next to The Cleavers.
      The lesson? Utopia seems like a pretty good deal after battling the horrors of Dystopia.

    • @jatziberoja04
      @jatziberoja04 Před 4 lety +8

      i'll change that line to "happiness is never granted"
      better and more real

    • @WindFireAllThatKindOfThing
      @WindFireAllThatKindOfThing Před 4 lety +1

      @@jatziberoja04 Yeah, that resonates better

    • @petermazug7704
      @petermazug7704 Před 4 lety +42

      @@jatziberoja04 Your line completely misses the original line's point, and is about something entirely different.

  • @sethortiger
    @sethortiger Před 5 lety +853

    BNW shows us a world kept under control through comfort. 1984 shows us a world kept under control through hate. Modern day has both of these in high amounts.

    • @abigailpatridge2948
      @abigailpatridge2948 Před 5 lety +71

      But none of it is truly as totalitarian as those novels. Yet. The missing puzzle piece is only sufficient technology, sadly.

    • @firesonic23
      @firesonic23 Před 5 lety +20

      Kinda proves we can't let one style take complete control.

    • @capeewee
      @capeewee Před 5 lety +67

      War is Peace.
      Freedom is Slavery.
      Ignorance is Strength.
      Identity, Community, and Stability.
      If there is one redeeming feature of a dystopia, its the slogans.

    • @Newbmann
      @Newbmann Před 5 lety +2

      @@capeewee what about the teliscreens that's my favorite right behind the ideologies neo bulshivisn otherwise known as Nazbul gang and the dumbest one of all DEATH WORSHIPERS you know people who like to ship dead people like Julia.

    • @dashdaniels2685
      @dashdaniels2685 Před 5 lety +34

      And Fahrenheit 451 shows is a world kept under control through ignorance.

  • @legateelizabeth
    @legateelizabeth Před 5 lety +223

    "You fight for the right to be miserable."
    - Mustafa Mond, Regional World Controller.

  • @IndustrialBonecraft
    @IndustrialBonecraft Před 3 lety +300

    I never imagined Mond's arguments as this slightly aggressive tone - I imagined a sort of geniality. He more or less knows and agrees, but has made a choice based on rational judgement. The Savage never really gives good arguments, he just expresses his emotions and lets them stand in for arguments.

    • @Nycolas9929
      @Nycolas9929 Před 2 lety +17

      I don’t think, the savage gives yes some arguments. However, I think that the author don’t put many arguments for him to our thinking for ourselves.

  • @lindsaywheatcroft8247
    @lindsaywheatcroft8247 Před 4 lety +653

    “How would a modern society ever actually become a dystopia?”
    *glances at camera*

    • @necro-retro915
      @necro-retro915 Před 4 lety +19

      *in God we trust*
      *in goverment we must*

    • @drakep.5857
      @drakep.5857 Před 3 lety +30

      @@necro-retro915 we live in a society
      -the jonker

    • @Rofl890
      @Rofl890 Před 3 lety +9

      The real question is: how would a modern society not eventually become a dystopia?

    • @chriskopp1361
      @chriskopp1361 Před 3 lety +1

      It's called government inaction.

    • @victuz
      @victuz Před rokem +3

      @@Rofl890 Because life centuries and millenia ago was better than today, isn't it?

  • @Ravenkiko
    @Ravenkiko Před 5 lety +752

    We Happy Few (the video game set in dystopian Britain) really pulls from Brave New World, especially with the Joy medicine

    • @nanunanu365
      @nanunanu365 Před 5 lety +30

      I made that connection too. It's cool how some games grab inspiration from books that kids nowadays would only come across if a school project demanded they read it. Imagine how much better you might have understood the concepts behind "To Kill a Mocking Bird" if it was in the frame of a video game.

    • @aldmeripatriot7703
      @aldmeripatriot7703 Před 5 lety +13

      Too bad Australia banned it.

    • @janroodbol5055
      @janroodbol5055 Před 5 lety +36

      in the game you get alienated if you don't use the drugs right, that's exactly what happens in Brave New Worl

    • @Ravenkiko
      @Ravenkiko Před 5 lety +6

      @@janroodbol5055 yea i've played it but it's also like the books in that if you don't abstain you can't reason or feel or constructively criticize

    • @Ravenkiko
      @Ravenkiko Před 5 lety +4

      @@janroodbol5055 although the game is way more violent than brave new world's setting

  • @brockmckelvey7327
    @brockmckelvey7327 Před 5 lety +503

    I loved Brave New World so much more than 1984. I thought that bright and shiny BNW had so much more potential to actually happen than bleak and dark 1984.

    • @lillockey04
      @lillockey04 Před 5 lety +76

      Yeah, but, SURPRISE ... it's both.

    • @sabotabby3372
      @sabotabby3372 Před 5 lety +21

      *cough* patriot act *cough*

    • @kalil2669
      @kalil2669 Před 5 lety +80

      Brave new world works better because people are "happy" and therefore don't feel the need to be against the system. Most totalitarian states have failed because people are against it
      Sorry for my bad english

    • @VersusThem
      @VersusThem Před 5 lety +9

      Aldous addresses this very same thing in Brave New World Revisited (1958) and argues for your case, if I recall correctly it isn't far from the beginning of the essay, so you should find it easiily

    • @rogerogue7226
      @rogerogue7226 Před 5 lety +23

      I'd say 1984 is just as likely, it's just going to come after the BNW stage, where the generation that remembers before dystopia is convinced it's the right thing to do. Boiling a frog you know.

  • @sielentbrat4005
    @sielentbrat4005 Před 5 lety +121

    As for me - "Brave New World" shows how close are the Dystopia and Utopia to one another. They both are about stability, the only difference is in a point of view.
    Actually, I see it very well in post-soviet countries, where people grieve for USSR. Forgetting the lack of freedom, low life and constant fear but remembering only Holy Stability.

    • @jacobs2099
      @jacobs2099 Před 3 lety +25

      For alot of people in the former USSR life was better before the collapse. Living standards were higher and society had very low rate of things like crime. Political freedom was low but they're not free r now than they were then. Thier lives are just worse.

    • @sielentbrat4005
      @sielentbrat4005 Před 3 lety +9

      Yeah... Standing in line for 3 hours to buy toilet paper. Very high life standards...

    • @olgaobraztsova8367
      @olgaobraztsova8367 Před 6 měsíci +1

      ​@@sielentbrat4005 USSR was different in different periods of time. At first, the idea worked really good. Then, Stalin came and WW2 happened, which sccared the economy permanently. People waiting 3 hours to buy bread was just a conclusion.

    • @livingbehind661
      @livingbehind661 Před 2 měsíci

      ​@@sielentbrat4005spending ur life for a car n not even half a house is better then ? being content and able to, in a single day, is not so bad...

  • @BionicleFreek99
    @BionicleFreek99 Před 5 lety +403

    "The road to hell is paved with good intentions"

    • @VersusThem
      @VersusThem Před 5 lety +11

      That was one of the favourite quotes of Aldous Huxley, and mine :D

    • @Mr2squids
      @Mr2squids Před 5 lety +11

      Not actually true: the road to Hell is paved with frozen door-to-door salesmen. In winter, many of the younger devils like to go ice skating on it

    • @julianakelrune7777
      @julianakelrune7777 Před 5 lety +2

      And the ones you love litter the roadside

    • @rykertomanek8186
      @rykertomanek8186 Před 4 lety +2

      The road to heaven is paved with bad intentions

    • @liker-qd4fz
      @liker-qd4fz Před 4 lety +2

      If this is true,then the US is building a highway system,full of parkings and Mc.Donalds.

  • @andrewmelnikov292
    @andrewmelnikov292 Před 4 lety +20

    One of the best descriptions I've heard was,
    "1984 teaches us to be aware of the things we hate and how they can destroy us. Brave New World teaches us to be aware of the things we love and how they can destroy us - with our own consent."
    Of course, as our newest history shows, writing 1984 off as being "no longer relevant" is a huge misconception. People are prone to fear, and many people who are afraid are prone to trade all the freedoms they have for imaginary security.
    Tyranny is not as extinct as some would like to think. Educating yourself and learning to be a better human is the only known counteraction, but it's painfully slow.
    Brave New World, on the other hand, achieves total happiness... by downgrading humans and their desires to what a society can provide. Instead of managing supply it manages demand, making defective humans who are totally happy and unable to understand the horror of their existence because they are purposely made defective. Once again, education and improvement of human nature can help manage both supply and demand, but it's - yep, painfully slow.

  • @jmalmsten
    @jmalmsten Před 5 lety +544

    "So this is the way liberty dies... with thunderous applause."
    One of the few good lines in Revenge of the Sith.

    • @CockatooDude
      @CockatooDude Před 5 lety +3

      Wasn't that in the Phantom Menace?

    • @williemherbert1456
      @williemherbert1456 Před 4 lety +30

      Nope, that's a quote from Padme Amidala at the Galactic Senate Meeting when Palpatine declared the dissolution of corrupt Republic and reorganized into totalitarian Galactic Empire where he pointed as the Emperor of the Galaxy

    • @AnnabelleJARankin
      @AnnabelleJARankin Před 4 lety +17

      This is the way the world ends
      Not with a bang but a whimper.
      (The Hollow Men
      TS Eliot)

    • @khyronthethunderhawg6577
      @khyronthethunderhawg6577 Před 3 lety +17

      The best one is from Phantom:
      Jar-Jar "I spake."
      Qui-Gon "The ability to speak does not make you intelligent."

    • @TheElThomaso
      @TheElThomaso Před 3 lety +1

      @@khyronthethunderhawg6577 That's a pretty good one, ngl 😄

  • @95keat
    @95keat Před 5 lety +12

    The best thing about brave New world is that isn't actually a dystopia but a utopia.
    The system works, the people are happy, and theres even a place for those who don't want to be apart of it. The only people that see it as wrong are those outside of it.

    • @yucol5661
      @yucol5661 Před 14 dny

      And even then they are aware there are issues. Mond basically says “yeah it’s bad, this is the best we tried, can you do better?”
      Even all the ways in which the system limits people’s freedoms or options are kinda things they don’t value in the first place? I value them, but they don’t, so are they really being deprived of them? They just don’t want it. The cruelest thing I could think of is making a set path for people and pre deciding their job, personality, and psychology. But we too kinda aspire to do that with children all the time? Even when we want them to think for themselves and be individual, we literally position and nudge them into that desirable personality.
      Our most rebellious characters just got exiled to a place where they can be themselves and only the savage suffers (in a very self inflicted, shame fueled, why can’t my life be like Othelo way).
      I might just not have enough experience to have enough appreciation for high art or dramatic passions or deeper things in life tough

  • @bemersonbakebarmen
    @bemersonbakebarmen Před 5 lety +581

    Make a special episode for Soviet Sci Fi, its a staple on the genre.

    • @youronlinegirlfriend5508
      @youronlinegirlfriend5508 Před 5 lety +33

      Roadside Picnic for the win

    • @tp6335
      @tp6335 Před 5 lety +23

      Solaris also for the win!

    • @bemersonbakebarmen
      @bemersonbakebarmen Před 5 lety +14

      Alexei Tolstoi for the Win! He was a relative of Leon Tolstoy and that blowed my mind. Crazy coincidence.

    • @ArtemKostryukov
      @ArtemKostryukov Před 5 lety +18

      Strugatskiye Brothers deserve a whole cycle of their own, especially the Hard to be a God novel

    • @bemersonbakebarmen
      @bemersonbakebarmen Před 5 lety +4

      We want Soviets!!!!!!!

  • @JoCoBrony
    @JoCoBrony Před 5 lety +426

    Thank Ford this was uploaded the day before my AP Literature exam.

    • @ponyempiresunite9702
      @ponyempiresunite9702 Před 5 lety +10

      Celestia blessed you with luck and knowledge.

    • @LegoCookieDoggie
      @LegoCookieDoggie Před 5 lety +5

      @@ponyempiresunite9702 ah, The religous order of bronies

    • @Stilluetto
      @Stilluetto Před 5 lety +2

      DIPPER! My face is on fire! Come in here quick!

    • @ponyempiresunite9702
      @ponyempiresunite9702 Před 5 lety +1

      @@LegoCookieDoggie Ah, I see that you are a man of cultue as well. I'm sorry, it's a reflex.

    • @guner158
      @guner158 Před 5 lety

      Same here!

  • @kam......
    @kam...... Před 5 lety +109

    Did we read the same book, or is this like a version for avoiding spoilers? Because John is young and it wasn't some judgement by Mustapha, but rather a conversation. And specifically the reservation was for Natives, not generally for people who decided they wanted to live there, which is a big part of a particular character's arc. General themes and Ideas are solidly explained but details of the book seem a little misrepresented.

    • @nidohime6233
      @nidohime6233 Před 4 lety +13

      In America is not rare to censure this kind of books.

    • @MasterDrewboy
      @MasterDrewboy Před 3 lety +36

      I truly think its to avoid spoilers

    • @brxwnbxrbie
      @brxwnbxrbie Před 2 lety +14

      Also Bernard went with Lenina, not the poet

  • @AverageAwesomeDude
    @AverageAwesomeDude Před 5 lety +71

    The scary thing for me when I first read this is that I thought the pro dystopia argument was better, more logical while also empathetic. When thinking about it philosophically I always think I’d choose the “savage” side but I still feel way too understanding of the other side to be comfortable. A sort of “yeah that makes sense” feeling that just rubs me the wrong way. And the concept of soma always hit me a bit hard because of some struggles I’ve had with substance abuse, I can see myself living like that and it always feels two ways: like it’s just not “right” , but it never feels completely wrong either, it’s not some abomination of a self image, it’s just a path of least resistance (a concept which has nothing wrong with it in itself but in this context can sound like an evil of lesser degree, but I meant it as simply another way). I still can never pick a side by the end, I like a good bit of sinning, and a good fight and a competition and emotional outburst at beauty, and love is pretty sweet but I can still always see myself living like that and being satisfied. Great Book plays melancholy on my heartstrings in beautiful melodies

    • @wren_.
      @wren_. Před rokem +10

      It’s sort of like how being on social media for several hours feels compared to doing a hobby for several hours. social media is easy. It’s easy to keep on scrolling and not feel anything. But passion requires some amount of suffering and some amount of work otherwise it’s not a passion. So really, what do you want to do with your life? do you want to feel that empty kind of happiness you get from scrolling TikTok, or do you want to put in some effort and feel passion?

    • @jjk2one
      @jjk2one Před 6 měsíci +1

      your food air and water it's healthy can't say more

  • @billytrespassers3123
    @billytrespassers3123 Před 5 lety +163

    I'm so glad you mentioned _We_ - Zamyatin is terribly underrated.

    • @rumkeg919
      @rumkeg919 Před 5 lety +2

      It is great in the beginning, but then it transforms into unfortunate love story. Sadly, the man couldn't make it a novella instead of novel.

    • @PHRCpvh
      @PHRCpvh Před 5 lety +2

      I hope to read it very soon. No irony that it was the first book to be censored by the Soviet government.

    • @andrewtodaro2874
      @andrewtodaro2874 Před 3 lety

      I read that book. It’s basically a forerunner to 1984!

  • @dramajoe
    @dramajoe Před 5 lety +147

    I wrote a paper in college on how much one could infer about an individual's personality based on who they considered the most heroic character in Brave New World. I need to dig that out of my closet.

  • @Darknight4434
    @Darknight4434 Před 5 lety +22

    My life is totally defined as: "before Brave New World and after Brave New World". Glad that you talk about one of my favorite books, even if your view on those characters sound very weird

    • @VersusThem
      @VersusThem Před 5 lety

      Then you should really read Brave New World Revisited (1958) if you haven't already, it's an essay, but it can still change your life in the same way BNW did!

  • @harrisonlee9585
    @harrisonlee9585 Před 5 lety +885

    Ah so we're covering the stuff that was fiction then but real in 2019.
    - nervous laughter -

    • @bencox3641
      @bencox3641 Před 5 lety +64

      Don't worry we will be in mad max in no time.

    • @nathanschmitz2302
      @nathanschmitz2302 Před 5 lety +73

      China sure is trying to become 1984, ever heard of sesame credit? A way to game-ify life to weed out those that have different opinions.

    • @harrisonlee9585
      @harrisonlee9585 Před 5 lety +24

      @@bencox3641 We're already at that decadent but crumbling Neo Tokyo stage from Akira

    • @bencox3641
      @bencox3641 Před 5 lety +4

      @@harrisonlee9585 What?

    • @TymersRealm
      @TymersRealm Před 5 lety +24

      @@harrisonlee9585
      We are?
      I don't recall hearing about any mutated teen uber-psyichs looking to blow anything up? recently...

  • @sirsquidly3537
    @sirsquidly3537 Před 5 lety +41

    Here's hoping to see an episode on Fahrenheit 451, I've always loved that one the most for how it portrays society itself as being it's own issue, rather than it being left to higher government.
    Also, the art for the Savage doesn't seem to match up very well with the descriptions given in the book, and the conversation with the World Controller being framed as a official trial doesn't really add up, as they were just in his office. It just felt a little odd is all.

  • @fuynnywhaka101
    @fuynnywhaka101 Před 5 lety +191

    Dying swans twisted wings, beauty not needed here
    Lost my love, lost my life, in this garden of fear
    I have seen many things, in a lifetime alone
    Mother love is no more, bring this savage back home

    • @friendcomputer5276
      @friendcomputer5276 Před 5 lety +8

      Wilderness, house of pain
      Makes no sense of it all
      Close this mind, dull this brain
      Messiah before his fall
      What you see, it's not real
      Those who know will not tell
      All is lost, sold your souls
      to this brave new world

    • @goncaloproa840
      @goncaloproa840 Před 5 lety +15

      Ah, I see you're a man of taste as well.

    • @someguy8233
      @someguy8233 Před 5 lety +6

      Twisted fools bathed in crimson red.
      A scarlet flame that burns til the end.
      Dream no more for you shall die.
      By the bidding of the twist eye.

    • @someguy8233
      @someguy8233 Před 5 lety +1

      Twisted fools bathed in crimson red.
      A scarlet flame that burns til the end.
      Dream no more for you shall die.
      By the bidding of the twist eye.

    • @crest2x4
      @crest2x4 Před 5 lety +2

      @@someguy8233 ? Call me curious but where is that from?

  • @RobotTanuki
    @RobotTanuki Před 5 lety +49

    If there's one thing I'll criticise about the video, is that the Indian Reservation is also presented incredibly negatively (rather than the quaint farmer-town you presented). Disease, poverty, superstition, suffering in general. In fact, John (the native guy mentioned in the video) got stuck between insanity (The World State) and lunacy (The Indian Reservation).
    Otherwise thanks for covering my favourite Dystopian novel of all time!

  • @francinemcloughlin6096
    @francinemcloughlin6096 Před 5 lety +60

    3:13
    GODDANGIT WALPOLE
    England just isint enough for you anymore, Now all of humanity has to serve as well.

  • @gidkath
    @gidkath Před 5 lety +7

    On the subject of "the third path," the Aldous Huxley, Brave New World's author, looked back some years after he'd written the book, and included a forward to the edition that I read back in high school that I thought provided some interesting insights into the work. In his later life, he recognized that he'd only provided his readers with two options - "insanity and lunacy," I believe were his words - and if he'd had it all to write again, he'd have provided a third option, a middle ground where some sort of compromise might be possible, and suicide wouldn't seem like the only reasonable alternative.

  • @VersusThem
    @VersusThem Před 5 lety +13

    Please, for the love of Big Brother and Mustafa, can you cover Brave New World Revisited? It's an essay, and a criminally underrated one. It also has Huxley discussing 1984 seriously which is a good plus and a good point of analysis between both books, something that you'll probably like after posting videos about both books

  • @bearsayshet710
    @bearsayshet710 Před 5 lety +94

    Oooh do I sense that we may see some androids soon, androids that might be dreaming about sheep, electric sheep!?

    • @DustWolphy
      @DustWolphy Před 5 lety +3

      It seems androids are mainly dreaming CZcams comments

    • @patwiggins6969
      @patwiggins6969 Před 5 lety

      On the way to electric sheep. Was blade runner actually about climate change after all?

  • @blackhawksq1939
    @blackhawksq1939 Před 5 lety +11

    Brave New World is one of my favorite books. It's actually THE book that got me reading for fun. I had to read it in high school and loved it. It opened up a Brave New World of fiction.

  • @muthias4582
    @muthias4582 Před 5 lety +63

    “I would have lived in peace, but my enemies brought me war.”
    Want a modern dystopia for today? Read the Red Rising series.
    One of the best series currently occurring.

    • @Bushflare
      @Bushflare Před 5 lety +8

      The most compelling modern dystopia is a window. Peer through it and watch the world collapse.

    • @wingracer1614
      @wingracer1614 Před 5 lety +3

      I absolutely loved the first book. In fact, I think it's time to reread. The later ones feel a bit heavy handed to me but were still quite enjoyable.

    • @pyrosianheir
      @pyrosianheir Před 5 lety +1

      Were you a little surprised when the fourth one of those came out? And with the direction it seems to be taking Darrow (ie towards the villainous)?
      Because I certainly was.

    • @muthias4582
      @muthias4582 Před 5 lety +2

      pyrosianheir
      We’ll have to wait-and-see in Dark Age.

    • @patwiggins6969
      @patwiggins6969 Před 5 lety

      That quote could well be used by the native Americans

  • @Games-mw1wd
    @Games-mw1wd Před 5 lety +169

    Super excited for this new series!

  • @GuitarRocker2008
    @GuitarRocker2008 Před 5 lety +6

    The great trick of modern society is that many fear that we are heading for a dystopia and try to prevent it but in truth, we are already in one.

  • @SirSaladhead
    @SirSaladhead Před 5 lety +13

    I did not expect to see "We" by Zamyatin on this show, one of the few sci-fis I care about. Neat.

  • @igrolfthenord3668
    @igrolfthenord3668 Před 5 lety +36

    Damn,that Lenin looks amazing

  • @Blizzic
    @Blizzic Před 5 lety +9

    Whoever it is on this team who keeps sneaking amazing Hot Fuzz references into these videos, I love you.

  • @johgu92
    @johgu92 Před 3 lety +93

    I honestly never felt BNW to be dystopia, it's more of a flawed utopia.

    • @LordDirus007
      @LordDirus007 Před 2 lety +35

      It's a critique of "Utopia".
      Nirvana is not of this world. We are inherently flawed and that is beautiful.

    • @spartanx9293
      @spartanx9293 Před 2 lety +3

      Yeah kind of along the same lines of The giver

    • @dane1382
      @dane1382 Před rokem +7

      @@spartanx9293 the giver is like
      "Mom, I want Brave New World."
      "We have Brave New World at home."
      Brave New World at home:

    • @spartanx9293
      @spartanx9293 Před rokem +1

      @@dane1382 I've read both your comparing apples to oranges both are depictions of a dystopian future but they are not the same
      And they do not have the same ending

    • @cheloxmv
      @cheloxmv Před rokem +2

      "Flawed Utopia" that's like a straight newspeak term.

  • @Jamie_ThatJamGuy
    @Jamie_ThatJamGuy Před 5 lety +34

    Looks like I'll have to read Brave New World now.

    • @RobotTanuki
      @RobotTanuki Před 5 lety +1

      Do it! I highly recommend it.

    • @prism8278
      @prism8278 Před 5 lety +1

      It's good, in my opinion better that 1984.

  • @genghiskhan5701
    @genghiskhan5701 Před 5 lety +137

    BNW=Modern USA and Western Europe in a nutshell
    1984=Modern China, Russia and North Korea in a nutshell

    • @smonkedweed7414
      @smonkedweed7414 Před 5 lety +33

      Nah, the US is somewhere between BNW and 1984

    • @MetalMailman35
      @MetalMailman35 Před 5 lety +3

      Europe is more like 1984 imo

    • @thesenate6482
      @thesenate6482 Před 4 lety +10

      1984 is nothing close to China or Russia. Sure maybe North Korea

    • @jondow7401
      @jondow7401 Před 4 lety +10

      @@thesenate6482 ehhh a little bit china. a LITTLE bit.

    • @liker-qd4fz
      @liker-qd4fz Před 4 lety +3

      @@MetalMailman35 Do you even live in Europe?

  • @hunterfalkenberg2837
    @hunterfalkenberg2837 Před 5 lety +36

    We just finished the giver and this really helped me understand some of the stuff

  • @ivanreiss
    @ivanreiss Před 4 lety +9

    Marx doesn’t go to the Reservation with Helmholtz, but with Lenina.

  • @ThatFanBoyGuy
    @ThatFanBoyGuy Před 5 lety +18

    You forgot the orgies in Brave New World ;-P

  • @nantukoprime
    @nantukoprime Před 5 lety +3

    I always liked HG Wells 'The Time Machine' as a dystopia, as I thought of it trying to represent a post-colonial empire having to deal with the reality of having relied on/exploited their colonies to get where they are now while still trying to ignore that dependency and how it centrally defines their current relationships. The power has to flow back, and HG Wells was not shy about showing that imagery.

  • @D2attemp
    @D2attemp Před 5 lety +41

    Will you guys cover “I have no mouth and I must scream”

    • @Overhazard
      @Overhazard Před 5 lety +3

      That'd be a pleasant surprise for this. (More pleasant than Harlan Ellison, in any case.)

  • @GrassesOn97
    @GrassesOn97 Před 5 lety +4

    I am actually reading brave new world right now and find Hurley’s view and on the qualities of the dystopia philosophically interesting!

  • @parvuspeach
    @parvuspeach Před 5 lety +3

    You guys are one of the most under rated channels on YT, excellent work as usual !

  • @ScorpioIsland
    @ScorpioIsland Před 4 lety +2

    Ok, I've posted a million times now about how amazing you guys are, but it bears repeating. Simple the best, most nuanced, most open hearted assessments of every subject you chose to tackle

  • @ErraticMagics
    @ErraticMagics Před 5 lety +11

    Brave New World is practically our current world.
    Instead of a worldstate we have tech giants and a global corporate conglomerate,
    instead of soma we have anti-depressants,
    instead of savage reserves we have the Amish and small communes,
    instead of lack of high art we have social media/consumer culture,
    instead castes and assigning professions you are manipulated through education and advertising.
    Meaningful living isn't impossible in the modern world, and the real life parallels I made aren't strictly negative either. However, I feel that you have to mostly go against the current zeitgeist to achieve something resembling happiness.

  • @jackantharia
    @jackantharia Před 5 lety +3

    Ah, the book that I've read had both "We" and "Brave new world" in it. Introduction chapter was also about how are they connected. Good stuff. And Huxley is great human being overall.

  • @Jamick98Geass
    @Jamick98Geass Před 5 lety +10

    One of my absolute favorite science fiction novels. "A gram is better than damn."

    • @RobotTanuki
      @RobotTanuki Před 5 lety +4

      "Ending is better than mending."

  • @shelleywinters6763
    @shelleywinters6763 Před rokem

    Thanks for quickly going over the social conditions that inform the books through the different styles and ideas.

  • @goldendreams3437
    @goldendreams3437 Před 5 lety +20

    Brave New World was a very weird novel, with the drugs, and sex, and porn, the orgies... etc.
    Made me feel odd, something new

    • @Edax_Royeaux
      @Edax_Royeaux Před 5 lety

      I never took Brave New World to be a dystopia. It seemed to me to be just a radically different world.

    • @goldendreams3437
      @goldendreams3437 Před 5 lety +2

      @@darkacademiavanessa but damn that was really werid though

    • @ianlilley2577
      @ianlilley2577 Před 5 lety +1

      @@darkacademiavanessa as a christian I tried to get into the shoes of the savage (I forget his name) who was a christian if i remember. It made it go from weird to horrifying and I could feel the maddening levels of loneliness and clash of culture with everyone he met and the dispair when secumbbed to their ways afterwards I felt quiet, Angry and sad. Amazing book

  • @jeremy1860
    @jeremy1860 Před 3 lety +4

    This might well be my personal favourite Extra Sci-Fi episode 😊

  • @potato-dv3jf
    @potato-dv3jf Před 5 lety +13

    I've read bnw this year for my high school English class, it's honestly one of my favorite books to read and i bought my own book to read it again over the summer. So EC didn't spoil much of the story and i recommend you guys to read it yourself if you like these times of books.
    Orgy porgy

  • @dingemandevalk6339
    @dingemandevalk6339 Před 5 lety +1

    I thank you guys a lot for this, I am doing a final school presentaion about Sci-fi and the future. In this 1984 and A brave new world are the sci-fi sources i use. i feel so happy rn that you are doing a series about it!

  • @BothHands1
    @BothHands1 Před 5 lety

    One of the best books ever written. Aside from short manga, it's the book I've read more often than any other.
    I really liked your take on it, especially on the questions it poses, which I've been asking for years. But i feel like you've made the point much more concisely than i could have. Looking forward to more on this series, especially for more about Huxley.

  • @justinh6651
    @justinh6651 Před 5 lety +12

    Big brother is *Always* Watching.

    • @firesonic23
      @firesonic23 Před 5 lety

      me waving at cameras "HI (Insert Organizations Here) GUY!"

    • @leemeyer9395
      @leemeyer9395 Před 5 lety

      2+2=5

    • @firesonic23
      @firesonic23 Před 5 lety

      @@leemeyer9395 the correct answer is Fish

  • @mrquackadoodlemoo
    @mrquackadoodlemoo Před 5 lety +7

    So that's where SOMA got it's name.
    Also, that Walpole reference

    • @fioredeutchmark
      @fioredeutchmark Před 5 lety

      Nope, same word different origin.
      SOMA (the game) is from the Greek for ‘body’ hence why SOMA is called what it is.
      The Soma in BNW is most likely referencing the Vedic Hindu medicinal preparation and it’s namesake the deity Soma.
      The preparation was thought to contain a combination of opium, cannabis and psychoactive ingredients to induce euphoria, just like the book. It is also known as a means to gain immortality and enlightenment, which is hilariously ironic.
      The deity Soma is the Hindu Representation of the Moon. The symbolism here is quite important as the moon is a bright light illuminating the dark, just like a lighthouse does for the sea (don’t want to spoil anything but that’s SUPER important) and John (BNW’s main character) does for humanity.

  • @linkeffect82
    @linkeffect82 Před 5 lety +1

    This was awesome! I love dystopias, and this was a great video showcasing what sounds like a solid work that I would love to read sometime!
    I look forward to seeing more videos!

  • @ftroman
    @ftroman Před 5 lety +1

    So glad to see We get a mention. It's so often overlooked.

  • @BoZoiD57
    @BoZoiD57 Před 5 lety +7

    Dude I just finished writing a 10 page research paper on Brave New World for my Senior English final.

  • @AYToaster
    @AYToaster Před 5 lety +19

    What about "Harrison Bergeron"?

  • @kianman5004
    @kianman5004 Před 5 lety +1

    I literally just finished this yesterday and now you guys post this, awesome!

    • @Ravenkiko
      @Ravenkiko Před 5 lety

      are you in junior high school? because I had to read this in 8th grade, jw

  • @krakerbox1108
    @krakerbox1108 Před 5 lety

    I am reading these books in English class right now, and the timing for this video to show up has never been more perfect.

  • @kurtweinstein8450
    @kurtweinstein8450 Před 5 lety +7

    Ok so that question of "emotion" v "stability" ending with the possibility of a third way makes me think you need to eventually address the possibility of a free utopia that doesn't make the naive assumptions of earlier sci-fi. For an exploration of that possibility I suggest The Culture series of novels.

    • @Nyck8639
      @Nyck8639 Před 2 lety

      The third way probably would be a union of emotion and stability, not something beyond that two things. There is some people that say that aldous huxley made a perfect world in his book “Island” that show the ideal society for him, but I didn’t read the book.

    • @alexxx4434
      @alexxx4434 Před 2 lety

      Unfortunately by the very nature emotion opposes stability. As a third way I can only see some kind of carefully curated balance.

  • @thebest-do8sk
    @thebest-do8sk Před 5 lety +9

    1800s people: we are going to have flying cars
    Now a day people: we have level50 weapons

  • @Pile_of_carbon
    @Pile_of_carbon Před 5 lety

    Hell yes! Seriously looking forward to this series.

  • @domus1455
    @domus1455 Před 5 lety +1

    I've missed this series so much!

  • @ashnandy7363
    @ashnandy7363 Před 4 lety +4

    3:23 Oh so its like joy from We happy few where they suppress terrible memories and bad emotions and everybody takes them. If they dont they are either forced to or are killed

  • @Viperzka
    @Viperzka Před 5 lety +3

    That end part is one of the reasons I don't necessarily think that Brave New World is a dystopia (though I agree that it was intended to be). It is the fundamental question "can you be fake happy?". We all want to be happy, but the savage's argument is that they aren't really happy, they just think they are happy. But is that even a possibility, can we just think we are happy and not really be happy?
    Almost every form of "fake happiness" today can be shown to break down and lead to overall unhappiness (i.e. drugs). But BNW specifically shows a world in which that doesn't happen, society doesn't fall apart because everyone is a hedonist.
    That is the real reason why it's so enduring. It is one of the few dystopian novels not afraid to look the dystopia in the face and say "maybe they aren't actually wrong".

    • @CountDVB
      @CountDVB Před rokem

      The Savage himself isn't really happy, especially with what he does in the end.

    • @obligatoryusername7239
      @obligatoryusername7239 Před 5 měsíci

      How can people see BNW's society and think it isn't all bad just because the people are drugged and conditioned from birth to be "happy"? Would you think that a world where people are bred and treated like dogs by a higher species would be alright as long as people were always "happy" due to drugs and their engineered pet genes?

  • @felixlentz7884
    @felixlentz7884 Před 5 lety +1

    After the short break, I wanted to point out how much I appreciate the art in the Extra Si-Fi Series! It is gorgeous! I wish there would be a way to get some of the art for Wallpapers!

  • @arisraz
    @arisraz Před 5 lety +2

    As a fan of dystopian literature, I really like this series.. And I kinda wished you opened it with "we" by zamyatin, which you did! Keep it up!

  • @linguisticallyoversight8685

    This world is becoming a dystopia via the s3 plan
    Selection for societal sanity
    Hideo kojima you mad genius you tried to warn us
    What fools we were
    Long live the sons of liberty

  • @nerowulfee9210
    @nerowulfee9210 Před 5 lety +6

    In ancient times, men built wonders, laid claim to the stars and sought to better themselves for the good of all. But we are much wiser now.

    • @trollamos
      @trollamos Před 5 lety +1

      Sorry we can't do those things because of some meaningless accounting numbers.

  • @darkgryffon
    @darkgryffon Před 5 lety

    those last few lines from brave new world you read was definitely interesting and thought provoking

  • @HiveFleetUlfang1
    @HiveFleetUlfang1 Před 5 lety

    Love you guys for this one! Brave New World is the most important book I ever read.

  • @CountDVB
    @CountDVB Před rokem +3

    Ya'll should've talked about The Iron Heel by Jack London.

  • @joshuaclare4860
    @joshuaclare4860 Před 5 lety +5

    Yes! Yay for dystopian fiction! (That’s an oxymoronic statement I know). I’ve been reading Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 and they’ve been an incredibly insightful reads for me. It certainly has made me more aware of my world (and has kind of made me a lot more anxious about the government. Not Tin foil hat levels of paranoia but definitely concern)

  • @KlaxontheImpailr
    @KlaxontheImpailr Před 2 lety +1

    6:32 as someone recovering from depression, I would counter that happiness IS grand if YOU’RE the one who’s happy.

  • @ZeMalta
    @ZeMalta Před 5 lety +2

    The speech between the John (name I remember as being the savage) and the Fordship Guy was one of the best dialogues I’ve read in a book. But what follows is too tragic and real.

  • @9seed.
    @9seed. Před 5 lety +19

    "The benefactor".
    Huh.
    Sounds familiar.

    • @NathanTAK
      @NathanTAK Před 5 lety

      What does it remind you of?
      Is it, perchance, a podcast?

    • @9seed.
      @9seed. Před 5 lety +4

      No.
      A video game, with an Orwellian vibe.

    • @Stryker4747
      @Stryker4747 Před 5 lety +4

      "It has come to my attention that some have lately called me a collaborator, as if such a term were shameful. I ask you, what greater endeavor exists than that of collaboration? In our current unparalleled enterprise, refusal to collaborate is simply a refusal to grow--an insistence on suicide, if you will. "

  • @dustinhaas8538
    @dustinhaas8538 Před 4 lety +3

    Yooo! This hit me like a ton of bricks, and I've heard this story reviewed by thug notes before.

  • @executiveelf8793
    @executiveelf8793 Před 5 lety +1

    I've read 1984 but have been wanting more of dystopias. This sounds like one I should pick up.

  • @danielchen9733
    @danielchen9733 Před 5 lety +2

    thank youu, this literally came out the day before our book club was due

  • @ponderosabones7803
    @ponderosabones7803 Před 5 lety +59

    Play at 1.25 speed for the classic Extra Credits experience.

  • @KidIsildur
    @KidIsildur Před 5 lety +71

    I T W A S W A L P O L E

  • @duncmanxxx
    @duncmanxxx Před 5 lety

    New season! So excited!

  • @sharky8507
    @sharky8507 Před 5 lety

    I love this so much, just read this book this year

  • @gejyspa
    @gejyspa Před 5 lety +4

    4:47 "flivvers" should rhyme with "givers", you young whippersnapper!

  • @macmurfy2jka
    @macmurfy2jka Před 5 lety +12

    “Freedom for security “-(Ben Franklin or Thomas Jefferson)
    It’s always been about trading freedom for security.

    • @imperatorodaenathus9329
      @imperatorodaenathus9329 Před 5 lety +9

      "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." was Ben Franklin

    • @macmurfy2jka
      @macmurfy2jka Před 5 lety

      Imperator Odaenathus I’ve seen a very similar and slightly more eloquent (read less wordy) attributed to Jefferson. I believe it’s on his monument. 🤷‍♂️

    • @imperatorodaenathus9329
      @imperatorodaenathus9329 Před 5 lety

      @@macmurfy2jka I wasn't able to find it on Google, only the paraphrased version that says "Those who give up liberty for security deserve neither". Actually, though, the real quote sounds so ineloquent because it was actually originally talking about a tax dispute during the 7 years war.

    • @nkordich
      @nkordich Před 5 lety

      @@macmurfy2jka If you're looking for a quote from the Jefferson Memorial: www.nps.gov/thje/learn/photosmultimedia/quotations.htm

  • @danielsjohnson
    @danielsjohnson Před 5 lety

    6:57 Its because of you guys I played the Bioshock games. Thanks for referencing it so often.

  • @JamaicaSugar
    @JamaicaSugar Před 3 lety +1

    "And if anything should go wrong, there's Soma." That line was so funny.

  • @gotsane
    @gotsane Před 5 lety +26

    My favorite quote by Aldous Huxley: "Chastity-the most unnatural of all the sexual perversions"

  • @ahumblemerchant241
    @ahumblemerchant241 Před 5 lety +24

    "WE" sounds like frostpunk.

  • @isaacschmitt4803
    @isaacschmitt4803 Před 5 lety

    Huh, so I was wrong. I thought 1984 was first, always forget about Brave New World. I really love the philosophy of these videos! Easy to understand, fun to watch, and incredibly engaging, forcing me to think.

  • @jlw35cudvm
    @jlw35cudvm Před 5 lety +1

    I do not understand the reason, but there is something about these dystopia novels that I am drawn to. We, Brave New World, and 1984 are amongst my personal favorites

  • @westcoast1776
    @westcoast1776 Před rokem +4

    You will own nothing and be happy.

  • @ImperatorZor
    @ImperatorZor Před 5 lety +16

    Now as far as Utopian sci-fi goes we're down to The Orville.

    • @TogusaRusso
      @TogusaRusso Před 5 lety +1

      Society, destroyed because one person don't get laid, can't be utopian.

  • @pancudowny
    @pancudowny Před 4 lety +1

    Seeing the workers ith the three-digit numbers on their shirts, and recalling a summarization of A Brave New World, I'm reminded of song by The Who called "905". Within the song, the hero of the song is a member of a very similar society, and finds himself having feelings of belonging to a world that he's discovered that is quite different to his own, but is told otherwise when he contests in favor of it openly.

  • @emmettg7490
    @emmettg7490 Před 5 lety

    YES! These books are some of my faves. I love this channel.