After reading the first 2 chapters of Brave New World, it is very obvious that the conveyer belt is an important piece of the book. It stretches for two kilometers and everything happens around it. After having a discussion in class about the conveyer belt, I decided to do a little research on it. It was first majorly used by Henry Ford at Ford Motor Company in 1914 to mass produce cars which was a big change. Before, everything had to be done by hand which caused varieties in some things. Once they started to use the conveyer belt, everything was the exact same. Brave New World was first published in 1932, which is not too long after the conveyer belt was started to be used by everyone.
It seems that Aldous Huxley took this new idea of everything being the exact same and brought it to the extreme. His thought process probably went something like this; 'If everything is now being made on a conveyer belt, what will the future of it look like? What if humans were created like this in the future?' Huxley took this idea of human creation on a conveyer belt and wrote Brave New World. Humans are now created to be the same person to do a single job, just like things on a conveyer belt.
I am very interested in Christian's research of the conveyer belt. Initially, Huxley's fixation on Ford and the Model T confused me. Although I could see the motor car's significance in the world's overall technological advancement, I thought that there were other inventions that may have been more monumental. Now that I know that the Ford company was the first to use the conveyor belt, the book's connection to it makes much more sense. As the first step towards the mass production of goods, the conveyor belt would have been a radical change in the way of manufacturing. At the time, it would have been alarming to those who were used to purchasing their goods from smaller companies with a more personal touch. Huxley takes advantage of his time period, extrapolating the circumstances to the extremes. Ultimately, life and free will are rights that humans want to protect. A society that jeopardizes that is the ultimate dystopia.
ReplyDeleteI really like Christian's point about how the conveyor belt has made everything exactly the same. Based on what I've read about Brave New World from the other posts, it seems that the invention of the conveyor belt, something that's meant to speed up production, has led to society trying to do the same with humans. The idea that humans who first created the conveyor belt are now themselves being created by the belt is very interesting. In a way, the society of Brave New World has let their creation rule them by having it create them. Also, the idea that every person is created for a single, specific job really emphasizes the primary goal of the society: efficiency.
ReplyDeleteIn such an efficient world as ours, it's hard to imagine how radical something like this would have been. Ford developed a way to streamline his process, and as he did, other manufacturers began asking the same question. Huxley follows that path to its most frightening conclusion, a true dystopian author, and cautions us against the power of efficiency. I wonder if that is still true today, or if we have become so efficient in our existence that we always accept it as beneficial?
ReplyDeleteI think the opposite—that we enjoy the efficiency of modern society, but are also far more cautious of it than we once were. When Brave New World was written, people were excited by the technological progress; new ideas and inventions were being developed in such quick succession and with such enthusiasm that people were not yet considering the downsides. The thrill of innovation was still the main focus. However, after the initial euphoria of modernism dissipated, the disadvantages began to be noticed as well. In the case of the assembly line, people began to recognize that individual craftsmanship was being lost. The economical nature of mass-produced objects threatened to destroy artisanal skill, as specialists could no longer make a living.
ReplyDeleteToday, we value unique, handmade objects. Vintage items are popular because none of your friends will own one; your item (and therefore you) will be one-of-a-kind. I would guess that the abundance of dystopian literature which portrays a negative image of an overly-advanced world has played a part in this mental shift. Huxley was probably one of the first to voice concerns about the assembly line when he wrote Brave New World, but today his book is one of many that condemn technology and modernization. People are inundated with literary warnings against Progress and all that implies. The popularity of the Paleo diet, retro styling, or internet/phone holidays demonstrates how eager modern society is to reconnect with the past and escape the overly-efficient, overly-advanced present.