BNW Ch 17-18: Science is stability?

"[Science] has given us the stablest equilibrium in history. China's was hopelessly insecure by comparison; even the primitive matriarchies weren't steadier than we are. Thanks, I repeat, to science" (Huxley 227).

Science is one of the main reasons that the World State is so stable. The text almost explicitly states that science is beneficial to humanity. The only problem with the science of the World State is its application. If we could use science to benefit our own stability while maintaining our humanity and autonomy, we would be set. Technology is like a powerful medicine. If it is abused, it will be bad. However, if it is used properly, everyone benefits from its miracles.

BNW Ch 15-16: Riot Control?

"Three men with spraying machines buckled to their shoulders pumped thick clouds of soma vapour into the air... Carrying water pistols charged with a powerful anesthetic, four others had pushed their way into the crowd and were methodically laying out, squirt by squirt, the more ferocious of the fighters" (Huxley 214).

Controlling a riot is a tough job. Not only is it hard to part such a violent mass of people, but doing so often results in injury, if not death. Police have no methods to deal with protesters that are non violent, they only have methods to disable or hurt large numbers of people. If police had a gas that instead of choking induced euphoria, police would be able to be a lot more careful in handling violent individuals. Being able to replace tasers with anesthesia guns also seems like a vast improvement. Anesthetics are probably much safer than high voltage. By reducing the violence of our police force, technology could yet again advance our society.

BNW Ch 13-14: Hospice?

"It was a large room bright with sunshine and yellow paint, and containing twenty beds, all occupied... The air was continuously alive with gay synthetic melodies. At the foot of every bed, confronting its morbid occupant, was a television box" (Huxley 198).

In hospice care, we attempt to make patients feel as comfortable as possible as they depart the world of the living. Keeping someone who is dying comfortable is a tall order. Getting the patient's mind off their condition is critical. To accomplish this, we distract them with things that require little effort but are engaging. If we had the technology to keep the level of atmospheric control that the World State has, we could easily keep all the people in hospice care happy up to their final moments. This is just one more example of a way in which we benefit from technological development.

BNW Ch 12: All this progress, and you choose to stand still?

"It was the sort of idea that might easily decondition the more unsettled minds among the higher castes - make them lose their faith in happiness as the Sovereign Good and take to believing, instead, that the goal was somewhere outside the present human sphere; that the purpose of life was not the maintenance of well-being, but some intensification and refining of consciousness, some enlargement of knowledge"(Huxley 177).

My sentiments toward technological advancement could not summed up better than this. The purpose of technological advancement is not to make us happier or to make life easier. The purpose of technological advancement is for us to expand what it means to be human. We should constantly seek to raise the bar higher, not to squeamishly keep the status quo. Is there a ceiling? An end after which we can no longer progress? I doubt such a thing exists, but if it did, it would be our duty to find it and reach it. Though I agree technology benefits humanity, i disagree with the sentiments of the World State here. Humanity cant afford to sit still.

BNW Ch 11: Fountain of Youth?

"If we could rejuvenate, of course it would be different. But we can't." (Huxley 154)

The prospect of aging can be terrifying to some. The human body begins to deteriorate until you lose your faculties and die. However, what if you could live at the prime of your life forever? The technology shown here cold be a solution to this problem. Being able to keep your eyes, brain, and heart at their prime into old age is a tantalizing prospect. Also, this technology could help advance us further. Imagine if we could keep people like Nikola Tesla or Albert Einstein from going senile! If these brilliant minds just had a bit more time to research and experiment, we could discover new technologies faster, improving our lives greatly.In this manner, technology itself is beneficial to technology.

BNW Ch 9-10: Order of Progress?

"Everyone was busy, everything in ordered motion." (Huxley 146)

Everything in the world state happens with great efficiency. Technology allows us to work together better, and become streamlined. Take for example Google Docs. This program by Google allows people all over the globe to collaborate on a single document. That is not all, however. It also stores the document on the internet, allowing it to be available anywhere, on computers and mobile devices. Now that we have this technology in our modern day civilization, projects that used to take weeks can be accomplished in days or hours. Through this advancement,we have bettered ourselves as human beings.

BNW Ch 8: Brave New World?

"How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is!" (Huxley 139)

Technology has an amazing effect on people. If you are far enough ahead of someone else in technological advancement, the things you take for granted may seem like magic to them. John is enraptured by the mere prospect of joining Bernard in his advanced civilization. Everything about Bernard and Lenina seems magical to John. This is but one of the numerous benefits technology confers to the people.