Mond Lectures
This scene illustrates how they believe that, through their inventions, they have become a perfect society. Their rhetoric is that because everyone is engineered to enjoy the work they are assigned, they are all perfectly happy, and above such stupid things as family or kinship, alongside the blatant ethnocentrism of their disgust for the "savages".
Must be some sort of aberration, I hear there once was a thing called madness in primitive times, yes that must be what it is umm, maybe we better get away from them, it might be catching
The complete and utter disconnect between their worlds is obvious. The Old Humans have family, and strife, and love: concepts the New Humans have completely destroyed. The director could never understand this other culture, specifically because they have been trained never to ask why, or to attempt to understand.
You see recent implies past, improvement implies progress and if the present is perfect then there can’t be any progress of course and even the word ‘why’, ‘why’ that’s the most dangerous word of all. It raises the whole question of purpose no I’m afraid it would never do to let an ordinary audience watch anything quite as dangerous as your docushort
This section reveals the lie that they live under. If the world is perfect, then why could there possibly be forward passage in their society? And yet, they work towards improvement, despite believing everything is perfect. That is why the word "why" is banned from being shown, or used: because the moment you begin to question their society, their rhetoric breaks down.
My friends, my friends, please, what is the meaning of this? My dearest friends why aren’t you all being happy and good together? At peace? At peace? Be calm. Be calm. Please. Please. I do want you to be happy. Be happy. Be happy. Be happy. Now goodbye my dearest, dearest friends. May the good Ford keep you and watch over you – Destroy soma.. – Apparently the soma vapor did not completely restore them to emotional stability – Destroy soma, destroy soma – We don’t need your soma, we’re free right – He’s the one who caused it, the savage.
The power of their mental conditioning is clearly broken by John. By denying their soma and releasing them from their imprisoned minds, we reveal that the lower classes are not happy - that the happiness created by their society is false. John sees through their soma-inhibited, culturally destroyed selves, and sees them for the humans they are, and attempts to free them from this horrible society of subjugation and thoughtlessness.
Yes, I want all of that. And all of the other things you’ve done away with. I want I want danger, I want poetry, I want goodness, I want sin, I want freedom…
This is John's declaration of humanity. He rejects the culture of nothingness that is the New Human society, and claims the right to the duality of unhappiness and happiness; the right to love, and the right to hate; the right to have expression, and to be expressionless; the right to be a human being.
But Mr. Marx’s morals, or should I say lack of morals cannot be ignored. He has been officially observed alone on numerous occasions. He has twice refused to attend high holy synthosex services and that is by no means the complete extent of his immorality. Mr. Bernard Marx has engaged with only three females in the last year.
Bernard is clearly rejecting the societal notions that were forced upon him. He doesn't treat sex lightly, as a form of "going to church", source of enjoyment, or required action simply for the point of having sex. By forcing enjoyment upon Bernard, all actual enjoyment is lost for him. This is part of John's rejection of Lenina as well: sex without purpose holds no value for him. In fact, it degrades the meaning of sex as relational, and merely into something resembling shaking hands.
Oh the shame of it… the shame of it…my whole reputation, gone. After years of dedicated work, not a single moral blemish on my computofile. I never allowed myself to engage with the same female three times in one month. I faithfully attended orgy services each and every week. It just isn’t fair.
The clearest example of how far this world is from the morals of the old world. The divide between John and his father is as deep as the difference between night and day.
Is there a constitutional right in the United States to reshape one’s mind not merely with words or images but also with chemicals or electrical currents?
Most of the preceding arguments are attempting to use the concept of cognitive enhancement in a different - and one could argue, misleading - sense. By attempting to merge the concept of reading a book with implanting electromagnetic coils or taking psycho-enhancing drugs under the umbrella of cognitive enhancement, the author attempts to hide the stigmas associated with these drugs or implants, and to make them sound far more reasonable than they have any right to be. After all, in what world is implanting electromagnetic coils in your head even remotely close to watching an educational video? There are different layers of "cognitive enhancement", and the author attempts to blur the lines far too much.
Monolith Encounter
The juxtaposition between the opening scene and the later moon landing scene is strikingly beautiful and direct. The change from merely apes to a species capable of spacetravel, with all the cultures and traditions the compose a high level society, made no difference to how they responded to the monolith. Dark, unknowable, the monolith defied humans before, and will continue to do so until the end of time. All our progress, all our advancements, be merely dust in the wind compared to the civilization that created these monoliths. The rebirth of David at the end of the movie, caused through the power of the monolith, shows that while we may fancy ourselves the dominant species, there will always exist something far greater. In fact, all the scientific power gained by humans can be attributed to the monolith, guiding the first humans in the usage of tools. All human creation stems from the knowledge granted by the monolith, and soon shall be overtaken by a new being, one created through the monolith's power once more. This alien civilization has always guided everything - and it shall continue to manipulate and control the path of humanity.
Philosophies of life (such as extropian perspectives) that seek the continuation and acceleration of the evolution of intelligent life beyond its currently human form and human limitations by means of science and technology, guided by life-promoting principles and values. According to the Transhumanist FAQ (Various 2003), transhumanism is: The intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally improving the human condition through applied reason, especially by developing and making widely available technologies to eliminate aging and to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities.
The distinctions, although slight, are tangible. More's seeks to abandon the name of "Human", in a sense - to become "more than human". A daring task, to be sure, and requires more exploration.
The Transhumanist FAQ, on the other hand, contains different language that specifically states that it builds upon the human condition. It also makes no claim of philosophy or extropian perspective - it simply makes the claim of desiring all technologies that can assist in improving the human condition, as opposed to the human form that More defines.