 community, identity, stability. This is the motto for New London, the primary setting of Aldous Huxley's influential novel and Peacock's original streaming series, Brave New World. It's a seductive idea. Don't we all want a society with no conflict and no pain? Don't we all want to know our place in the world and be absolutely certain that we fit in? How nice would it be if we didn't have the stress of making difficult decisions or weighing complicated trade-offs? What if, by giving up the power to make our own choices, no one had to worry about poverty, hunger, or disease, ever again? Wouldn't we all be very happy? This is the idea behind Brave New World. The book, which was one of the most important things I ever read growing up, and the new show from one of my favorite writers, Grant Morrison, poses these questions and asks us to consider what this kind of existence would be like. Unlike dark dystopian fiction like 1984 or V for Vendetta, where dictatorships are built on fear and violence, Huxley's vision of the future was that of an equally terrifying utopia, a perfect society built around the complete elimination of individuality and personal freedom. Today on this series, we're gonna take a look at whether or not this kind of world is even possible. And if it is, what it would really cost? Welcome to Out of Frame. When the original book was written in 1932, the world was pretty different than it is today, and the story reflects that. Huxley synthesized a number of then-new concepts into a futuristic society driven by assembly lines and industrial mass production, genetic engineering, Pavlovian conditioning, and technocratic central planning. The world state is a marvel of modern science and people's lives are completely determined by the government from cradle to grave. Babies are no longer born naturally to individual sets of parents. Instead, infants are genetically engineered, hatched, and then sorted into a strict caste system. Alphas are the leadership class, managing and making decisions for the social body. Betas are knowledge workers like scientists and engineers. Gammas are servants. Delta's and Epsilon's do manual labor. Their physiology and intelligence is predetermined, and they're raised by the state to know their place in the social hierarchy. The sweet little faces discovering the system together, learning how to fit. Everyone in their place. Everybody happy now. You say it like it's a bad thing. Don't take it for granted, these children will never know violence, prejudice. Wait for it. It takes a village, I guess. In the show, most of this is the same, but with the added feature of an optic interface that connects every single person in New London to everyone else through some kind of artificial intelligence called Indra. Indra lets citizens communicate with other people, even seeing directly through their eyes, and gives them an augmented reality view of the world around them. You are an essential part of a perfect social body. Everybody in their place. Everybody happy now. And Indra keeps us all connected. Indra plays a pretty large role in the show, but it's not actually super relevant to what we need to talk about here. The important thing is that it's the world state's primary means of control. In New London, everyone belongs to everyone else. There's no monogamy and no privacy. There are parties every night. This is supposedly creating a world with no jealousy or negative emotions, but even in the future, human nature isn't quite so easy to wipe away. Those who do experience even the slightest moment of discomfort are provided with a multi-purpose drug called Soma. At various doses, Soma calms people down and reduces anxiety. It relieves pain and deadens the senses. It can put people to sleep. And eventually, when the world state has deemed that your existence is no longer worth the resources it takes to support, a Soma man will come and use it to end your life. But hey, at least it makes people feel good, right? Quite frankly, my friend, if you're not happy, you're nothing at all. If you're an alpha or a beta, the whole society seems to be a perfectly functioning machine. Every cog is in the right place, continually producing the goods and services everybody wants and needs. There's no crime, no violence, and every individual's position in all this is crystal clear. So what's wrong? A lot, actually. But before we get into why utopian central planning doesn't work, again, I think it's worth taking a second to understand why these ideas are so common in science fiction in the first place. You have to understand that in the early 20th century, a ton of intellectuals and writers like Aldous Huxley believed, like Karl Marx, that socialism and eventually communism would be the future of societies around the world. Marx arrogantly considered it to be the end of history, as if history even has an end. That's why you'll hear some people use nonsense phrases like late-stage capitalism that treat the 150-year-old predictions of mediocre social theorists as fact. It's all absurd, but if you squint really, really hard, it sort of seems scientific and rational. So that was, and unfortunately still is, enticing for certain types of people. The thinking goes something like this. Our own lives are better when we intelligently plan out what we're doing, right? So why wouldn't the same be true for a whole society? If we just get qualified experts to make all the decisions, we can solve every problem. Never mind the massive difference between planning for yourself and trying to control the lives of millions of other people who you know nothing about. Many intellectuals like Bertrand Russell and George Bernard Shaw thought that Soviet central planning would result in a kind of advanced social and economic utopia that would produce equality and prosperity for everyone. They were so certain about this that they were completely blind to the horrors of communism and practice. Also, when they talked about creating a better world for everyone, keep in mind that the progressives and socialists of the early 20th century were also frequently supporters of eugenics. To quote George Bernard Shaw, if people are fit to live, let them live under decent human conditions. If they are not fit to live, kill them in a decent human way. It's also worth noting that these same people use the language of science to justify obvious racism. Huxley's description of each cast in Brave New World makes this painfully clear. The lower your status, the darker your skin. Of course, the show scrubs that part out. The point is, writers like Aldous Huxley, H.G. Wells, Edgar Rice Burroughs and George Orwell were inventing fictional societies based on what they believed would be true in the future. But perhaps if they lived to see the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the civil rights movement, those writers would have questioned these ideas a bit more. But Huxley continued to believe that top-down, centralized social organization would produce a more efficient industrial economy to the end of his life. As technology becomes more and more complicated, it becomes necessary to have more and more elaborate organizations, more hierarchical organizations. He was wrong about that. But to his credit, and unlike most of his contemporaries, Huxley did recognize that giving the state control over the means of production and the power to redistribute wealth would have terrible consequences. As the position of these countries, the economic position becomes more and more precarious, obviously, the central government has to take over more and more responsibility for keeping the ship of state on an even keel. And then, of course, you're likely to get social unrest under such conditions with, again, an intervention of the central government. So I think you once see here a pattern which seems to be pushing very strongly towards a totalitarian regime. And unfortunately, as in all these underdeveloped countries, the only highly organized political party is the Communist Party. It looks rather as though they will be the heirs to this unfortunate process, that they will step into the position of power. The fear of authoritarianism is why he was ultimately a strong advocate for decentralization and criticized both big government and big business. Of course, the future Huxley imagined in Brave New World depicted a very different kind of dictatorship than what he saw under Hitler, Stalin, and Mao. Now, I think what is going to happen in the future is the dictators will find, as the old saying goes, that you can do everything with their needs except sit on them. But if you want to preserve your power indefinitely, you have to get the consent of the ruled. And this they will do partly by drugs, as I foresaw in Brave New World, partly by these new techniques of propaganda. They will do it by bypassing the sort of rational side of man and appealing to his subconscious and his deeper emotions and his physiology even. And so making him actually love his slavery. I mean, I think this is the danger that actually people may be in some ways happy under the new regime. Instead of using terror and threats to get people to comply with edicts set by Indra and the powerful world state controller, Mustafa Mons, the government gains compliance through propaganda, conditioning, painkillers and antidepressants. That part feels very real to me. When I look at the world right now, I see an awful lot of people who if offered a job, security, free food, free healthcare, drugs and nightly parties without any consequence or meaning in exchange for being told what to do and how to think, I think they would take that deal. So I would just call it prison. Someone tells them when to eat and when to sleep. That's nice. Is it nice? The thing that makes all of this so sad and what makes the whole story ultimately unrealistic is that all the incredible promises of wealth and stability that come with totalitarianism and central planning never materialize. You end up with all the negative outcomes huxley predicted and none of the benefits. A couple of years ago on this series, I talked about Marvel's Black Panther and this idea that's always bothered me about certain kinds of science fiction stories. What I call the inconceivably advanced society. Like Wakanda somehow becoming technologically advanced and ultra wealthy in the absence of trade, economic freedom or any meaningful connection to the outside world, New London is depicted as a technologically dominant modern economy based on a totally centralized means of economic decision-making. This doesn't work. Doesn't matter what advanced technology is available. Planning every aspect of an economy or worse the entire society will always be an impossible task because the variable that can neither be known nor controlled is individual people's values and preferences. This is the fatal flaw of every totalitarian regime. In human society stability is achieved through the control of neurochemical incentives. Don't quote my thesis to me. The problem is people. No matter how perfect the condition, stability does not, cannot hold. It's frustrating. There's a flaw in you humans. None known. It wants what it shouldn't want and happiness. I have found the state at which you are stable. You will be happy. You will remain happy. Human societies are exceptionally complex but they are not machines with levers to pull or gears and pistons that make them run. They are more like living ecosystems where each individual person's decisions which they make based on their own unique goals, knowledge, resources and creativity all play an essential role in determining the outcomes for the economy and culture as a whole. And that's a good thing. None of us has infinite knowledge, skills or time. Even with the help of AI, we can't know what every person needs at any given moment. Nor do we have any way of knowing what resources are available to meet those needs or how best to use them because the people themselves don't even know until it's time to make a decision. Did you know you were going to watch this video yesterday? How could you have known? What's more, the only way we figure out how to effectively use scarce resources in a world that's always changing is through constant experimentation and entrepreneurship inside a system that provides genuine feedback. We need market signals like prices, profits and losses to know if we're serving the needs of other people well or if we're wasting our time and resources creating goods and services nobody wants. But none of that feedback means anything if people aren't actually free to make their own choices. If the state decides what people are allowed to produce and how resources are allocated across the whole economy, the only thing we can say for sure is that politicians or the artificial intelligence running the show got what they wanted. When we treat society like a machine that can be steered and controlled by a small group of people in power, all we're really doing is treating billions of individual human beings like mindless drones whose own hopes and dreams are worth nothing. And that's exactly what happens in Brave New World. The plot of the new Peacock series revolves around three primary characters, Bernard Marks, Lenina Crowne and John the Savage. Lenina, a Beta Plus, works as a scientist in the hatchery, but she doesn't quite fit in. One day, Bernard, an Alpha Plus counselor, summons her to his office. Lenina Crowne. Turns out Lenina has been having an illegal monogamous relationship with another Alpha Plus named Henry Foster. I can never seem to wrap my head around, though, is the selfishness. Two people engaged in possessive monogamous, forgive me, I don't know what else to call it, relations in private, separate, with no regard for the social body, no consideration for the pain they caused, the damage they inflict. It just happened, you can understand that, can't you? You gave no thought whatsoever to anyone but yourself, not your colleagues, not your friends, all of whom have just as much of a right to Henry Foster as you do. Well, do you not agree with that? Lenina? Everyone belongs to everyone else. Yes, that's right. Good, that's good. There's no privacy, no personal relationships, no control over your own life. What's important is that we caught it in time. These things have a habit of festering, jealousy, possessiveness, secrecy. Lenina, you're going to take the recommended actions and you are going to feel better, I promise. The recommended action in this case is for Lenina to take more soma and go to the pleasure garden for the nightly party and hook up with someone new. Meanwhile, Bernard gets another assignment. Our residents were enjoying the recreation session, the satisfaction levels were quite high until one of the Epsilons, he had an accident. How rare. But it wasn't an accident. The Epsilon, one of New London's lower caste, a man who was conditioned from birth to fear curiosity and obey orders from higher caste citizens without question, a man who was genetically engineered for physical labor and low intelligence, a man who wasn't even given a unique name, killed himself. This suicide has a profound effect not only on the people who witnessed it, but on another Epsilon connected to the man through Indra. It also deeply unsettles Bernard, who in spite of his status, has also always struggled to fit in and find his place. He begins to question why someone would take his own life in a society where everybody is supposedly happy. He goes to his friend Helm Watson to talk about it, but she doesn't want to hear it. You were overtaxed. Simple as that. This Epsilon fell. He jumped. Stop it. Taking a step back for a moment, I think this scene is another really good illustration of the difference between stories like 1984 and Brave New World. In both societies, certain thoughts and feelings are taboo and not allowed. But what makes Huxley's vision more insidious and more realistic than Orwell's is that these taboos are not enforced at gunpoint by an oppressive regime, but by the citizens themselves. Simply because they prefer not to think or talk about anything that might make them uncomfortable. Wrong thinking people may eventually get reconditioned by the state, but the primary limit on free thought and speech is the people's own complacency. And since everyone belongs to everyone else, anyone who steps out of line is not just a threat to the world state, but to the fragile emotional security of other individuals who can't bear to experience even a moment's confusion or pain because they've lived their whole lives in a world without choice, consequence, or meaning. You can say these things to me because I'm your friend and I know you don't mean to be destabilizing. Not everyone understands. As a side note, this is what happens when we accept the claim that people have a right to live in a world where no one ever says anything that upsets or offends them. Getting back to the story, Helm Watson, who is the Alpha Plus in charge of entertainment, gives Bernard her table at the pleasure garden so he can unwind. While there, he connects with Lenina through their now shared sense of discomfort. As their relationship develops, they take a trip together to the savage lands. Imagine a world without interest, stability, and harmony. A primitive land of greed, superstition, and pain. You don't have to imagine. Only an 11-minute rocket from New London, you'll find the savage lands. Come and experience the magic. You bring the friends. We've got the fun. In the book, this is basically an Indian reservation, but in the show, it's more like a 21st century small town in America where the residents are made to reenact fake scenes from history for the amusement of the new Londoners. Also, any savages who try to escape will be killed attempting to cross a powerful force field imprisoning them in the region. But even inside those boundaries, the people who live there are not free. With weak property rights, their resources controlled by New London, no mobility or opportunities to trade with other parts of the world, the savages are incredibly poor. Their primary source of income is tourism, which just adds insult to injury. Come to think of it, that's exactly like an Indian reservation. When we meet John, he works as a prop handler for the House of Monogamy, which puts on a twice daily soap opera wedding for the alpha and beta tourists who come to gawk at them. Next up, the House of Monogamy. Now, the reasons behind the savages' most primitive practice remain a mystery, but we do know that monogamy is an important tradition which allows the savages to combine the core values of their culture. Ownership, competition, jealousy, and strife. It's all pretty ridiculous. Why'd you say wear that hat? For safety. Unfortunately, Lenina and Bernard's desire to experience primitive society gets a little too real when they end up caught in the middle of an insurrection. Thanks to John, Lenina and Bernard survive, although Bernard gets shot in the process. As they get chased by militant freedom fighters, John takes them to hide out at his house. There, they meet John's mother, Linda, who, it turns out, was originally from New London herself, abandoned in the savage lands when she got pregnant. Luckily, this means that she and John are genetically capable of passing through the barrier, so they all manage to escape together. Well, almost all. Back in New London, John becomes the new hotness in high society. Everybody wants to hear sensational stories about his life. Tell us how people savage violent is. Yes, don't slowly. Where I come from, there's only two levels, the living and the dead. John is, of course, making most of these stories up, but New Londoners love him for it. To them, he's scary and mysterious, a little dangerous, but most of all, he's new. And if there's anything this type of society desperately needs, it's an endless stream of distractions. They want the new thing, because with every new thing, there's a chance that it could be the big thing. Bigger, hotter, harder, faster. And we have to give it to them like that, Bernie. Because if we don't, they might realize that the new thing isn't new at all. It's really just the old thing, but more of it. And if it's boring, they will turn it off. And I'll be alone with other thoughts. We know where that leads, don't we? Yeah, we do. If the people of New London spent too much time alone with their thoughts, all the soma in the world would not save them from the realization that their lives are not their own, and that nothing they do is allowed to have any actual meaning. That's why John is really such a shock to their system. Mustafa Manz ultimately considers him to be a virus, infecting people with individualist ideas, upsetting social stability. You're a beta, right? Of course. Do you ever want to be an alpha? Everyone wants to be what they are. What's more, with no official status of his own, John traverses between the cast with relative ease, making friends with deltas and gammas, like Gary, the servant he's been provided as a guest of New London, and spends much of his time with the Epsilon's, including C. Jack's 60, the one who was connected to the man who committed suicide. His influence affects Bernard and Lenina, who begin to have selfish thoughts. You know, what if... Maybe there's a little part of me that's... Now what? Mine. Don't you want that? Something that's yours, something that's... It's private and solipsistic, and everyone belongs to everyone else. Lenina and John begin a secret, monogamous affair, but the demands of New London society make their relationship difficult to maintain. For John, the grotesque underbelly of this world is impossible to ignore, and in the end, his influence changes everything. You want to know what to do? I'll tell you what to do. Shoot! You want to be happy, or do you want to be free? The irony of all this is that, in spite of exchanging their freedom for apparently miraculous standards of living, few people in New London are happy anyway, and deep down, they all know it. It just takes John the Savage to bring it to the surface. You're not fucking happy! You're on drugs! All of this underscores the real point of the book and the show. Human beings are meant to be free. We're meant to choose our own paths, create meaning through our relationships, and find purpose in our work. When other people are forced to interact with us, regardless of their own preferences, friendships and partnerships have no value. When we are given everything by the state, instead of earning it through our own productive effort, we are being treated like children. And when every decision is controlled by someone else and we have no autonomy, our own goals and values no longer matter. In Brave New World, the state gets around this crippling hopelessness through eugenics, brainwashing, and magic pills that regulate people's emotions with no side effects. In reality, taking away people's freedom leads to poverty, depression, drug use, violence, and death. And to be honest, I'm afraid that we are living in a version of Huxley's future right now. Over the past several months, I've been critical of many policies that governments have enacted in response to COVID-19. But what I haven't talked about are the devastating psychological costs of social isolation. A recent survey from the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center showed that for the first time in 48 years, more people said they were unhappy than happy with their lives. 50% of respondents said they felt isolated. That's more than double the percentage of people who said the same just two years ago. This wave of depression has coincided with an 18% increase in suspected drug overdoses and a massive increase in domestic violence. According to the CDC, 25.5%, a quarter of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 seriously considered suicide in June. It's not good. It will take a while for a full picture of the lockdowns to become clear. When they started, nobody wanted to talk about the cost of eliminating people's autonomy, restricting their choices, destroying their jobs and businesses, forcing them to stay inside and limit their mobility, preventing them from seeing their friends and family, and then making up for it with free money that will eventually be taken from their future incomes. People evaded the conversation because they were scared. And the idea that a strong centralized state can solve major problems like a global pandemic is, as I said at the beginning, very seductive. Brave New World shows us a future that a lot of people believe they want. It's a world of ultimate comfort, as long as we agree to let someone else do our thinking for us. But it's all a lie. Is freedom necessary? As far as I'm concerned, it is. Yes. I mean, I think you could produce plenty of goods without much freedom. But I think the whole sort of creative life of man is ultimately impossible without a considerable measure of individual freedom. Freedom is scary. It can be confusing. There will be moments of pain and discomfort. You will have to make difficult choices. No one will tell you how to live your life or hand you everything you want. But free people build prosperous worlds together. And by taking risks and overcoming obstacles, our choices actually matter. Our relationships are important and we can feel pride in our accomplishments. Individual freedom is the root of meaning. And meaning gives our lives purpose. Many people want to believe that if they give up their freedom for promises of community, identity, and stability, the trade-off will be worth it. It's not. And those promises are empty. But remember, we still have the power to choose the future we want to live in. Choose carefully. Hey, everybody. Thanks for watching this episode of Out of Frame. Let's talk about Brave New World in the comments. I'd also like to give a quick shout out to all of our patrons with an extra special thank you to our associate producers. Our next, Dahlin Case, Jermaine, Matt Tabor, and Victoria Manshark. Thank you. If you love the show and want to help us keep making more episodes, check out the Patreon link in the description below. And as always, don't forget to like this video, subscribe to this channel, ring that bell icon, and follow us on all our social media at YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Thanks for watching.