when I was young I read the book Brave New World

[lunatica]

For those who haven’t read or or don’t know about here is a link:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_New_World

I have to admit that in the Trump Era I have thought there might or even must be a difference in our human brains that exist. Aldous Huxley writes about manipulation the embryo human brain invitro to ceate a true class system of intelligence in order to have the perfect utopia. Some brains are starved of oxygen or other ingredients to make them less functional which would create an underclass of servants and menial laborers who would be happy doing those jobs. The same would be done for all the higher classes. The most intelligent would be the people running things. The people deciding the treatments for the embryos, choosing how many are needed to work the fields or clean buildings, or pave roads, etc. in such a society there wouldn’t be any discontent and everyone would be perfectly happy.

The book made a profound impact, and for me its premise of basic brain function has lately come to mind a lot. I find myself wondering if all brains are NOT fundamentally the same. If there are some vital differences among brains especially in areas of sympathetic and empathetic abilities. Are we assuming everyone has these abilities, but that some people choose not to use them? Or is it that there is no choices being made?

I simply can’t come to a conclusion that some people can put aside their emotions and condone Trump’s astonishing ability to order the cruel treatment of the most vulnerable human beings. I can’t reconcile it. It does not compute. More and more I’m forced to believe that they don’t put anything aside. That they simply don’t have it. It’s not there.

For this reason, for now I have abandoned any urge to reach out or try to win MAGAts over. It’s wasted effort and so, without any hate towards them I say I don’t care what they think and abandon them to their truths. It’s very much like ceasing to bang my head against the wall. I end up in pain and the wall remains a wall. MAGATs are just not the same as us.

[lordsummerisle]

1. Thanks

for such an honest post.

[The Blue Flower]

2. It will certainly be an important study topic some day

I wonder if there's some echo of the classic study in which students inflicted electric shocks on others without being reined in by their conscience. We might just have to accept that there may be that many sociopaths in our population.

[lunatica]

3. Exactly

It’s an idea that I’ve resisted, but the behavior is telling and blatant and continues in spite of all the evidence to prove Trump is a liar and works only to benefit himself.

Maybe they acknowledge the truth, but simply don’t care any more than he does. Maybe the more we expose his lies is the very reason they love him more.

[localroger]

5. The people who administered shocks in the Milgram experiment

...weren't psychopaths. They were ordinary people selected at random. They were simply in thrall to authority in a way nobody realized was possible or common until Milgram showed the results. Incidentally, it is against ethics codes to repeat the experiment because many of the subjects (those who gave the shocks, the shocks were not real and those who got the shocks were actors) were seriously disturbed afterward. We don't react well to being shown the monsters that lurk within us.

Sociopaths are a whole different story. A sociopath wouldn't be bothered by giving the Milgram shocks because pain isn't quite real to them. These 1% to 2% of our population are actual monsters who do not feel pain or empathy but can feign emotion with great verisimilitude because they aren't bothered by the actual feelings the rest of us have to deal with when we scrunch up our faces in various emotional manners. They can be intelligent, charming, and great fun until they stab you in the back to see what color your blood is.

[Laffy Kat]

7. So, so true. nt

[Foggy Head]

4. Highly recommended book.

[Laffy Kat]

6. You know back in 1984 when everyone was re-reading "1984"....

I re-read Brave New World and believed then as well as now that the novel was much more prescient than 1984. Everything from the obsession with celebrities to the "soma" prescriptions is astonishing accurate today. It is true we don't have genetically engineered workers but just give it time. Everyone should read BNW.

[lunatica]

9. If I hadn't read that book

I wouldn’t have any reference point to be able to make sense of the gnawing feeling that something is wrong with some people.

[MrGrieves]

8. It is my favorite book and I own a very early printing of it.

[lunatica]

11. I may reread it.

It’s been at least 50 years since I read it.

[MrGrieves]

12. You should! I reread it every few years

And every time I get more put of it.

I adore Huxley.

[roamer65]

10. Present day reality is a amalgam of "Brave New World" and "1984".

They used BOTH as instruction manuals.

[Snackshack]

13. The only common denominator.

From one human to the next as far as the brain is concerned is that we all have one. Beyond that no two operate the same way. Right now we do not understand fully how/why cognitive disorders exist from one brain to the other, what exactly is taking place in the development phase of the brain that turns off or on different functions/capacities to cause an aspect of “Neural Darwinism” where some people simply have no compassion / empathy for others. We do know that outside stressors do affect the development of the brain from the very beginning while still in the womb all they way through childhood into early adulthood. I agree with you that there are some trump supporters who will not stop supporting him no matter what he does. But I don’t think they are all like that and those are the ones who can hopefully be reached and come to realize they were conned by him.

If you are interested in learning more about brain development and how it shapes a person there are many talks/discussions you can find on YouTube. Robert Zapolski / Gábor Máté have clips that are interesting to watch.

[lunatica]

14. Thanks! I'll check some out

[TexasBushwhacker]

15. Yes, the Epsilons were the slave class

And there were more of them than any other class because you have to have a lot of slaves to do all the shitty jobs for shitty wages that no one else wants to do. I remember one scene where a Beta was in the lab processing new embryos she made a mistake and tossed the bad batch into the Epsilon pool because "we can always use more Epsilons".

Now, let's look at what has happened to our middle class, at stagnant wages. Look at the right trying to shut down Planned Parenthood clinics where poor women can terminate unplanned pregnancies and get contraceptives to keep more from happening. If there's a ticket to a life of poverty it's young parenthood and too many mouths to feed. Look at what's happened to Pell grants, to teacher pay. If the GOP isn't trying to make our slave class bigger, I don't know what else you would call it.