Wow... Wish I could follow on your footsteps Wes. Good luck in France. I hope you keep posting from there . ... What a great way to give life a jolt.

Great topic to cover! I've enjoyed both books several times over since I was a teenager and often felt that we live in a degree of both depending on where we are geographically and our access to resources/wealth. Your conclusion, that we're (at least the majority of the West) likely experiencing more anxiety from societal fragmentation than a centralized power vacuum is interesting and reminds me a bit of the fall of the Soviet Union and the concept of HyperNormalisation. The idea that our cultural/political/structural systems are so broken that everyone just accepts it with a wink and a nod, as though the world/society has become a collective inside joke. The grand idea of a collective future for one country - let alone humanity - is now inconceivable, à la Mark Fisher. It's almost as though we have created hierarchy pods with our fragmentation. We all belong to some tiny collective wherein we are among the very caring and invested 20%, and our pod is all that truly matters. However, films and pop music ultimately don't hold quite as much weight as housing policy or labor laws. Perhaps the proletariat IS just as ignored as Blair and Huxley believed 70+ years ago, it's just that our contemporary technology and echo chambers (loved your Popular Culture series!) permit us to fool ourselves that "we" are not members of the meaningless proletariat class. A simple way to control someone is to allow them to believe they are important. To paraphrase Radiohead 30 years on, We do it to ourselves, and that's what really hurts.;) P.S. Good luck in France! The United States mourns the loss of one of our few contemporary great thinkers! Were there any particular motivations for the move?

If you liked '1984', try 'We' by Zamyatin, a book which preceded it and which may have been the first dystopian novel.

I hope the move was smooth! Always great to see new uploads from you.

I miss you. I work in construction. But i miss you

mega topic Wes, good on you mate and thx for all you do !

Vote accordingly! Enjoy all of your talks!

Mr Cecil, is this in response to the September 28th state.gov report?

I can see Huxley as having no serious argument with the Alphas leading, but Orwell's idea of the elitist Inner Party is part of his critique of how totalitarianism works itself out.

I would love to hear your reasons for moving to France if you were open to sharing

There is of course a slight difference. That 1984's Humanity is still the "natural" humanity. While in brave new world they are biologically engineerd to belong to a preplaned caste. Both authors are expressing essentially similar sentiment. But Huxley actually engages with it morally, while Orwell treat it as an underlying reallity that our ideological ambitions have to work under.

Is the concept. I believe that both book concepts can be applied today.

thanks Wes, all the best in France!

I loved both books, although the choice between Orwell's "1984" and Aldoux Huxley's "Brave New World", I still go with Huxley. Great lecture, Dr. Wes Cecil. Heraclitus stated that one can not step into the same river. twice . Well, the rivers keep flowing.

@Autists-Guide

8 ай бұрын

And Heraclitus was wrong ;)

@cheri238

8 ай бұрын

@@Autists-Guide We can agree to disagree respectfully. Thank you for your compliment.

@Autists-Guide

8 ай бұрын

@@cheri238 We can but... regarding "one can not step into the same river". All of one's components (cells) may have been replaced; all of their neurons may be reconfigured; All of the river’s components (water molecules, rocks and sand of the bed and banks) may have shifted and eroded but… ‘One’ is a supervenient label for an ecosystem. ‘River’ is a supervenient label for an ecosystem. The biological systems that are ‘One’ (you or me) can step in the geological system that is e.g. ‘The Brisbane River’ as many times as one likes.

@cheri238

8 ай бұрын

@Autists-Guide Suggestion: 1. "The Master and His Emissary" The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World. 2. "The Matter With Things," Our Brains and Our Delusions and the Unmaking of the World, 2 volumes with 1500 pages of notes. By Dr.Iain McGilchrist and discussions with others in various fields might help. (On KZread)

@Autists-Guide

8 ай бұрын

@@cheri238 Thanks. I'm familiar with his work.

Wow that is so awesome you moved to a foreign country. Congratulations! I moved to Mexico 🇲🇽 in 2007 and never looked back. Im retired and you have enriched this period of my life mucho! Thank you for your wonderful and enlightening talks. I’m a big fan!

Pareto principle. There will always be a small(ish) group that dominates and "controls" the majority. There are only two questions, how big is that group (as a percentage of the total) and how easy is it to cross into and out of it?

Wish you good luck in France. However, I agree with most of the opinions here that Huxley's moral involvement in the Alpha society makes him less relevant than Orwell who zoomed in into the Elitist society ( in a sense, was one of them having attended Eton), but was never in agreement with their ways. Hope next time you shed some light on his essays which are as brilliant as his novels.

Often consider this topic....before I listen, have always thought we a between both texts. A combo of both. It's a evil/dark modern day reality in the West....

1984 over ABNW

Don't hate on my Las Vegas! 😂💖✝️💸

This has got USA and China the wrong way around but otherwise good analysis.

Actually to extend the question, why should continue to be the dominant species on the earth, obviously we benefit from it but do we deserve it.