The economic well being of the society in Brave New World is based on factories churning out mountains of consumer goods. If people don't buy these goods, the economy will grind to a halt. Therefore, the masses have to be conditioned to buy, buy, buy. Games are required to have complex parts, and in fact, no game less complex than what is already manufactured may be made. People are encouraged to throw out and replace...
The economic well being of the society in Brave New World is based on factories churning out mountains of consumer goods. If people don't buy these goods, the economy will grind to a halt. Therefore, the masses have to be conditioned to buy, buy, buy. Games are required to have complex parts, and in fact, no game less complex than what is already manufactured may be made. People are encouraged to throw out and replace clothes rather than repair them. People are taught through endless repetition that happiness lies in having new things. Students in this culture learn that consuming transport is all important too, presumably because it keeps the factories churning to produce helicopters, trains and other modes of transportation, as well as supporting a vacation and recreation industry:
A love of nature keeps no factories busy. It was decided to abolish the love of nature, at any rate among the lower classes; to abolish the love of nature, but not the tendency to consume transport. For of course it was essential that they should keep on going to the country, even though they hated it. The problem was to find an economically sounder reason for consuming transport than a mere affection for primroses and landscapes. It was duly found. “We condition the masses to hate the country,” concluded the Director. “But simultaneously we condition them to love all country sports. At the same time, we see to it that all country sports shall entail the use of elaborate apparatus. So that they consume manufactured articles as well as transport.
Clearly, the novel was written before any concerns had come up about the ecological impact of all this manufacture and consumption.
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