Book: 20230902 to 20231023, "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley

20230902 - Introduction by Margaret Atwood

"Life has meaning beyond the play of senses, and that immediate gratification will never be enough.", p xvi

How to get meaningful life? What should we do after financial indepedence?

Life is like game. If we keep winning in the game, overcome all challenges, is that make our lives meaningful?

20230904 - Introduction by David Bradshaw

Great book come from genius, hard work and luck. Just like all other great stuff.

What is the best institution in the future? Democracy is necessary, but should we get UBI?

What will UBI bring to people?

20230904 - Aldous Huxley (1894 - 1963)

Aldous Huxley is more like a philosopher instead of a writer. His opinion changed with the environment changes, and ended with pessimism.

Is the world getting better in the past 60 years?

Economy growth covered a lot of serious problems. Will the current prosperity backfire? If yes, how will it happen? Fertility rate crash? Extreme weather? AGI?

20230906 - Foreword

Unless (sciences are) used as instruments by the biologists and psychologists, they can do nothing to modify the natural forms and expression of life itself.   p xlv

Unfortunately, Aldous Huxley didn't get chance to read "game theory" or "Amusement to Death". 

Decentralization doesn't solve problems, but helps a bit. That's why we need deglobalization. Regionalization is much better.

Are TV, Youtube, Facebook, Tiktok, etc. making people less intelligent? I do think so. It's hard to think deep.

After UBI is populated, what will people do? How are they going to look after their children? Meaning comes from responsiblity (by Jordan Peterson, in "12 Rules for Life"). If everyone got UBI, what's their responsibility then?

20230918 - Chapter 1

After getting what we want, we feel happy. But, the reason that we like something, maybe is because the "god" gave us some special stimulus during our childhood or even during our embryo stage.

In that case, should we pursue our goal?

"Antifragile" says that we need buffer and options. To be happy, we need the rights to say no. Maybe that brings us true happiness.

20230919 - Chapter 2

Where does our desire come from? Most likely it comes from social culture.

That's why everyone want to get more and more money, and young people don't want to be scientist.

How to avoid the impact from culture? How to figure out what we really want?

20230921 - Chapter 3

What is "soma" today? It's screen. Including TV shows, movies, computer games, smartphone, etc. We can use it to avoid boredom. The problem is, do we regret the time we spend with it?

What is the best way to kill time without regret, even when we get 80 years old? Thinking? Meditating?

20230930 - Chapter 4

All castes has a few people realized that something was wrong, no matter Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta or Epsilon. The obvious question is about the meaning of life and work.

Today, what's the meaning of our lives and our work?

Lucky people don't have shitty jobs, as they create real value for the society. But what would happen when ASI take over the world? When everyone get UBI, and goods and services are extremely cheap? Will people still breed? Will Homo Sapien go for extinction?

20230930 - Chapter 5

Religion is ridiculous to atheist. If no verification, it's just illusion.

Could religion save us from meaninglessness?

How about art? Can art save us from meaninglessness?

Meaningness comes from the growth of our gene. In old age, religion and art help a lot. But, after ASI take over the world, I don't think these two help. Sport will also fail.

So, what should we do in the future? Amusement all day till death?

20231001 - Chapter 6

The worst ending for an Alpha is to be sent to Iceland, which is supposed to get less stimulus.

This new world has a major flaw: there will be no progress in science and technology. People won't be able of maintain the social order.

Can we make the slaves to be happy staying as slaves, through brainwash? I highly doubt it. Gene is more powerful.

20231001 - Chapter 7

In an isolated environment, the living condition could be poor. But transactions and communications are inevitable.

Here suppose that a normal civilized individual cannot change anything in a barbaric environment. Is that true? I think it depends on whether writing is invented. Even basic math, science and modern mindset can bring in a lot of changes.

People die at 60 while look healthy. That's interesting setting, but not a good one.

20231012 - Chapter 8

Based on "The Selfish Gene" and "The Nurture Assumption", there are surely a lot of errors in this chapter. That doesn't matter.

If we ignore the terrible living condition, is the savage lifestyle more real? To some extent, what does "Living in the present moment" mean?

20231012 - Chapter 9

The more efficient and advanced the institution is, the more fragile it is!

Nothing can stop the World Controller from corrupting in the new brave world.

20231012 - Chapter 10

20231012 - Chapter 11

20231013 - Chapter 12

The people in the brave new world are more like machines, and the savages are more like animals.

Both get something rights and wrong. Where is the balanced point? Can we find it based on the three basic rules(Entropy, Compound, Game Theory)?

Media censorship in the brave new world is roughly as strict as in "1984". In theory, it would collapse or deteriorate quickly.

20231023 - Chapter 13

The savage is so disappointed. The woman he loved has no soul.

But I doubt he would reject the offer. One night stand is one night stand.

20231023 - Chapter 14

People in the brave new world has no soul. They are like ants or bees.

The society is very stable. But no evolvement.

If some external disruptive force appear, then the whole civilization will collapse.

20231023 - Chapter 15

Of course people don't respond to what John said or did. John was surprisingly naive.

20231023 - Chapter 16

This is the most important chapter of this book.

The controller knows everything, and the brave new world did quite a lot of experiments. However, the author misunderstood people.

The real problem lies in game theory, not IQ or desire or religion. That's controlled by our gene.

20231023 - Chapter 17

Not really understand this chapter.

The author believes that gene is more powerful than identity. I agree.