Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World” is a staple of high school English classes. Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the term “Brave New World,” and Shakespeare's play "The Tempest" where the phrase came from. I've been asking myself this question: Have we really entered into a Brave New World?Are we on the verge of a giant technological leap forward powered by AI and alternative energy sources? Will our society finally recalibrate into something more equitable and positive for all classes, races and sexes? If you look closely, you can see the outlines here and there.But then there is the new war in Europe, the forgotten wars in the Middle East and Africa. We have famine and hunger on all the continents. And, as is often the human condition, we forgot to keep the scourge of authoritarianism and prejudice and bigotry at bay.I vaguely recall reading somewhere that Huxley came up with the idea of his dystopian society as a way to poke at some other novelists who had written utopian novels that were so popular at the time. Here in the third decade of the 21st century, dystopian novels are very popular in the YA book category. I challenge you to spend a few minutes on political Twitter where you’ll find plenty of people who suggest that somewhere along the line, we have slipped into an alternative, dystopian timeline.Life’s not a movie, or a book. But I do admit that at times I’m not so thrilled with the current timeline. So let’s get up off of the couch, get busy, and get our timeline back on track.Let's dig into some news. Maybe that will help:
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Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World” is a staple of high school English classes. Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the term “Brave New World,” and Shakespeare's play "The Tempest" where the phrase came from. I've been asking myself this question: Have we really entered into a Brave New World?Are we on the verge of a giant technological leap forward powered by AI and alternative energy sources? Will our society finally recalibrate into something more equitable and positive for all classes, races and sexes? If you look closely, you can see the outlines here and there.But then there is the new war in Europe, the forgotten wars in the Middle East and Africa. We have famine and hunger on all the continents. And, as is often the human condition, we forgot to keep the scourge of authoritarianism and prejudice and bigotry at bay.I vaguely recall reading somewhere that Huxley came up with the idea of his dystopian society as a way to poke at some other novelists who had written utopian novels that were so popular at the time. Here in the third decade of the 21st century, dystopian novels are very popular in the YA book category. I challenge you to spend a few minutes on political Twitter where you’ll find plenty of people who suggest that somewhere along the line, we have slipped into an alternative, dystopian timeline.Life’s not a movie, or a book. But I do admit that at times I’m not so thrilled with the current timeline. So let’s get up off of the couch, get busy, and get our timeline back on track.Let's dig into some news. Maybe that will help: