Trey Smith
Returning to one of themes I touched on in the first installment of this miniseries, almost everyone in Huxley's futuristic society is conditioned to loathe being alone. This is what sets Bernard Marx, Helmholtz Watson and particularly John the Savage apart from everyone else. They each take the chance of being ostracized for not following in lockstep with everyone else.
It's a good thing that I won't be dropped into such a society any time soon because I like my own company, thank you! By choice, I spend the majority of each day alone. It provides me with the time to think and ponder about a lot of the subjects I write about here.
In many ways, current society doesn't have that far to go to match Huxley's World State. I know scores of people today who fear being alone. So, they surround themselves with all sorts of characters -- many who lead them in bad directions -- because the very idea of being alone in their own thoughts terrifies them to no end.
While I'm okay in my own skin, I do think I understand where this fear comes from. We humans are social creatures and none of us would survive for any length of time if we were left absolutely alone. It would be like living a life in solitary confinement! Studies have shown that prisoners with next to no human contact have a great propensity for going mad.
Consequently, I think this fear is part of our evolved DNA. We know that we need others and so the thought of being physically or emotionally stranded in isolation is tantamount to a death sentence. Since most of us want to live, we fear anything that might take that away.
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