Incredible to think this science-fiction book by Aldous Huxley was first published in 1932. Portrays a future where happiness is the universal goal of human society. Total happiness is ultimately achieved by the removal of art, science, and religion, and maintained by technology, conditioning, total fulfillment of physical desires, and drugs. The novel gets poignant when a 'savage' raised at a primitive Reservation in the desert Southwest enters the civilized world. The contrasts of the two worlds become apparent following the adventures of the savage in his new environment.
For me, a relevent point of Huxley's novel was the sameness and lassitude of his utopian society as a cost of universal happiness. Indeed, happiness for all people was achieved, but at the price of losing all passion, beauty, and the concept of self. Before finishing this book I held a belief that life was about being happy and making those around you happy. Now I modify that belief to consider that true happiness is only the final goal and that life is really about the path to reaching that goal, full of all the ups and downs inherent in a passionate and unpredictable world.
