Another Returning Theme

Recently zodaicmg and I were discussing one of those repetitive themes in my life: Brave New World. (The history here is that I wrote my college essay- the one I sent to the schools I got into: the other schools mostly got an essay about my relationship with my sister that my mother loved, and which I wasn't thrilled with originally, but about which I was persuaded. But I was really proud of the Brave New World essay: it was on why sadness was essential to being able to perceive and therefore experience happiness. And that's one of those things that's rather important in how I look at my life.)

In any case, we were discussing why Brave New World portrayed a distopia rather than a utopia, with him arguing that the system was perfect, and therefore should be considered a utopia. He admitted that people in that system wouldn't be people as we perceive them, and that it can't seem like a utopia to us- but that it would be for them, and that contentment was higher than happiness. We argued it for a while (with several other people, tovah623 included), and gave up. But I'm starting to see why we couldn't agree: he was looking at it as a system, not as a matter of a utopic existance for any individual. I tend to see any theoretical society as utopic/distopic based on the happiness of any individual, not as a matter of contentment because of a lack of other awareness. How can something be perfect if no one is aware of the idea of perfection or imperfection as such? I'm not sure a utopia could exist, even if they were theoretically possible, because people would cease to be aware that it was utopic if that was what they expected, and then it wouldn't be a utopia anymore because people couldn't be aware of emotions if all they perceived was pleasant- it would just up the sensitivity to unpleasantness. But in any case, I don't think the perfection or workings of a system can make a society- a society is based on a grouping of individuals.

Completely randomly- I just looked over, and there's a AA battery sticking out from the bottom of the seat of my chair. I am very, very confused.

Another Returning Theme

Recently zodaicmg and I were discussing one of those repetitive themes in my life: Brave New World. (The history here is that I wrote my college essay- the one I sent to the schools I got into: the other schools mostly got an essay about my relationship with my sister that my mother loved, and which I wasn't thrilled with originally, but about which I was persuaded. But I was really proud of the Brave New World essay: it was on why sadness was essential to being able to perceive and therefore experience happiness. And that's one of those things that's rather important in how I look at my life.)

In any case, we were discussing why Brave New World portrayed a distopia rather than a utopia, with him arguing that the system was perfect, and therefore should be considered a utopia. He admitted that people in that system wouldn't be people as we perceive them, and that it can't seem like a utopia to us- but that it would be for them, and that contentment was higher than happiness. We argued it for a while (with several other people, tovah623 included), and gave up. But I'm starting to see why we couldn't agree: he was looking at it as a system, not as a matter of a utopic existance for any individual. I tend to see any theoretical society as utopic/distopic based on the happiness of any individual, not as a matter of contentment because of a lack of other awareness. How can something be perfect if no one is aware of the idea of perfection or imperfection as such? I'm not sure a utopia could exist, even if they were theoretically possible, because people would cease to be aware that it was utopic if that was what they expected, and then it wouldn't be a utopia anymore because people couldn't be aware of emotions if all they perceived was pleasant- it would just up the sensitivity to unpleasantness. But in any case, I don't think the perfection or workings of a system can make a society- a society is based on a grouping of individuals.

Completely randomly- I just looked over, and there's a AA battery sticking out from the bottom of the seat of my chair. I am very, very confused.