{"content":{"sharePage":{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"49354252","dateCreated":"1326945750","smartDate":"Jan 18, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"Ana-Dav","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/Ana-Dav","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/hutchingsenglish.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/49354252"},"dateDigested":1532127977,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Creating the \"ideal child\"","description":"The video that I watched mainly focused on the imperfections of the average human, while also giving its view on potential solutions that could be used to solve these imperfections. The way it was looked at was that humans are not perfect enough due to the limit they have compared to machines and such. In order for us to be ideally perfect genetic engineering would be used on embryos allowing us to create a smarter, taller, child. The down side to this is that it would cause humans to lose value due to their lack of originality. On the other hand the wealthier part of society would be the only ones able to pay the expenses for their "ideal child". In my opinion I feel like this would cause conflicts within the society due to the unfairness in opportunities given to wealthier people over the middle and lower class. Conflicts that could be caused would be that if you are the "ideal child" you would have better opportunities over someone that might deserve those opportunities which could cause the society to eventually split in two.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"49346880","dateCreated":"1326933966","smartDate":"Jan 18, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"caseygallagher1","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/caseygallagher1","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/hutchingsenglish.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/49346880"},"dateDigested":1532127978,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Reaction to video","description":"The video I watched was very interesting but also foreboding. The video explained the emerging field of pre-birth genetic engineering on embryos which would allow us to create taller, smarter, children. In my opinion this field should be cautiously explored and carefully regulated. The genetic variations should be minor and necessary. The goal is to create healthy children not super-humans. If genetic variation is used to prevent autism, down-syndrome, disease and birth defects then it would be justifiable. Lastly, this technology would have to be equally shared among the rich, poor, successful and unsuccessful.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"49317128","dateCreated":"1326899718","smartDate":"Jan 18, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"michaelhutchings","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/michaelhutchings","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/hutchingsenglish.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/49317128"},"dateDigested":1532127978,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Huxley's Message","description":"Listen to one or more of the YouTube broadcast interviews of Aldous Huxley and respond with your own thoughts and connections to the novel.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"49354558","body":"I watched the first of the three videos. It seems that Huxley thinks we're going to reach this awful world due to over population. More people in the world means less food per person, and more competition between the world. He believes that there needs to be more order in our world which means we must have more powerful leaders, or leaders that will bring force to our nations. We also need to be as over organized as possible because with a world with millions of people in it, there's no way any of us would survive without organization. Oddly enough, Huxley, after naming these two points, points out that in his eyes, the communists are the closest to being on the right track. Since they believe in birth controll and it "balances" the population out, Huxley thinks they have the right idea. Also, Huxley is opposed to all advancing technology. Like we talked about today in class, he hates the feeling that our world is just getting smaller and smaller in ways of communication. Do I think we'll ever reach a point of society like "Brave New World"? I think if we do, it will be much, much later. But I see where he is coming from with the world over populating and technology taking over our lives. But then again, once a population overpopulates, its just simple science that it has to die down again. Which is a chilling, but logical thought. Therefore, I doubt human society will run into this horrifying problem that "Brave New World" has displayed.","dateCreated":"1326946372","smartDate":"Jan 18, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"Meganpeters1","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/Meganpeters1","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"49354564","body":"So...i posted in the wrong spot.... but here you go!:)
\n The video that I watched mainly focused on the imperfections of the average human, while also giving its view on potential solutions that could be used to solve these imperfections. The way it was looked at was that humans are not perfect enough due to the limit they have compared to machines and such. In order for us to be ideally perfect genetic engineering would be used on embryos allowing us to create a smarter, taller, child. The down side to this is that it would cause humans to lose value due to their lack of originality. On the other hand the wealthier part of society would be the only ones able to pay the expenses for their "ideal child". In my opinion I feel like this would cause conflicts within the society due to the unfairness in opportunities given to wealthier people over the middle and lower class. Conflicts that could be caused would be that if you are the "ideal child" you would have better opportunities over someone that might deserve those opportunities which could cause the society to eventually split in two.","dateCreated":"1326946376","smartDate":"Jan 18, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"Ana-Dav","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/Ana-Dav","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"49354898","body":"I for one found the interview fascinating. Huxley has some well thought out ideas, and it's scary how accurate a lot of his predictions are. The overpopulation is even more of a problem today than it was then, and is likely only to get worse. I never thought of birth control in those terms before: if man puts controls on death, he needs to put controls on life for balance. As far as political ads go, his opinion there really struck a cord.","dateCreated":"1326947180","smartDate":"Jan 18, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"haleyknuth","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/haleyknuth","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"49355400","body":"I watched the first part of the interview and I found Huxley's arguments for world overpopulation, over organization, and mind altering drugs to be quite close to what our society has today. Clearly learning and respecting Hitler's and the U.S.S.R's tactics in controlling the general population, Huxley correctly predicts with the communist countries becoming the totalitarian regime, U.S.S.R, China, Cuba etc. With the population of the Earth increasing so rapidly, this causes these forms of regimes to become more influencial in gaining power through their promise of equality and stability (...wait a minute here...). Also there is also an immense number of information being distributed for the average citizen (Social Security, college, social networking, internet) and this mass amount of information, both professional and personal, can be obtained, organized, and anaylized by these totalitarian regimes. While legislation like SOPA (FREEDOM FOR ALL!!) has a parallel policy of censorship similar to China and will likely die because of Obama's promised veto (yeah), this push for more regulation and a larger role of government has a distinct similar to B.N.W. So it provides the question, Huxley: Prophet or That One dude Who got Lucky with A book And Kept to His guns Long enough To have A following?","dateCreated":"1326948864","smartDate":"Jan 18, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"davidcaggiano","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/davidcaggiano","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"49358216","body":"I watched the first part of the Mark Wallace and Huxley interviews. The primary topic of the interview was the aspects of modern society that he believed were endangering personal freedoms. Huxley stated that he believed over population, though not a threat to the United States, was a growing and dangerous problem to many countries. Overpopulation resulting in less food per person and rapid use of resources. He noted that the world population was predicted to double within 50 years and all the problems that this would cause the world. Huxley also focused on another trait of human development that he feared: technology. Huxley recalled Hitler's propaganda using the radio, and the Communist use of the tv. Huxley believed that it the wrong hands, technology can become a weapon against freedom. I found many things interesting about this interview. It is obvious that Huxley wrote Brave New World as a warning to humanity that the organization of the world was leading to chaos. I drew a parallel between his mention of Hitler's censorship and control of the radio and the song "Bottle of Mine" that plays on the radio during the storm to install calmness and reassurance during the storm for the people in Brave New World. Also, the brief discussion on soma, the drug used in Brave New World, had some validity to it. Huxley predicted that a versatile drug like soma would probably never exist, but drug use would continue to grow and mind altering drugs would gain more popularity. In this regard, Huxley was undoubtedly correct.","dateCreated":"1326971233","smartDate":"Jan 19, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"amyharless","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/amyharless","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"49359270","body":"I watched the video entitled "interesting video" on the choice list. The video presented many beliefs or ideas of people, including an interview by Huxley, that were not unrealistic. They present ideas of genetic selection and a development of a new social class, differed by genetics. The idea of choosing or designing your child is a real idea that, although not to the level they talked about, is possible. Also the idea or a total controlled society or dictatorship is both hit apon in Huxley's "a Brave New World" and the interesting video. The idea is a bit frightening or overbearing to think that a government or group of people is able to watch their whole society and influence or controll what they are doing. All of the ideas presented within this video are advanced and may seem corrupt, but are realistic.","dateCreated":"1326976800","smartDate":"Jan 19, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"DavidPWise","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/DavidPWise","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"49371942","body":"After watching the the video, I thought that Huxley's view for the future was disturbing. However, at the same time, his predictions were also accurate. His ideas of how technological advancement will affect the future as portrayed in Brave New World is definitely more extreme than our society's use of technology. However, his idea of technological advancements severely changing how our lives work is a very accurate one. Despite the fact that we as humans have not been successful at extreme examples of advancing from the book [ such as the Podsnap and Bokanovsky techniques], we have made incredible progress, as evident in the successful cloning of a sheep. This success is definitely a step toward Brave New World's technology driven society. Although we are much closer to such a feat than when Huxley wrote this book, I think that even science has its limits, and it will take a much longer period of time to achieve such a goal. In addition, the moral conflict of this topic will perhaps also hinder research of the idea itself. However, despite the fact that Huxley's idea for a futuristic society are far beyond our years, he is definitely on the right track.","dateCreated":"1326993205","smartDate":"Jan 19, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"jhaynes33","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/jhaynes33","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"49388378","body":"I watched the first video of the three. I found Huxley's message about propoganda interesting. His view of propoganda was very evident in Brave New World. All the sayings and repeated ideas were forms of propoganda representing his belief on how propoganda can definitly be used to control or influence a society and its people. When hearing or seeing something repeatedly it becomes influential and easily recognizable. Huxley was right when he said propoganda could be a dangerous weapon and a threat to freedom.","dateCreated":"1327011203","smartDate":"Jan 19, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"StuartMacaulay","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/StuartMacaulay","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"49397846","body":"I watched the first video of the Mike Wallace interview and found Huxley's views on overpopulation interesting. He sets up a paradox where the Catholic church opposes Communism but by opposing birth control is driving mankind towards it. There are definitely elements of Communism in Brave New World in the way the state controls everything and this idea may have played a role in how Huxley envisioned the World State. He also talks about third world countries where overpopulation is reducing living standards, a problem that still persists today.","dateCreated":"1327023433","smartDate":"Jan 19, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"AlexMacLennan","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/AlexMacLennan","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"49399022","body":"Out of the videos on the wiki I watched the first of three interviews. In this interview I thought that on most things he was very accurate. I agree with his comment that overpopulation is among us and it is getting worse because of the death rate decreasing and the birth rate increasing. He was also right on with the belief that television will become a distraction. He also believed that communist party would be the one to start and take over which was starting to be a concern around this time. He ended up being correct on this for a while because Europe was falling to communism but finally it was stopped from spreading. His drug comments were a little out there because if it changes people's state of mind then I believe that there will always be problems with them. Even though I do not agree with everything he said he still said many things that turned out to be correct.","dateCreated":"1327024790","smartDate":"Jan 19, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"amreaker4","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/amreaker4","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"49405584","body":"I watched the video titled "Welcome to the Brave New World" that was about eugenics and the highly controversial question of altering human embryos to create healthier, stronger, smarter, and ultimately more perfect versions of human beings. This is obvioulsy connected to the novel because of the principle of changing human genes to manipulate the kind of person they will produce, but I think that is is also considerably different than Huxley's dystopian society because the main goal of geneologists at present is finding ways to improve the human condition - not to control or limit the growth or potential of the human being as in Brave New World. My opinion is that this is a field of science that must be tread upon very carefully in this day and age. Further knowledge and research could lead to benefits that could likely lead to a more functional society, but the world is not quite ready for such an undertaking quite yet. What this kind of research entails is the prospect of experimenting on people that have yet to come into this world, meaning that they have no choice in the matter because unborn babies obviously cannot give consent and could be at the mercy of this potential life-or-death situation. While many people probably go through life wishing they could be healthier, smarter, stronger, etc, attempting to alter the human gene structure to change traits such as height or hair color is certainly overzealous because there is not nerely enough knowledge about the method to ensure that the child will not be significantly hurt as a result. The logical thing to do would be to systematically start by using gene modification to cure genetic diseases and then take the process one step at a time. This would be a tremendous benefit to society and a considerable medical advancement, and we should treat the situation as if this is the ultimate goal of gene modification and then consider the other possibilities after the said problem is successfully taken care of first. By the time this happens, people would have a better understanding of eugenics and could more easily reach a decision about changing other traits that are unrelated to diseases. The topic is so controversial because so little is known about it that arguing over it almost becomes a moot point because we cannot tell if the ends will actually justify the means in this situation. Saying that a new breed of human could be the final result of this experimentation could be the case if we allow society to jump into this possibility too quickly. However, there would not need to be a gap between rich and poor society if scientists take the time to find a safe way to conduct the procedure without the actual cost sky-rocketing, but this is perhaps a question more suitable for later years. On the other hand, so much time and consideration is placed into the question of how much of our lives are impacted by the genes we inherit that people forget another very important factor that contributes to our growth and development as human beings - the environment we grow up and live in. I feel that if people and scientists focused on how the world around us affects us and our ability to accomplish things, rather than just our predisposition, then maybe we as a society could find more simple solutions - that are also less controversial - to the issues in our lives. This could be something as simple as a change in diet decreasing the likelihood of a genetic disease developing in someone who might otherwise be prone to it. This is just one example of how someone's environment could affect their life - perhaps more so than genes, but ultimately I think that there is often more than one solution to a problem, and that messing around with human embryos and eventually fate, should be the very last resort, if that.","dateCreated":"1327037819","smartDate":"Jan 19, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"Doris34","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/Doris34","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"49418552","body":"I watched Mike Wallace\u2019s interview of Aldous Huxley (Part 1\/3) in regards to his book Brave New World. It\u2019s definitely interesting to hear opinions\/theories from Huxley himself about the issues addressed in his book. He mentions two major threats of the world: the unbalance of birth rate to death rate and how overpopulation is coming upon us quite rapidly, and over-organization of government programs to limit and protect the issues of the world. Although I do agree with these two threats of being major problems in the future of society, I feel as though over-organization develops more into a problem through overpopulation; a flow from one threat into the greater cause of the other. By this I simply believe that as population increases, government programs and regulations (organization) is increased; which in my opinion makes sense. With this being said, I do think government interference is only going to get worse with time, as the population is most certainly on the incline.","dateCreated":"1327074550","smartDate":"Jan 20, 2012","userCreated":{"username":"AlexL6thBell","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/AlexL6thBell","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}}],"more":20}]}],"more":false},"comments":[]},"http":{"code":200,"status":"OK"},"redirectUrl":null,"javascript":null,"notices":{"warning":[],"error":[],"info":[],"success":[]}}