Aldous Huxley “Chto nam s jetim delat’?”

Aldous Huxley. The author needs no introduction. However, his role as a political publicist remains relatively unexplored. In the essay What Are You Going to Do About It?: The Case for Constructive Peace (1936), published at the outbreak of World War II, Huxley debunks 11 common notions about the war being the natural state of things, providing spontaneous pacifists with rational arguments. His second work, Science, Liberty and Peace (1946), is an extensive response to the first UN assembly, which insightfully identifies the internal flaws of the emerging world order. Huxley argues that technological progress strengthens dictatorship, offers tentative alternatives to the scale economy, and warns of the danger of polarisation. Not only does he raise surprisingly relevant questions but also offers solutions that are utopian only at first glance. Tied under one cover, these works present a view of the world ‘before’ and ‘after’ the catastrophe, exemplifying intellectual honesty and high humanism — qualities that are scarce at all times.

“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumble puppy. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.”

Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death, 1985