The Ravages of Mindlessness

            The stories we have read this week are particularly riveting. What fuels my interest in these stories is not only their wild and imaginative plots, but also the important lesson the authors are trying to convey through these pieces. In War with Newts, Karel Capek illustrates a human world that discovers populations of newts capable of completing arduous work. The humans become enthralled with the potential rewards of enslaving the newts. As a punishment for their mindlessness, Capek allows the newts to take over the world. In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, humans are born by technology and conditioned for their predestined fates, but the value of family and parenting is lost. In George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, humans craft a simple new language, Newspeak, with the intention of restricting human thought. However, the capacity to express oneself is hindered. In Hurt Vonnegut Jr.’s “Harrison Bergeron,” technology imposes handicaps on humans, thus promoting equality. Consequently, there is no room for individualism. In Manuel van Loggem’s “Pairpuppets,” humans use sex dolls to satisfy their sexual inclinations and desires. The world is robbed of the meaning of a relationship and of true love. Each story presents a new technology intended to benefit humanity. However, it is evident that each new invention requires some sort of human sacrifice. The humans of these novels make the ill-advised decision of embracing these new technologies without giving any thought to what they have to give up. Through their novels and short stories, Capek, Huxley, Orwell, Vonnegut, and Loggem stress the importance of being aware of the potential consequences of integrating new technological tools into our daily lives. We must weigh the pros and cons of each new technological tool and make the conscious decision as to whether each tool is worth employing.