In that famous dystopian masterpiece "Brave New World", Huxley described a future world for us: the technology is highly developed, through the designer's careful arrangement and various entertainment means, everyone's pain and sorrow are comprehended. With precise filtering, the cerebral cortex can only reflect the emotions of "joy" and "happy". Once someone has negative emotions, they will be sensed immediately, and managers will immediately release chemical agents to kill the negative emotions in the cradle.
So everyone enjoys life and is willing to dedicate and work in a fixed social position, without fear of any difficulties and obstacles, birth, old age, sickness and death.
What a brave new world.
However, the screenwriter of "Black Mirror" is obviously not convinced: it is 9102 years old, who still needs the old-fashioned methods of chemical reagents and forced brainwashing.
So in the second episode of the first season, "The Value of 15 Million Kilometers", they created an upgraded version 5.0 of "Brave New World".
Almost impeccably perfect, almost.
First, it's super user-friendly. Advanced technology has completely liberated human beings from heavy manual labor and complex social division of labor, and all things can be done by technology. But it is clear that perpetual motion machines have not yet appeared, so energy supply and resource consumption are still insurmountable practical problems. So the job of man is to provide the necessary energy for the work of the machine.
Rest assured, this so-called "providing energy" is not like "The Matrix", which uses the biological energy generated by the active human brain to provide energy for artificial intelligence. It does not have any terrible extended meaning at all.
Most people in this society only need to simulate riding a bicycle on a machine every day, and convert biological kinetic energy into mechanical kinetic energy, electrical energy and other forms of energy to ensure the operation of the world.
It's not cruel, it can be described as kindness and gentleness.
For those who work, engaging in such labor, without the fatigue of boats and cars, and the labor without records, requires neither heavy physical strength nor mental effort, and completes a citizen in an activity similar to "fitness". due obligations. There is no hard and fast quantitative regulation on the amount of exercise, and the mileage achieved every day is all in their own hands.
There is no need to run around in the world, busy for a meal, and finally, for the first time, human beings have finally bid farewell to the suffering of survival in a real sense and realized the comfort of the whole people.
No oppression, no resistance. This world fundamentally eliminates the possibility of people rising up in a future like The Handmaid's Tale. It is also completely different from the "being" happiness obtained by chemical reagents in "Brave New World". It is "awake" and "real" happiness, at least on the surface.
Everyone consciously abides by the rules and regulations, and the living environment is very harmonious and orderly.
Even better is yet to come. It doesn’t matter if you don’t do heavy work. In the process of “work”, people can still enjoy various audio-visual services: listening to music, watching videos, dressing up their electronic characters, everything from head shape to accessories. Just like modern people's habit of relying on electronic products, people in the future will have both the mechanical movement of the body and the recreational activities of the brain. The point is, this is officially permitted, encouraged, or even mandatory entertainment. What could be more fun than this?
Going to work is the ideal of fishing, and it has finally come true!
Second, more important than the apparent harmony is the stability of the social formation. We all know that the spindle society is the most stable social form. Are there any groups with the highest and lowest incomes? Yes. However, it only occupies the two small tips of the spindle, and the middle-income group forms the largest part of the spindle in the middle, which ensures the stability to the greatest extent.
The society constructed in the play is a typical spindle form. People who pedal hard every day make up the belly of the spindle. Exchange mileage with exercise, realize consumption with mileage, distribute according to work, and consume on demand.
One point of the spindle - the people at the bottom, corresponds to a small number of obese people who can't ride a car. They will be invited to the 22nd floor, rest assured, instead of humane destruction, what awaits him or her is a "banana peel" and a cleaner - still labor. But even becoming a cleaner is not the final destination. You can also play a naive fat man on a reality show, Bo Jun smiled.
The other tip of the spindle, the upper class, is also a person who does not need to pedal a bicycle. They are the judges of the talent show and the winners who stand out for their extraordinary talent and hard work. They appear in daily rolling commercials, using dreams and wonders to inspire ordinary cyclists to watch their shows and even join their ranks.
Look how livable this world is. While classes still exist, class-to-class confrontation is far less brutal than at any other stage in human history. The wonderful invention of mileage instead of currency basically realizes the fairness, justice and openness of society, eliminates occupational differences to the greatest extent, but theoretically guarantees the circulation of social status, so that everyone can retain the desire for beauty in human nature. , the part of "humanism" that yearns for freedom.
The screenwriters succeeded. They did not rely on violent power, brainwashing propaganda, or chemical reagents to create a beautiful new world of the future. It's amazingly well designed, so cheap to run, and so perfectly interlocked.
It is so logically self-consistent and so impeccable that it makes people believe that this is the ultimate operating mode of human society. Why?
Because it exploits the inferiority of human beings.
Human beings cannot overcome their own inferiority, and therefore cannot prevent the coming of this world.
The first to be used is the love and irresistibility of human beings for consumption.
There is no doubt that "The Value of 15 Million Kilometers" has created a world full of consumption. But unlike buying a house, a car, luxury goods and other physical consumption, most of the consumption in this world comes from the virtual: the programs you watch while riding a bicycle, you will be charged; the tickets to participate in the draft, you will be charged; it’s better to stay in the room, who Knowing that the room was designed with screens on all sides, advertisements for pornography and talent shows would pop up without warning, overwhelming the sky. If you close your eyes and don't look, the system will issue a harsh red warning; if you want to break through the door, the system will prompt you not to go out during the advertisement and lock the door. Click to watch, of course, the fee will be deducted. Who knows if you click and watch, one! Sample! buckle! fee!
The rules of this game are too harsh. No matter what choice is made, it is directly linked to the mileage, or currency. Can you not pedal well? can not! Ads will shoot you in the room!
On the other hand, as long as you pedal well, you have the right to choose. So some people are immersed in erotic and low-level programs all day long and never get tired of it; some people are keen to change countless coats and head shapes for their avatars; of course, some people maintain elegant taste and play virtual violins against the screen.
Neil Postman said in his famous book "Entertainment to Death", "There are two ways to wither the spirit of culture, one is Orwellian - culture becomes a prison, and the other is Huxley-style—culture becomes a burlesque." And "The Value of 15 Million Kilometers" makes the Huxley-style possible: to paralyze the masses through entertainment that the masses "love", so that the masses lose their independent thinking and creation ability, and then reduced to a controlled puppet.
Let you maintain the desire to consume, the motivation to consume and the ability to consume, and then stifle other creative activities of human beings through endless consumption, so that consumption becomes the only way, purpose and love for survival.
It is man himself who enslaves man. And the only purpose of all the designs of this world is to make this slavery easier.
The second is to take advantage of the public's blind obedience and kitsch mentality. As Le Pen said in "The Crowd", "What the group pursues has never been truth and reason, but blind obedience, cruelty, paranoia and fanaticism, and only know simple and extreme feelings." So it is only necessary to implant sensationalism in the program , The content that attracts people's attention can easily control the consumption trend and emotional expression of the group.
The tragedy of the heroine Abby is not so much caused by the three judges, but rather by the "rabble crowd" behind the judges. The judges only need to incite the public's emotions at the right time, making them excited, involved in the play, and passionate. As soon as Abby entered the prep room, she was singled out because she was "cute enough". And some people waited a week and couldn't wait for the opportunity to enter the studio.
But don't be too happy, because this "cute enough" has laid a huge foreshadowing for Abby's ending. Just imagine how unexpected, sensational, and how high a click-through rate would be if such a pure and lovely girl eventually became the "Phantom Baby" of a porn channel.
Sure enough, when the judges made this suggestion, the audience's emotions were unprecedentedly high, and they eagerly shouted a loud "yes". Abby nodded in this unshakable "public opinion".
Such a good girl, a girl with a pure smile and a sweet singing voice, a girl who just turned 21, was ruined like this. When she appeared on the four walls of the hero Madsen, the hero was almost crazy.
How could he not be crazy. At that time, he was full of hope, and he spent a huge sum of 15 million miles to buy tickets, and he persuaded her hard, thinking that he was sending her to Qingyun, but unexpectedly, he sent his beloved to a point of no return.
There's nothing more heart-wrenching than the moment when Abby's Phantom Baby commercials fill his room screen and he doesn't have the mileage to turn it off and just let it play, over and over.
As Mr. Lu Xun said, "It is a tragedy to break something beautiful to others." At this point, no one will think that this is a "Brave New World". This so-called new world is just arsenic wrapped in honey, killing people without blood.
Madsen, of course, wants revenge, delivering a fatal blow to this hopeless society.
In order to earn 15 million mileage for tickets again, he reduced his consumption level to a minimum, pedaling a bicycle and practicing dance performances every day. When that day came, he took the "kill weapon" with him. This time it was "people of color"'s turn to gain attention, so he entered the studio logically.
If he could use that piece of murder weapon to deeply insert the judges' necks and watch them cry and beg for mercy to relieve the hatred in their hearts, it would be so heartwarming.
However, the male protagonist's face began to appear timid and at a loss, and then he used the piece of murder weapon against his neck, and then wanted to vent his hatred. Long-winded, impassioned, and tearful.
Well, it's also good to be able to scold each other for a bloody head.
And then what? Is it the violent authorities who came out and put the rebels in jail, or did the judges and the audience repent and repent?
We are all too naive.
The judge's remarks let us see the bottom line of this society, that is, there is no bottom line.
He said, your speech is great. I have a special column for you that rolls out twice a week. You just have to keep going in this style.
You will definitely be on fire!
The hopeless "rabble crowd" was in high spirits again, and strongly demanded Madsen to nod in agreement.
See how terrible this society is? It embraces all rivers. It uses ubiquitous consumption to provide endless entertainment content, and uses the public's curiosity to stimulate endless consumption. It can eliminate all reactionary forces or possibilities. It cannot be overthrown, it cannot be revolutionized, and it even welcomes the voice of opposition, which will satisfy the curiosity of the public even more and start more frantic consumption. It is thus deeply rooted in the irresistible soil of human inferiority and absorbs an endless stream of nourishment.
"Humans will eventually be destroyed by what they love." "Entertainment to death" said.
Madsen was destroyed. Although he has become a member of the upper class, he is freed from daily repetitive labor, and he is no longer tied to consumption. He lives in a real house. The walls are "walls", the windows are "windows", and they are still floor-to-ceiling windows looking at the forest. .
But you know that he was destroyed, his will, his hatred of the world, his desire for "truth", the part of his passion that made him human, were destroyed, or turned into It has created a capital that can survive and a quality that can be watched. He will definitely still think of the heroine from time to time, and he will definitely feel sad, but it can't compare to the devotion and respect with which he treats that piece of murder weapon. It was his magic weapon for the rest of his life. Facing the greenery all over the world, his lonely back stood in front of the window. Is all this what he wants? He was sipping his orange juice expressionlessly, and a few birds flew past the window.
Irony? Are your teeth cold? This is the future world, and its arrival is entirely created by human beings themselves. And its manifestations are so strikingly similar to the real world that it's hard not to say it's not a prophecy.
If the advent of this society is unstoppable, then look at less mobile phones, read more books, browse shopping apps and entertainment gossip less every day, and spend more time thinking and doing creative work. Will it come slower? ?
what do you say?
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